Under Which Flag?

From IBD:
Posted 4/20/2006

Immigration: The reform debate isn't just about security and the labor market. It's also about assimilation and national loyalty — touchy issues that politicians cannot afford to ignore.

Congress returns next week to take another crack at crafting legislation to beef up the border and decide the status of the 11 million to 12 million illegal immigrants living in the U.S. That's a challenging but achievable task. We see the makings of a sound policy in proposals that different factions of the GOP have already endorsed.

One element is the tough enforcement approach endorsed by the House, without red flags such as the felony status for illegals.

Hundreds of miles of new border barriers may also do more harm than good by boosting anti-American politicians in Mexico. But Americans need to see serious action — quickly — on workplace and border enforcement.

Congress must authorize a serious buildup of Border Patrol manpower and surveillance technology, and it must fund it. Any reform bill passed by Congress needs to put enforcement first on its timetable.

The other element is a concession to reality. Most of the millions of illegals working in this country are more or less here to stay, because there's no practical way for the government to deport them and, with the U.S. near full employment, large parts of the economy depend on their labor. Republicans (and Americans in general) need to accept the idea of some provisional legal status for illegal immigrants.

The public also has a right to demand certain things in return. At this point the politicians might start to squirm, but they need to face all immigration issues honestly.

That brings us to the flags, specifically the Mexican flags that were so prominent in the first wave of immigrant-rights marches this year. Organizers could see that the sight of so much red, white and green screens was touching a nerve. So they've made sure since then that the marchers flash plenty of red, white and blue.

Even now, though, they may not understand why this particular foreign flag stirred up so much anger. Unlike, say, the waving of Irish flags in a St. Patrick's Day parade, the display of the Mexican flag at immigrant marches isn't a mere sentimental ritual performed by fully assimilated Americans.

It drops a sharply political hint, suggesting that immigrants are essentially retaking land that they think was seized unjustly by the U.S. more than 150 years ago. And while only a few wacky college professors may think an actual redrawing of borders is in the cards, the social and cultural data are still disturbing.

Millions of nonassimilated immigrants, mostly from Mexico, live in a society that is parallel to, but mostly cut off from, mainstream America. It's Spanish-speaking, economically tied to Mexico through billions of dollars in annual remittances, and resistant to assimilation. The flag symbolizes that separation.

As we said, the public has the right to make some demands. One is that those employed here learn English as a condition of staying here legally. Another is that the schools put assimilation first in dealing with language, history and culture.

They need to reaffirm the principle, so successful in the past, that the point of public schooling is to form American citizens, not to promote cultural separatism.

Everyone with cultural or political influence should learn from the mistakes made by other nations, particularly in Europe, that welcomed immigrants for their labor but failed to integrate them fully into their societies. America hasn't made that mistake yet, but there's always a first time.