Irrational attacks on immigration

Irrational attacks on immigration
BY ANDREW GREELEY
Copyright by The Chicago Sun-Times
May 25, 2007

As the immigrant haters demolish the current version of "reform," the wise person tries to reflect on these three propositions:

The first is self-evident: All humans are created equal and have certain inalienable rights -- life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Immigrants are humans. Therefore, they have these inalienable rights.

Second, as long as you have a long border with a labor supply on one side and a labor demand on the other, impoverished people will find ways to cross the border -- unless they are shot on sight.

Third, the United States needs these workers. If we sent them all back, the national economy would collapse.

All the irrationalities of the arguments about "amnesty," "protect our borders," "our ancestors were LEGAL immigrants," "enforce the laws," "send them all home" collapse in the face of these three ineluctable facts. The fury aimed that these poor, hardworking people is comparable to the fury against the Italians, Poles and Irish a century ago. It is as useless now as it was then. And as evil.

Americans are not the only "nativists," not the only immigrant haters. Most European countries, with their aging and war-depleted populations, need immigrant workers. But politicians who run against them win or come close to winning elections. They want foreigners, strangers, people with darker skin, no more than we do. They accept them grudgingly and demean them whenever possible.

However, there is one notable exception to this rule. In Spain the welcome mat is out for immigrants. Eleven percent of the people living there are immigrants -- just a shade under the American rate. In each of the past two years 600,000 immigrants have poured into the country. Yet, Spain accounts for half the new jobs in Europe, according to an article in Business Week, and enjoys the best-performing major economy in Europe. The immigrants are from Eastern Europe (especially Romanians, who are not really welcome anywhere, even in Ireland), Morocco, Latin America (especially Ecuador) and Africa. Like many of our immigrants, they are concentrated in the construction industry, which has been booming in recent years with new buildings, hospitals, schools, railroad stations and airports . Spain also offers an easy amnesty (dirty word!) to its illegal immigrants.

For a couple of thousand years, Spain has been a cultural, racial and religious mosaic. The people who are native to the country now see no reason to exclude these new "invaders" because they are adding notably to the prosperity of the Spanish state. Many of them also speak Spanish (of different varieties), which is a help. Nonetheless, they have different customs and lifestyles and look different.

The difference between Spain and this country is that the Spaniards realize that immigrants are good for a country. The American attitude is that they used to be good for the United States a century or so ago when our ancestors came, but not anymore. Yet the jobs they do suggests that they are still good for the country. To keep them illegal and to deny them citizenship to which they aspire makes it easier for Americans to exploit them and treat them like second-class human beings.

If one were a true cynic, one might come to believe that those who rant against "amnesty for criminals" are secretly fronting for those who want to keep the immigrants defenseless. Then we Americans can continue to treat them like subhumans -- Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and their ilk to the contrary notwithstanding.