Jamie Weinstein
On immigration
By Jamie Weinstein
© 2006 Cornell Daily Sun
As any third-grade tyke could tell you, the United States is a country of immigrants. It is a part of our national story. Our ancestors came here, fleeing persecution, to build a "city on a hill." And, despite the bumps and miscues along the way, they did just that.
Immigrants are as important to America today as they were 100 years ago; as they were at our founding. That is why it is important that the door to America remain open to legal immigrants the world over. As New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman recently questioned, "Anybody out there try to become a Swiss citizen lately? It's not so easy — and it's also not an accident that Switzerland's most famous product is the cuckoo clock."
His point is that a constant flow of immigrants — especially highly trained immigrants — brings competition and innovation to our country. But it is not just highly trained immigrants that do this. It is often the children and grandchildren of not-so-highly trained immigrants.
Today, there are great doctors, lawyers and professors whose parents or grandparents came here and worked as janitors, manual laborers and taxi cab drivers. They took a risk in order to provide their family a better life here in America. They came in and became American. And their children have grasped the American dream.
Hoover Institution scholar Thomas Sowell put it this way in his book Ethnic America: "Each [immigrant] group has changed in America, and American society has changed in many ways. The most dramatic example is that today there are people sitting in Congress and on the Supreme Court whose ancestors were brought here as slaves. Among the world's leading scientific, political, and economic figures today are Americans whose immigrant ancestors were once dismissed as 'the beaten men of beaten races.' Nothing has so vindicated the untapped potential of ordinary people as the American experience."
It is not that I oppose immigrants coming to America, but rather I believe that it is vital that immigration is done in a legal way. We must know who is coming into our country. And, in this age of international terrorism, this has never been more important.
The primary reason I think it is necessary to secure our borders is security. Not only are Mexicans coming across the southern border, but many Middle Easterners are reportedly doing so as well. And while it may be true the vast majority have no ill intent, the fact is that all it takes is one terrorist to wreak serious damage on America. And if we have a porous border to the south (or north for that matter), where people can enter and exit unchecked, it is a matter that needs correcting now.
I am not sure how anyone can counter this. With threats to our nation as serious as they are, we must know who is coming into our country — at least to the best of our ability.
This means that our borders have to be closed to illegal immigration if just for that reason alone.
But there is also another important point. We are talking about illegal immigrants. The operative word here is immigrants. No, wait, that's not it. Scratch that. The operative word here is ILLEGAL.
Now, I am not opposed to making it easier for immigrants to come to this country. As I have said, immigration is an important part of who we are as a nation. But there are people trying to come here legally and we can't spit in their face and call them suckers by continuing to allow illegal immigrants to flow over the border.
The problem that currently faces lawmakers is what to do with the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the country already. Though I admittedly have not surveyed all the proposals in Congress, I think the Martinez-Hegel bill has it about right. One news account describes the details of the bill: "Those [illegal immigrants] who can prove they have been in the United States for at least five years would be allowed to stay and file for legal residency and citizenship ? illegals would have to pay a $2,000 fine and back taxes, would have to be proficient in English and civics and would have to pass a background check. After 11 years, they could become U.S. citizens." Sounds like a good solution as long as it comes with better border security to prevent this situation from repeating itself 20 years from now.
When it comes down to it, in this age where terrorists are seeking to harm us in the most grievous ways, it is imperative that we know who is coming into our country. If our borders remain porous, we are just giving potential terrorists an invitation to enter the country. We can't do that. This position is not anti-immigrant, anti-Mexican or anything of the sort. It is pro-security. It is reasonable. It is logical.
It is easy, though, to understand why immigrants from all over want to come to America. Despite radical critiques, often on this campus, about how racist and imperialistic this country is, people from around the world are drawn here, often willing to risk life and limb to live the American dream. No matter the rhetoric and the vitriol that is spewed about America, people vote with their feet. And they are consistently willing to go great lengths to vote for America and its promise.
It is not just clich This country is a melting pot. Author Dinesh D'Souza, an immigrant himself, explains this important concept further his book What's So Great About America: "The melting pot concept is that immigrants bring something new and valuable to America, just as America has much that is new and valuable to offer them. So immigrants change America, and America changes the immigrants."
So let the immigrants come and become Americans. Let them adapt to our society, and in turn they will add to it. Yes, let them come in droves. But let them come legally.
