Immigration Law

NYT: CURRENT ANTI-IMMIGRATION MOVEMENT TRACKS FAILED MOVEMENTS OF THE PAST

By Greg Siskind

The Times has a really interesting story this morning giving a historic overview of anti-immigrant movements in past generations and how none of them - even ones much larger than today - actually altered elections. One interesting passage may explain why Americans are not buying in to the rhetoric:

Mr. Rauchway, the historian, argues that the ultimate failure of anti-immigrant politics is part of a larger failure of class-based politics in the United States. Running against the rich ? or the poor ? has rarely worked in this country. Instead, immigrant-bashing has been most successful when it tapped into broader racial fears, as it did in both the 1850s and the 1920s. Notably, the economy was booming in the ?20s.

?As it becomes less and less acceptable to be racist,? Mr. Rauchway said, ?immigration is not going to be as politically effective.?

Polling data supports this argument. In a New York Times/CBS News poll conducted last May ? in the midst of the debate over the immigration bill ? 57 percent of respondents said that most recent immigrants contributed to this country, up from 34 percent when the question was asked in 1986. Only 28 percent in last year?s poll said that most immigrants caused problems, down from 44 percent in 1986. The Gallup Poll also shows increasing sympathy for immigrants.

Full post as published by Greg Siskind's Blog on March 02, 2008 (boomark / email).