Immigration Wars by Jeb Bush & Clint Bolick

Author:Jeb Bush & Clint Bolick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Threshold Editions

What the demographics do mean, of course, is that Americans will grow increasingly multiracial. Reform opponents raise the same tired arguments their predecessors raised for two and a half centuries: that the newcomers will not assimilate; they won’t learn English; they are disproportionately criminal, welfare-dependent, and subversive of American values. History repeatedly has proven those objections misplaced. Where would we be if we had allowed those arguments to prevail in the nineteenth century or at any time since then? Certainly, we would not be the most powerful, prosperous, and generous nation on earth. Nor will we continue to be if we allow those arguments to prevail today.

Although today’s immigration wars are eerily reminiscent of those that have been waged throughout American history, today’s circumstances are different from anything we’ve seen in the past, in two major ways. For the first time, our nation faces a population decline that we may not be able to reverse without immigration. Second and relatedly, the diminishing ratio of workers and those whose social services depend on them is shrinking alarmingly. As a result, it has never been more important to America’s future to get our immigration policy right.

Indeed, continuing to get our immigration policy wrong threatens to add burdens to our economy rather than to disperse them. Traditionally, American immigration policy was geared toward bringing in the brightest and hardest-working immigrants. Today, work-based visas account for only a small fraction of American newcomers. Meanwhile, other countries are reshaping their immigration policies and putting out a welcome mat to replicate past American success. It is America whose immigration policy today fails to reflect its own values and history.

Our nation’s future depends in large measure on fixing our broken immigration policy. We need to correct the mistakes of the past but must not heed calls of immigration critics to throw the baby out with the bathwater. We must ensure that the immigrants who come do so for the right reasons—and once they are here, that they assimilate into American culture and heed American values. But we must also recognize that throughout our history, immigrants indeed have assimilated and have strengthened our nation in every imaginable way. That is the type of immigration we need in America’s third century.

Our nation was forged by the immigrant experience, and an American immigration policy that addresses the unique needs of the twenty-first century must build upon that foundation and embrace newcomers who will help our nation continue to prosper and lead the world. By setting aside partisan division, embracing our nation’s values and its immigrant roots, and learning the lessons of our own history, we can help restore American greatness and set a future course of freedom and prosperity.

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