10/30/2009

Voting Present on Illegal Immigration

By Victor Davis Hanson,  National Review

Immigration activists and Hispanic groups are demanding that President Obama deliver on his promised comprehensive package of immigration reform.

Already, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) has derided federal sweeps of illegal aliens as “un-American.” And recently the Obama administration stripped the federal authority of Arizona’s controversial Maricopa County sheriff, Joe Arpaio, to make immigration arrests.

Yet expect the public to oppose any so-called comprehensive immigration reform even more vehemently than it did George W. Bush’s doomed 2007 proposals.

Why?

Conditions on the ground have changed drastically in the last two years.

First, the nation’s unemployment rate is now over 9 percent. It may peak beyond 10 percent. In many western states, such as California, the jobless rate may climb even higher.

The old notion that “illegal immigrants pick the lettuce that Americans refuse to” is an ossified stereotype. In fact, today fewer than one out of 20 illegal aliens currently do farm labor. Most are engaged in construction or working in the service industry, or are homemakers with childcare responsibilities. While plenty of unemployed American citizens still may not yet wish to pick oranges, the jobless might consider taking jobs like hammering nails or working in restaurants...

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