Wednesday, November 23, 2005
Kiss the Melting Pot Goodbye
"Many Americans have come to reject the label, but few question the idea at the heart of the "melting pot" tradition: Immigration works only if immigrants come to feel like full participants in our society, with all the rights, responsibilities and opportunities enjoyed by others, no matter how long they've been here. Developed gradually, partly by accident and partly by design, this approach to social integration is based as much in tradition as in law. But a key element is birthright citizenship -- in practice for whites since the nation's founding, and codified for all in the 14th Amendment: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States . . ."
Newcomers put down roots and invest all-out in their lives here because they know their children will be guaranteed full membership. And children, knowing they have a secure place and a shot at the same opportunities as all other young people, feel entitled to aspire to the nation's highest pinnacles of success.
The repercussions of a national campaign to rescind birthright citizenship will make what happened in California in the 1990s, in the wake of the GOP's support for the anti-immigrant ballot initiative, Proposition 187, look like child's play. The party may as well give up any hope of appealing to the nation's fastest-growing voting bloc.
The consequences of such a policy for the melting pot -- for our future as a cohesive pluralist nation -- will be more momentous still. Think about the millions of children who will be born in coming years to the 11 million illegal immigrants already living on American soil. These young people will know no other home, many will never learn the language of their parents, and if what has happened in Europe is any guide, very few will even consider going back to the Old Country.
The overwhelming majority would finish out their lives here in the U.S. as second-class noncitizens with no hope of full participation in our society and little incentive to try in school or to aspire to mainstream success. Talk about a recipe for a permanent underclass: legally marginalized, undereducated, languishing near the bottom of the economic ladder and -- can anyone doubt -- increasingly resentful.
Republicans in Congress are right when they say that we have to find new ways to deter illegal immigration and to better manage the costs of the social services, including emergency-room maternity care, now extended to immigrants, both legal and illegal. But there are other"
Newcomers put down roots and invest all-out in their lives here because they know their children will be guaranteed full membership. And children, knowing they have a secure place and a shot at the same opportunities as all other young people, feel entitled to aspire to the nation's highest pinnacles of success.
The repercussions of a national campaign to rescind birthright citizenship will make what happened in California in the 1990s, in the wake of the GOP's support for the anti-immigrant ballot initiative, Proposition 187, look like child's play. The party may as well give up any hope of appealing to the nation's fastest-growing voting bloc.
The consequences of such a policy for the melting pot -- for our future as a cohesive pluralist nation -- will be more momentous still. Think about the millions of children who will be born in coming years to the 11 million illegal immigrants already living on American soil. These young people will know no other home, many will never learn the language of their parents, and if what has happened in Europe is any guide, very few will even consider going back to the Old Country.
The overwhelming majority would finish out their lives here in the U.S. as second-class noncitizens with no hope of full participation in our society and little incentive to try in school or to aspire to mainstream success. Talk about a recipe for a permanent underclass: legally marginalized, undereducated, languishing near the bottom of the economic ladder and -- can anyone doubt -- increasingly resentful.
Republicans in Congress are right when they say that we have to find new ways to deter illegal immigration and to better manage the costs of the social services, including emergency-room maternity care, now extended to immigrants, both legal and illegal. But there are other"
