From: udcrusd@meaddata.com (Sylvia D'Cruz)
Subject: News Report: Anti-immigration fever
Organization: Mead Data Central, Dayton OH
Date: Fri, 10 Apr 1992 18:58:11 GMT
Distribution: soc.culture.indian

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                    Copyright 1992 Chicago Tribune Company
                                Chicago Tribune

             January  16, 1992, Thursday, NORTH SPORTS FINAL EDITION

Anti-immigration fever in the nation of  immigrants

Stephen Chapman.

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   Anyone giving away beer can always count on plenty of takers, and anyone
denouncing immigrants can always be sure of finding lots of agreement. But just
as thirsts are greater in July than in January, the resentment of newly arrived
foreigners heads up whenever the economy heads down.

   During hard times, Americans look for two things: a cure and a scapegoat, and
if the first often escapes them, they rarely fail to find the second. After
President Bush, the animus this time is being directed at foreigners abroad
(such as Japanese automakers) and foreigners here, both of whom are accused of
grand theft of American  jobs.

   Only two years after Congress enacted a major immigration bill intended to
put the issue to rest for a good long while, it has suddenly awakened even more
vigorous than before. Gov. Pete Wilson of California recently blamed immigrants
for the state's large budget deficit, which he says came about because
California has a growing number of "tax receivers," many of them foreigners, and
a shrinking number of taxpayers. Pat Buchanan, campaigning in New Hampshire,
calls for constructing a fence along the entire length of the U.S.-Mexico border
to keep out illegal aliens.

   The impulse to slam the golden door reflects not only economic anxiety, but
also a fear that immigrants are polluting our culture, weakening our political
system, spurning our language, breaking our laws, over-seasoning our food,
drinking our whiskey and deflowering our daughters. They have been blamed for
every unwelcome development except the assassination of JFK, though I shouldn't
give Oliver Stone any ideas.

   The resentment of immigration attests to the brief duration of memory, since
most Americans wouldn't be here, and some wouldn't be alive, if not for the
generous immigration policies of the past. Pat Buchanan, who claims Irish and
German ancestry, is a direct political descendant of the 19th Century
Know-Nothings, who were organized to oppose the influx of hordes from . . .
Ireland and Germany.

   American  Indians  may oppose admitting foreigners without being hypocrites,
but the rest of us have the hard duty of explaining why, after several hundred
years of accepting outsiders, the perfect time to pull up the drawbridge is
after we're safely inside. An American opposing immigration is a little like an
Israeli rejecting Zionism.

   Opponents of immigration also have the sad burden of being wrong on almost
all the important facts, starting with the economic ones. It is not true that
immigrants generally cost the government more than the government costs them. As
University of Maryland economist Julian Simon documented in his definitive 1989
book, "The Economic Consequences of Immigration," both legal and illegal
immigrants consistently pay more than their own way, using fewer government
services and paying more taxes than native-born Americans.

   It's possible that particular cities or states (like California) come out on
the short end, since their immigrants may pay more in federal taxes than the
federal government gives back to fund services. But the simple remedy is to
change how we divvy up the cash.

   Common sense may say that newcomers put natives out of work, but common sense
says the sun revolves around the Earth. Historically, there is no connection
between the level of immigration and the level of unemployment. That's because
newcomers not only take  jobs,  they create  jobs  - which means that shutting
them out won't do a thing to boost employment.

   Americans may not like putting up with strange accents and alien habits, but
Americans have always put up with them, and usually in greater profusion than
today. As a share of the population, there are fewer foreign-born people here
today than in the early part of this century, when my German grandfather was
irritating his Texas neighbors and your ancestors were probably proving a total
exasperation to real Americans.

   But in the end, those foreigners turned out to be a boon, and today's
immigrants can be expected to do the same. Contrary to nativist legend, the vast
majority of immigrants and their children stay off welfare, obey the law, learn
the language and brush between meals. Foreigners, after all, generally don't
make great sacrifices to come to this country in order to destroy everything
that drew them in the first place.

   If Americans think their society is going to hell or their prosperity is in
serious danger, they may have a point. But if they want to find the culprits,
they shouldn't round up the immigrants; they should look in the mirror.
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Sylvia D. D'Cruz                                
Mead Data Central                               Systems & Product Technology
Bldg. VI, 9595 Springboro Pike                          udcrusd@meaddata.com
Miamisburg, Ohio 45342                                        (513) 865-6800   
                                               
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