Sunday, April 15, 2007

On Immigration

Immigration is good. The great strength of America has always been her immigrants. The proverbial melting pot helps to guarantee our constitutionally liberal democracy. The age demographic consequences of the second world war (baby boom/social security beneficiary boom) have made immigration an economic necessity for the USA, now more than ever. Most serious economists project a need for a million or more per year. However, massive numbers of undocumented illeagal aliens have very serious adverse consequences. Simply put, no papers, no identity= no respect for the law of the land. Thus, we need a vigorous system of documenting, tracking, and organizing immigration, not a system to prevent it. Once documented, an immigrants stay is contingent on their willingness to live and function in civil society. We need immigrants who come to this nation, respect its laws, understand its foundational principles, learn to speak its language, and enrich it with their own language and culture. The objection to teaching hispanic kids in LA only in Spanish is not that we reject their language, it is that they have come here and are rejecting ours. Further, we know that non-fluency in English is a terrible disadvantage here in the US and across the world.

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