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May 18, 2005
10 Steps to a New, More Presidential You
By now, it's not newsworthy (or even particularly good conversation) that we are a nation of immigrants. My family immigrated, your family immigrated, Ward Churchill's family immigrated. The less-spoken corollary to this, of course, is that we are (at least largely (or at least ought strive to be)) a nation of legal immigrants.
Mark Krikorian, Director of the Center for Immigration Studies, has a spectacular cover article in the May 23rd issue of National Review, outlining a straightforward and comprehensive 10-step plan for turning the tide against illegal immigration in the U.S.
Happily, the political mainstream finally seems to have developed an overdue sincerity toward this issue, in recognition of the unparalleled national security risk posed by a lax immigration scheme. What Krikorian brings into sharp relief, however (beyond the luminously reasoned road map he lays out), is the unparalleled political magnitude of the issue, particularly with regard to the 2008 Presidential election.
Despite receiving a grade of F from Americans for Better Immigration, Hillary Clinton has been one of the most vocal ostensible proponents of overhauling and strengthening immigration control, presumably because she recognizes not only the escalating collective attention trained on the issue, but also the failure to date of the current administration to adequately undertake such an overhaul.
I had the opportunity to attend a lecture given by Krikorian a couple months back (while he simultaneously appeared on O'Reilly – omnipresence apparently being among his talents) and have been frustrated ever since that I didn't take notes. Thankfully, the NR piece has redeemed my poor diligence. Absent their respective expositions are Krikorian's "10 steps for a successful Presidential candidate":
1. Unambiguous commitment to enforcement
2. No Hobson's choice
3. Take amnesty off the table
4. No illegal workers
5. Work with states and localities
6. Document security
7. Check in/check out
8. Streamline legal immigration
9. "Temporary" visas
10. Actively discourage dual citizenship
The overarching thrust is to migrate the structure of incentives, enforcement, and consequences to one that tilts the equation toward a gradual, steady reversal of the problem, rejecting the two primary, unsuccessful fixes attempted in the past – mass roundups and mass amnesty.
The road map succeeds in outlining an utterly achievable, enduringly sustainable methodology for handling the issue – a singular distinction, to my knowledge. But the most cunning insight may be Krikorian's read that, from a political standpoint, nothing short of the next Presidential administration hangs in the balance.
Posted by Suitably Flip at May 18, 2005 04:13 PM
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