Ethnic Conflicts Abroad: Clues to America’s Future

A courageous husband and wife team of sociologists tackle the “one world,” “melting pot” myth head-on in this comprehensive review of ethnic conflict across the globe. Some quotes:

• “Conflict — not harmony — is the rule wherever and whenever two or more well-defined ethnic groups inhabit the same territory....”
• “The largely unconsidered result of past and present immigration policies is that the United States is in the process of changing the racial and cultural composition of its population to a degree probably unprecedented in human history except for situations involving the military conquest of a society by a foreign aggressor....”
• “The United States might eventually find an unwanted place in world headlines alongside other ethnically-divided countries such as Lebanon, Sri Lanka, India, Northern Ireland, and Israel’s occupied territories.”

Huddled Clichés

• The struggle for reasonable limits on immigration is a battle of ideas. On the side of restriction is simple common sense: After 30 years of record numbers of immigrants (and unprecedented diversity), it is time for the nation to have a “time-out” from massive immigration.
• On the opposing side, the ideas often are a blend of clever evasion, outright distortion, and manipulated sentiments. Immigration enthusiasts tell Americans not to worry because “immigration has always worked out in the past,” or “immigrants work harder than Americans.” Often they cap such “arguments” with the cliché clincher, “We’re a nation of immigrants”—and heart-warming commentary about “huddled masses.”
• Such claims, with the force of powerful media behind them, often confuse and deceive the public. What the restrictionist side has needed is a brief and effective analysis to cut through all the deception. Now it’s here in Lawrence Auster’s monograph, Huddled Clichés.
• Auster does a splendid job of getting to the heart of issues and refuting the pro-immigration case, distortion by distortion, cliché by cliché. It is an excellent follow-up to his ground-breaking Path to National Suicide.
• Knowledge equals success in a war of ideas. Huddled Clichés makes a valuable contribution of understanding and insight.

Immigration and Nation, a Biblical View

• Is it God’s will that America should be overwhelmed by massive immigration? Some religious professionals who claim to speak for God would have Americans think so. Because they endow their opinions with divine authority, quite a number of people under their leadership and influence are confused on the issue of immigration.
• For the historic Christian faith, however, the source of truth has not been the views of men, but the Bible. What does the Bible have to say on the topic of immigration and the related issue of nationhood?
• John Vinson’s Immigration and Nation, a Biblical View examines Old and New Testament teachings on these matters. The author concludes from numerous passages that the divine plan calls for the division of mankind into nations, each with its own unique character and distinctions. To the extent that immigration erases these distinctions, it is out of the will of God.
• Far from being a humanitarian enterprise, the author concludes, massive immigration is a policy rooted in humanistic pride and the worship of mammon.

Public Costs of Immigration

• Dr. Donald Huddle of Rice University continues his ongoing work documenting the high costs of immigration. In his latest study, Public Costs of Immigration: Recent Net National Public Service Costs and Projected 1997-2006 Costs, Huddle compares the amounts post-1970 immigrants paid into the system with the benefits they receive.
• Currently, Huddle notes in the study, immigrants receive benefits from thirty-three major federal, state and local assistance programs. Also they may receive city and county benefits.
• Along with these expenditures, immigrants impose burdens by taking jobs from Americans. These displaced American workers then receive assistance from various programs.
• By subtracting the taxes paid by post-1970 immigrants from the costs of their use of assistance programs and the costs of displacement, Huddle found that these immigrants cost the United States a net loss of $65 billion in 1996. From 1997 to 2006, Huddle projects that immigration will cost a net total of $865.9 billion.
• Dr. Huddle’s work provides effective arguments that immigration is not the “free lunch” for America that immigration promoters claim.

The Myth of Open Borders

• Dr. Lutton traces the development of immigration restriction in America from colonial days to the present. The views of leading Americans on the need for immigration control are presented in detail. Quotations from Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Hamilton, Madison, Theodore Roosevelt, and others are included.
• This essay also summarizes the history of U.S. immigration and legislation dealing with the subject.

Selling Our Birthright

• Joe Daleidens "Selling Our Birthright" is appropriately titled. Its 39 pages effectively make the case that failure to cut mass immigration will destroy the unique and bountiful America we have inherited from our forebears. He asks, "Should we leave the outcome to chance knowing that an undesirable outcome will be virtually irreversible? Or should we decide today what outcome would be best for future generations of Americans, both native-born and immigrant ?"
• An economist by training, Mr. Daleiden brings to his task a sharp ability to analyze statistical trends. He makes an effective case, as one example, that the Census Bureau is underestimating the likely population growth from immigration in its "median" estimate of 400 million people by the year 2050. If current trends continue, Daleiden maintains, the Bureaus "high" estimate of more than a half-billion (nearly twice the year 2000 population) is more likely. Long before 2050, he argues, such explosive growth will make severe demands on our environment and infrastructure.
• Also at risk is our social harmony. Diversity is not our strength, says Daleiden, if it overwhelms our powers of assimilation and leads to ethnic and cultural balkanization. But these are not the only social fault lines. Rich and poor is another.
• While immigration is undeniably making some wealthy business people wealthier by providing them access to cheap labor, the flood of immigrants through the law of supply and demand has held down the wages of wage earners. Particularly hard-hit are American blacks and other groups with incomes lower than the national average.
• Daleiden next rebuts nine often-heard statements in defense of mass immigration. Among them: "Immigrants are needed to support an aging population" and "Immigrants take jobs Americans won't." He concludes with 15 concise well-argued proposals to reform immigration policy. We must act quickly, he urges, before we pass "the proverbial point of no return."