© Jamie Weinstein
© 2006 Cornell Daily Sun
As any third-grade tyke could tell you, the United States is a country of immigrants. It is a part of our national story. Our ancestors came here, fleeing persecution, to build a "city on a hill." And, despite the bumps and miscues along the way, they did just that.
Immigrants are as important to America today as they were 100 years ago; as they were at our founding. That is why it is important that the door to America remain open to legal immigrants the world over. As New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman recently questioned, "Anybody out there try to become a Swiss citizen lately? It's not so easy — and it's also not an accident that Switzerland's most famous product is the cuckoo clock."
His point is that a constant flow of immigrants — especially highly trained immigrants — brings competition and innovation to our country. But it is not just highly trained immigrants that do this. It is often the children and grandchildren of not-so-highly trained immigrants.
Today, there are great doctors, lawyers and professors whose parents or grandparents came here and worked as janitors, manual laborers and taxi cab drivers. They took a risk in order to provide their family a better life here in America. They came in and became American. And their children have grasped the American dream.
Hoover Institution scholar Thomas Sowell put it this way in his book Ethnic America: "Each [immigrant] group has changed in America, and American society has changed in many ways. The most dramatic example is that today there are people sitting in Congress and on the Supreme Court whose ancestors were brought here as slaves. Among the world's leading scientific, political, and economic figures today are Americans whose immigrant ancestors were once dismissed as 'the beaten men of beaten races.' Nothing has so vindicated the untapped potential of ordinary people as the American experience."
It is not that I oppose immigrants coming to America, but rather I believe that it is vital that immigration is done in a legal way. We must know who is coming into our country. And, in this age of international terrorism, this has never been more important.
The primary reason I think it is necessary to secure our borders is security. Not only are Mexicans coming across the southern border, but many Middle Easterners are reportedly doing so as well. And while it may be true the vast majority have no ill intent, the fact is that all it takes is one terrorist to wreak serious damage on America. And if we have a porous border to the south (or north for that matter), where people can enter and exit unchecked, it is a matter that needs correcting now.
I am not sure how anyone can counter this. With threats to our nation as serious as they are, we must know who is coming into our country — at least to the best of our ability.
This means that our borders have to be closed to illegal immigration if just for that reason alone.
But there is also another important point. We are talking about illegal immigrants. The operative word here is immigrants. No, wait, that's not it. Scratch that. The operative word here is ILLEGAL.
Now, I am not opposed to making it easier for immigrants to come to this country. As I have said, immigration is an important part of who we are as a nation. But there are people trying to come here legally and we can't spit in their face and call them suckers by continuing to allow illegal immigrants to flow over the border.
The problem that currently faces lawmakers is what to do with the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the country already. Though I admittedly have not surveyed all the proposals in Congress, I think the Martinez-Hegel bill has it about right. One news account describes the details of the bill: "Those [illegal immigrants] who can prove they have been in the United States for at least five years would be allowed to stay and file for legal residency and citizenship ? illegals would have to pay a $2,000 fine and back taxes, would have to be proficient in English and civics and would have to pass a background check. After 11 years, they could become U.S. citizens." Sounds like a good solution as long as it comes with better border security to prevent this situation from repeating itself 20 years from now.
When it comes down to it, in this age where terrorists are seeking to harm us in the most grievous ways, it is imperative that we know who is coming into our country. If our borders remain porous, we are just giving potential terrorists an invitation to enter the country. We can't do that. This position is not anti-immigrant, anti-Mexican or anything of the sort. It is pro-security. It is reasonable. It is logical.
It is easy, though, to understand why immigrants from all over want to come to America. Despite radical critiques, often on this campus, about how racist and imperialistic this country is, people from around the world are drawn here, often willing to risk life and limb to live the American dream. No matter the rhetoric and the vitriol that is spewed about America, people vote with their feet. And they are consistently willing to go great lengths to vote for America and its promise.
It is not just clich This country is a melting pot. Author Dinesh D'Souza, an immigrant himself, explains this important concept further his book What's So Great About America: "The melting pot concept is that immigrants bring something new and valuable to America, just as America has much that is new and valuable to offer them. So immigrants change America, and America changes the immigrants."
So let the immigrants come and become Americans. Let them adapt to our society, and in turn they will add to it. Yes, let them come in droves. But let them come legally.
© Jamie Weinstein
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