Borderline Negligence

January 6, 2002

by Brian W. Peterson

Maintaining a culture that has the values of the American founding must be a component of any immigration policy.

However, the current debate surrounding immigration seems to have divided into two diametric viewpoints: no immigration whatsoever, or immigration without controls. Everything in between gets lost amid the passions of the two extremes.

Technically speaking, immigration without controls is not what we have now. It does seem that unlimited immigration is the federal policy, but in fact each year we issue a limited number - in the hundreds of thousands - of work-related visas (including temporary work visas).

Work-related visas, however, are not what most of us have in mind when discussing immigration. When we speak of immigrants we speak of those who intend to stay, so such regulation seems irrelevant to the issue of homogeny in our culture.

On the other hand, “shutting down the borders” is simply not a viable option. America needs foreign workers. This is not the defense for fruit pickers, this is the defense for Silicon Valley. Asia and Europe provide a great deal of technical skills for our workforce. Without Asian immigration, for example, Silicon Valley’s dominance would be analogous with the slow speeds of the ancient Commodore 64 computers of two decades ago.

Much of what passes as today’s conventional wisdom on any political subject calls for finding “the center”- some ethereal land of political bliss that exists between liberalism and conservatism.

But a middle ground in the immigration debate must encompass numerical limitations on immigration from various countries. This is nothing new in America. In the days of what people now believe were wide open immigration - the 1890s through the 1920s - numerical limits of immigrants were imposed based upon country of origin.

Countries that share cultural and political values with America should have higher quotas for immigration than countries that do not share our values. Unfortunately, this view cannot be effectively debunked by proponents of limitless immigration, so they simply label the position as racist in order to stifle the advocate of the viewpoint.

In the wake of September 11, the idea of a moratorium on immigration has been enhanced. Indeed, curtailing illegal immigration is important for national security, but not as security relates to terrorism, rather as it relates to education, economics, and our health care system. The threat of terrorism via our borders with Mexico and Canada is quite low.

Education, economics, and our health care system are the best reasons for preventing illegal immigration, along with the fact that our society is becoming increasingly Balkanized.

For now, proponents of limitless immigration are content to label opponents with the epithet of racism. Proponents of closing our borders are not willing to listen to anyone who might disagree. The debate will not advance because neither side will allow it to advance.

America needs a policy that ensures those with skills in the sciences are allowed to enter, but limits immigration numbers for a few years to allow the faltering “melting pot” to catch up on its melting. This melting can be aided by establishing English as the official language of the United States.

With English as the official language, individuals could still speak their native tongue when they desire, but the federal government would be prohibited from conducting domestic affairs in multiple languages. This would provide an incentive for people to learn English.

The immigration debate is complex and cannot be fully vetted in a short space or over a short amount of time. There is no quick solution, no single action that can be taken which will stall the fragmentation of our culture. A real debate will take years, with appropriate policies evolving through time. Unfortunately, the extremes discourage such debate. In the meantime, we are stuck with an immigration policy of negligence.

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Brian W. Peterson writes a political column for the Antelope Valley Press (circulation approximately 60,000) in Palmdale, California. He is a graduate of Oral Roberts University, where he majored in TV/Film. Brian’s weekly commentary and newspaper columns can be found at www.LifeAndLiberty.com.

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