Politics: The immigration debate

As an American of Chinese ancestry, I have great appreciation for America's welcome of immigrants. I was born in the USA but my ancestors for several generations interacted with the immigration system of the USA. So my number one point is that America is a great nation in part because of its welcome of immigrants and how those immigrants have contributed to the American story.

According to this report (see p. 32), in 2000, the USA naturalized 888,788 individuals as citizens. On p. 33, we find that 42.6% are from other parts of the Americas and 35.1% from Asia. Thus, the USA is accepting around 900,000 new citizen annually through legal channels. This rate of immigration is similar to other countries though I suppose some people might feel it is too many while others feel it isn't enough.

There is of course also illegal immigration. From news reports I hear, of the 300 million living in America today, 12 million are here illegally.

I'm sympathetic to immigration as my ancestors were immigrants.

However, is there an amount of immigration (legal plus illegal) that is too much?

As it is right now, it is an "accident" of geography that Mexico shares a border with the USA. If China shared a border with the USA, how many would cross? If an African nation shared a border, how many would cross?

Also, in the era of terrorism, how important is border security?

We know the LAX millennium bomber Ahmed Ressam was caught crossing the border from Canada.

Do we have similar concerns about our southern border?

As a realist, I know that illegal immigrants are a part of the American economy and it isn't feasible to deport 12 million people. However, for terrorism security reasons, we need to do a better job on the border.

Additionally, there is the basic question of FAIRNESS: is the illegal immigrant from Mexico more deserving than the family trying to come to America legally from Latvia, Liberia or Laos?