Immigration, part 1: the rhetoric

You'd think I could write something half-intelligent about the debate on immigration reform. After all, more immigrants live in my house than non-immigrants (2:1 ratio). The situation does not improve much when my parents come visit (3:2 ratio). Besides my family, I have loads and loads of immigrants as acquaintances. I consider myself very much pro-immigrant.

The problem is that the rhetoric has made it impossible for me to think clearly. To be up front about it, I am anti-illegal immigrant. That emphasis matters; those who refuse to distinguish between legal and illegal immigration in their rhetoric irritate me. This is commoner than I would have expected, to the point that what many legal immigrants say in the newspaper suggests that they believe the laws under consideration target them. This would comes as a surprise to me; I've read of no proposals to deport legal immigrants.

I get hung up on this. Perhaps I shouldn't, but the unreasoned noise irritates me; considering the people who say such things, and the fact that they surely know better, I have the distinct impression that this is deliberate. That only irritates me all the more. Again, it shouldn't.

Consider another example. Certain advocates of benefits for illegal immigrants charge the opponents of such measures with racism. Not all of them do, but I frequently read such statements in the newspaper, and and heard them on the radio.

I read this and wonder if they really mean me. The statements certainly target me, since I oppose benefits such as in-state tuition for illegal immigrants. However, I never thought of myself as racist. I have tutored poor immigrants free of charge, blissfully ignorant of their legal status. As a teacher and a professor, I have had a number of students who were immigrants, and I'm always delighted to work with them. If nothing else, they are (almost always) better students than the average American; grading their papers makes me feel like less of a failure. Again, I never once asked myself which of them entered the country legally.

It's true that some of the closed-border rhetoric springs from racism, ignorance, or fear. I don't usually hear such rhetoric, because my reading and listening doesn't take me into such circles. I wryly note, however, that the most strident statements I have heard uttered against illegal immigrants occurred in conversations with legal immigrants.

How many of those who irritate me are speaking carelessly because they are themselves irritated by careless anti-immigrant talk? Each of us needs to stop and think before he speaks. Congress' recess is an opportunity for everyone to stop and consider how to state their positions clearly and fairly. Unfortunately, the warring armies appear instead to be fortifying their position.

Parts I and II begun April 7th.