The Real Issue Behind the Immigration Debate

The Real Issue Behind the Immigration Debate

By Ken Masugi

Posted March 6, 2003

The controversy over immigration, exacerbated and perhaps clarified by September 11, has typically overlooked the political purpose of immigration: to supply citizens who will cherish and uphold the American Founding principles of equality and liberty, of government by consent and the rule of law.

Founding a new nation and then perpetuating it are the two greatest challenges of statesmen. Part of that task of perpetuation--and Abraham Lincoln reminded us that it can be a more difficult task than founding--is creating new citizens. In the United States this has involved turning immigrants into citizens. Thus, Jefferson, whose Declaration of Independence did more than any other document to make America a nation of immigrants, warned against accepting immigrants who would bring with them anti-republican principles from the Old World. This was in keeping with the need to protect the unique achievement of the American Founding.

But is American constitutional government any more secure now than it was at the time of the founding? A bizarre understanding of civil liberties that makes the pledge of allegiance to the flag a violation of the Constitution, the deterioration of the separation of powers, the rise of bureaucracy both nationally and locally, the historical illiteracy of younger Americans, and much more all make us wonder. Immigration is another policy that arouses such passions by raising fundamental questions about American identity.

Americans have pride in being from "the old country" and also in being "descended from someone on the Mayflower." For example, the 1940 movie Knute Rockne, All American should be viewed not merely for Ronald Reagan's role, but for its tale of immigrants: coach Rockne himself and the Irish of Notre Dame University. We hear two foreign languages in the film--a few words of Norwegian and the Latin of the Old Mass. Rockne was not just an All-American--that is, a star player--but he was a pure American, albeit an immigrant. And that would be the pattern for future Americans, drawn from other ethnic groups.

Contrast this old movie with a new one--Bladerunner (1982), where the language, food, and people come from all over the world. It is almost impossible to tell who is human and who is artificial. In such a world, it might seem laughable to raise the question of who is an American. But in fact the challenge to the American Founding principle that all men are created equal makes us confront the question not only of human identity but of American identity.

Some maintain that an openness to immigration outside Europe is a natural result of American ideals. They point to economic benefits of immigration, lowering the costs of labor.