“All of us … are descended from immigrants”
Franklin Delano Roosevelt
In the days immediately following the grounding of the “Golden Venture” off Jacob Riis Park, a great deal of attention was focused on the plight of the Chinese refugees who had spent thousands of dollars and risked their lives to reach America.
Both the print and electronic media provided a steady diet of horrifying stories detailing the appalling conditions these individuals endured enroute to this country. Related articles zeroed in on networks of international smugglers who traffic in illegal aliens and to whom émigrés are often indentured for years.
Yet, this tabloid journalism, for all its sensationalism, stepped around the thorny issue of America’s immigration policies.
Throughout our history, it has been politically expedient, if not fashionable, for both foreign and domestic elements from all sides of the political spectrum to malign and condemn American society. Nevertheless, the twin beacons of liberty and opportunity have drawn a steady stream of immigrants to our shores for nearly four centuries.
Until the late nineteenth century, America’s doors were universally open, although the “latest” wave of immigrants generally found themselves at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder. In 1882, Congress enacted the first national immigration statute, denying entry to convicts, the insane and “people likely to become public charges”. By 1917, the ability to read and write at least one language became a requirement for adult immigrants.
Shortly after World War I, immigration quotas were first enacted, followed in 1929 by a national-origins law to limit entry to 150,000 each year and preserve the country’s ethnic balance. The Depression abruptly ended immigration concerns with more people emigrating from than entering the United States.
In the aftermath of the Second World War immigration to America soared as tens of thousands of persons displaced by the tragedy of war sought new homes and new opportunities. Quotas became meaningless targets, frequently forgiven or ignored.
With the onset of the Cold War, the Internal Security Act of 1950 provided a tool to deny entry to anyone deemed a threat to national security. Two years later the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, replaced and redefined existing immigration legislation and set new quotas, all subsequently modified as domestic and international politics dictated. And, while illegal immigration did occur, it represented a minor percentage of newly arrived Americans.
In recent years, however, economic opportunity, generous social entitlements, guarantees of individual freedoms, archaic immigration policies and an ineffective deportation system spurred millions of illegal aliens to enter America annually. Stepped up enforcement efforts by the Border Patrols and INS and stiff penalties faced by individual and businesses employing undocumented workers have stemmed the rising tide. Their numbers grow while few are ever caught; and of those who are, only a handful (just 38,000 in 1990) are ever deported.
Images of Chinese wading ashore in New York, Cuban refugees arriving in southern Florida, Haitians infected with AIDS being flown into Miami and Mexicans streaming across the border have had an impact on American attitudes. In a recent poll, 54% of the public believed too many immigrants are allowed into the country each year.
The Clinton Administration appears sensitive to the matter. It has watched in horror as nationalist fervor in Germany, Bosnia and several former Soviet republics has resulted in escalating levels of violence against “foreigners”. In an effort to ensure that powder keg is never ignited in the United States, the President has directed Attorney General Reno to take over the INS, clarify the U.S. asylum criteria, repair our impotent deportation system and reduce the number of illegals entering the country or, if already here, the domestic work force.
Forging a national consensus for immigration policies apropos for the post-Cold War period can not be a simple, unilateral edict. Ultimately, it will have to pass political muster and meet the constitutional criteria of a centrist Supreme Court.
America is a nation of immigrants … whose diversities have provided the vitality, ideas and energy which has built this great nation. It would be pure folly to suddenly close our borders to legal immigration, although limitations on the total numbers of immigrants accepted each year are reasonable. But, these limits must be based on rational criteria, including immediate family members of American citizens and humanitarian need … rather than just becoming specific quotas from this nation or that country.
Unfortunately, our nation, now some $4.25 in debt, can no longer afford to take in and support every political or economic refugee who appears on American soil. More important, we must halt past policies of providing comprehensive entitlement benefits, sometimes exceeding those available to American citizens, to newly arrived immigrants in general and illegals in particular … which is not to imply that anyone should ever be denied their rights of due process.
The President’s approach is an excellent first step. Congress must forget partisan agendas and assist in revamping our national immigration policies … while not loosing sight of either long term national goals or its fiscal responsibilities.
