The Wall Street Journal's editorial page sets out a view of immigration that I'd share, in an ideal world. I'd be all in favor of open borders and a country available to anyone who wants to join, but alas, we don't live in such a world.
To wit, do Republicans want to continue in the Reagan tradition of American optimism and faith in assimilation that sends a message of inclusiveness to all races? Or will they take another one of their historical detours into a cramped, exclusionary policy that tells millions of new immigrants, and especially Hispanics, that they belong somewhere else? ...But there have also been costs, and parts of America have borne more than have others. The border states in particular have experienced more crime and social disruption, as well as the cost to local taxpayers of "free" health care and education for illegal immigrants. To the extent they work and pay rent, illegals do pay for those government services. But we don't dismiss lightly the anxiety that many Americans feel at this rapid pace of demographic change. Well meaning politicians, such as Arizona Senator Jon Kyl, who feel obliged to respond to that anxiety in this election year are not part of the nativist brigades.
The problem isn't immigration. Immigration makes America strong. Open borders, as generally advocated by the WSJ, and unlimited immigration would be good for America except for three factors.
1. Our expensive welfare system, including public education and public health care, means that poor, unskilled immigrants cost much more than they produce. This means that, unfortunately, we have to limit immigration to skilled or wealthy people. If we eliminated all these "free" public services then immigration would be much more of a net benefit to our country (and fewer people would come, eager for a free ride).
2. The sheer number of immigrants makes it less necessary for them to assimilate. Populations of people who are able to survive in America without being legal, without learning English, and without being grafted into our American culture end up weakening the fabric of our society. Open borders and unrestricted immigration would make it easier for people to assimilate if they wanted to, but would lessen the pressure to assimilate due to the presence of so many other non-Americans.
3. Terrorists are always looking to sneak in and kill us. If we don't keep track of who comes in we won't be able to filter out the few terrorists among the throngs of immigrants.
So for these practical reasons it seems clear that we can't just open our borders to all comers. I'm very sympathetic to the position laid out in the WSJ, but I don't think it's realistic.
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