My parents immigrated from England after WWII, legally and without sponsors. My stepfather's family immigrated from Mexico in the 40's, legally and without sponsors. My wife's grandparents stepped off the boat from Italy and gave their names. I've lived for a few years in Mexico and in Italy. I am as much an advocate for immigration as a…
My parents immigrated from England after WWII, legally and without sponsors. My stepfather's family immigrated from Mexico in the 40's, legally and without sponsors. My wife's grandparents stepped off the boat from Italy and gave their names. I've lived for a few years in Mexico and in Italy. I am as much an advocate for immigration as anyone. I'm a fan of Matt Yglesias' book, One Billion Americans. I grew up 10 miles from the border and have actually assisted (in other words, in real life) undocumented workers. I lived near the Salinas Valley for another 20 years and volunteered time to help farm workers. I'm a huge fan of the asylum system. Yet when the system is overwhelmed precisely because people know the law cannot be enforced, and the demand for labor is huge, then many more people will come for purely economic reasons and overwhelm the asylum system. Citizens, for whatever reasons, valid or invalid, will be upset and seek support from whatever political party promises to make it stop. This is happening all over the world. This was Brexit. This was the success of the "post-fascist" Brothers of Italy. Marine Le Pen in France, Orban and Trump. Check the EU election results the other day. So you'll have to forgive me if some philosophical distinction about the unworthiness of the law ends up being used as an excuse for bringing these awful people of the far-right to power. That, to me, the lack of political pragmatism, is the most thought-terminating cliche I can think of. It's like progressives saw the rise of the Right and said, Hmmm... what can we do to make this a complete success? While I can agree with you in principle, I can moderate my expectations for progress in my lifetime so as to not rip a whole in the fabric of society.
My parents immigrated from England after WWII, legally and without sponsors. My stepfather's family immigrated from Mexico in the 40's, legally and without sponsors. My wife's grandparents stepped off the boat from Italy and gave their names. I've lived for a few years in Mexico and in Italy. I am as much an advocate for immigration as anyone. I'm a fan of Matt Yglesias' book, One Billion Americans. I grew up 10 miles from the border and have actually assisted (in other words, in real life) undocumented workers. I lived near the Salinas Valley for another 20 years and volunteered time to help farm workers. I'm a huge fan of the asylum system. Yet when the system is overwhelmed precisely because people know the law cannot be enforced, and the demand for labor is huge, then many more people will come for purely economic reasons and overwhelm the asylum system. Citizens, for whatever reasons, valid or invalid, will be upset and seek support from whatever political party promises to make it stop. This is happening all over the world. This was Brexit. This was the success of the "post-fascist" Brothers of Italy. Marine Le Pen in France, Orban and Trump. Check the EU election results the other day. So you'll have to forgive me if some philosophical distinction about the unworthiness of the law ends up being used as an excuse for bringing these awful people of the far-right to power. That, to me, the lack of political pragmatism, is the most thought-terminating cliche I can think of. It's like progressives saw the rise of the Right and said, Hmmm... what can we do to make this a complete success? While I can agree with you in principle, I can moderate my expectations for progress in my lifetime so as to not rip a whole in the fabric of society.