Mark Krikorian
natrionalreview.com
The high-immigration Right is on the warpath, trying to delegitimize all conservatives who stand between them and the illegal-alien amnesties they crave. Earlier this month, the Wall Street Journal ran an outrageous piece — slamming National Review, Fox News, various Republican congressmen, and my own organization as being part of a restrictionist cabal of baby-killing, white-supremacist, Chi-Com lovers. Of my Center for Immigration Studies, the Journal's Jason Riley wrote, among other things, that despite the fact that CIS "may strike right-wing poses in the press," we nonetheless "support big government, mock federalism, deride free markets and push a cultural agenda abhorrent to any self-respecting social conservative." The fact that none of this is even remotely true didn't stop the flood of adjectives from continuing, with CIS described as "repugnant" and a "big fan of China's one-child policy," and by implication "neo-Malthusian," eugenicist, and an opponent of free trade, to boot!
Not to be outdone, Rep. Chris Cannon, the White House point-man on immigration, last week picked up the ball with a "Dear Colleague" letter to members of Congress informing them that "It has come to my attention that many of the anti-immigration groups also have an anti-life agenda." This came on the heels of a congressional hearing last Wednesday which Rep. Cannon turned into an inquisition about which immigration restrictionists had lunch with which other immigration restrictionists (I am not making this up — watch the whole hearing here.)
This kind of venomous lying and guilt by association are par for the course in the fever swamps of the web, but are startling in the halls of the U.S. Congress and the pages of the nation's largest-circulation newspaper.
Nevertheless, in the midst of all this hyperventilating nonsense there is actually an issue worth discussing. Because the immigration issue cuts across conventional political boundaries, can conservatives critical of today's immigration mess make common cause with like-minded liberals? And how have conservative supporters of high immigration worked with the liberals who agree with them?
Believe it or not, there are numerous liberals (though few members of their elites) who are concerned about admitting a million-plus immigrants a year. The divide is between the patriotic and the non-patriotic Left. Liberals who worry about America's poor oppose mass immigration; liberals whose advocacy for the poor stems from their loathing for America want more immigration. Liberals who love America's environment and quality of life are concerned about immigration; liberals who express their hatred for America through environmentalism support more immigration.
It's true that patriotic liberals often hold what I consider to be mistaken opinions on other matters — that, after all, is why they're liberals and I'm not. But my Center for Immigration Studies reflects a variety of perspectives on immigration, conservative and liberal, all convinced that today's policies are inconsistent with our country's best interests. But immigration is all we do — not abortion, not tax policy, not gun control — so a diversity of opinion on those other matters is not an issue.
Let me insert here the unfortunately necessary disclaimer: The Center for Immigration Studies is not now, nor has it ever been, a supporter of China's one-child policy. The Center for Immigration Studies is not now, nor has it ever been, a supporter of RU-486. CIS is not now, nor has it ever been, a recipient of money from a eugenicist foundation called the Pioneer Fund. We take no position on anything that does not involve U.S. immigration policy. Period.
Posted by Suzanne at March 31, 2004