“Divide is too deep for immigration reform”

That’s a headline in the March 13 Christian Science Monitor, reflecting a quote from Steven Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies:

Steven Camarota doubts that Congress will agree on an immigration bill this election year. The research director for the Center for Immigration Studies in Washington, D.C., sees too great a divide between the views of “elites” and the “public” over the economic and social merit of a massive inflow of foreigners.

A legislative stalemate would result in a continuation of what a study for the conservative Heritage Foundation calls “a policy of benign neglect.”

The elites, including business leaders, would like an amnesty for the nearly 12 million illegal immigrants in the United States—though it wouldn’t be called an amnesty but a “guest worker program,” perhaps. They welcome cheap immigrant labor.

Contrariwise, polls show the public is strongly opposed to letting undocumented immigrants (many with fake papers) obtain citizenship.

This is great news, in that it means the traitorous elites can’t gull the public anymore. But it’s bad news, in that the current chaotic conditions continue. But what is really amazing is this. A bill can’t be agreed on this year, says Camarota, because the public demands an enforcement-only bill, and the elites want amnesty. But this means that the elites are so set on amnesty that they won’t accept an enforcement-only bill. They are adamantly opposed to protecting the borders of the United States.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at March 21, 2006 11:49 PM | Send