Now there is this ongoing debate about the illegal immigrants that goes on and on; and there are multiple perspectives that are presented in favor or against this issue. The primary issue is whether these illegal immigrants must be given the basic healthcare and life facilities in the countries where they have migrated to, the nationalists say a no and believe that illegal immigration must be checked immediately however the humanists have a different approach. In this article, taking this point lets analyze the perspective of Jason, with respect to the immigration from south of America.
Immigration is one of the most important issues prevailing in media and politics. While there are different views and opinions to counter this problem, there are some illegal immigrants who have even managed to obtain a driver’s license. Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2,007 introduced by Bush was an action to give strength to the previous immigration policies, the bill failed due to immediate protest by conservatives through radio, phone calls and other media.
The idea of conservatives was opposed by Bush supporters however there were many different views related to the newly proposed immigration laws, there were some people who were really disappointed with the fact that the Latinos were being considered as unethical, by implementing this law. A similar debate also took place between two major publications of America and they were ‘Weekly Standard’ and the ‘Wall Street Journal’.
The view of conservatives basically had the logic that, immigration of skilled workers is helpful in obtaining low cost arbitrage and hence providing cheap products for the consumers in the market, a similar proposal was made by Bill Gates to the government however was related to technology workers. The other set of thinkers like Pat Buchanan and Mark Krilkorian and against not only illegal immigration but also legal immigration.
Jason Riley however presents a very logical and inspirational theory, though his book ‘Let Them In: The case for Open Borders’ and he fairly supports liberal immigration policy. Jason mentions that based on the suggestions and arguments of the anti-immigration group they look like they come from a set of ‘supremacists and eugenicists’. He considers all of such people as racists and discusses the immigration from the European countries in the early nineteenth century.
Jason argues about the comments that mention about the immigrants taking American jobs, the logic represented here is that the unemployment rate has been no more than 5.5% only and has sustained at the same level for many years which means that the Americans have enough jobs despite the immigrants coming and the profit is that there is a huge profit though the work done by these immigrants. More over, there are many Americans who are overqualified for certain jobs and the migrant Mexican workers are a great way to fulfill those positions.
The anti-immigration thinkers have given a counter comment by saying that the illegal immigrants do not get any federal benefits and they just want to come to the country to draw benefits from it and are not a part of any social responsibility. As a reply, Jason replies back by saying that he appreciates the work done by Hispanic, men and he is of the opinion that the African-American group must not criticize their fellow ethnic minorities for taking their jobs as it’s a result of their hard work and dedication.
Another argument of the anti-immigrants is about the increase in criminal activity due to migrants and that is well countered by Jason, as he mentioned that considering the data the non-citizens are responsible for lesser criminal activities according to their percentage in population, moreover there has never been any Islamic terrorist activity noticed at the south border.
Jason brings another point for consideration and that is about overstay of immigrants after the expiry of their visas and very few of them are from the south of the border. Another discussion was based on the 1986 measure taken by President Regan and how it was unsuccessful to tackle this problem. Jason says that if the number of Mexican visas is increased more skilled workers can come legally to work and that will be a better solution rather than simply opposing immigration.
The republican view might have announced illegal immigration as one of the major national threats however most of their supporters do not agree with it. The political understanding must become broad as the Mexican workers increase as they will be great in numbers and will be a part of the electorate as well.
While discussing the political aspects of immigration, one must understand that the votes of Latinos have shifted from Republican to Democratic in previous presidential elections, and will become a game changer in future. Media seems to be more impacted than the politics around the immigrant issues as Wall Street Journal, NBC News and other major media players are taking this issue in public to seek opinions. Hence media must come in favor of the humanists and support the right choice.
Works Cited
Dawyer, James. "The Hastings Center Report. Hastings-on-Hudson." Vol. 34, Iss. 1 (2004 ): 34-42.
Kirchik, James. "Open the Gate." Riley, Jason. Let Them In: The Case for Open Borders. The New Republic, 2008. 228.
