WSJ Op-Ed: Kiss the Melting Pot Goodbye

[question everything]

The Wall Street Journal

Kiss the Melting Pot Goodbye
By TAMAR JACOBY
November 19, 2005; Page A7

(snip)

Many Americans have come to reject the label, but few question the idea at the heart of the "melting pot" tradition: Immigration works only if immigrants come to feel like full participants in our society, with all the rights, responsibilities and opportunities enjoyed by others, no matter how long they've been here. Developed gradually, partly by accident and partly by design, this approach to social integration is based as much in tradition as in law. But a key element is birthright citizenship -- in practice for whites since the nation's founding, and codified for all in the 14th Amendment: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States . . ." Newcomers put down roots and invest all-out in their lives here because they know their children will be guaranteed full membership. And children, knowing they have a secure place and a shot at the same opportunities as all other young people, feel entitled to aspire to the nation's highest pinnacles of success.

Things are different in Europe. No European nation grants birthright citizenship to the offspring of its immigrants. And largely as a consequence, no European nation has succeeded in giving second-generation newcomers the sense that they truly belong, and are fully entitled participants in the economy, the body politic and mainstream society... It is in this context -- or despite it -- that a consensus is growing among House Republicans (pro- and anti-immigration) in favor of abolishing birthright citizenship. The argument is that illegal immigrants enter the country expressly with the intent of giving birth -- presumably on the theory that if the parents can hold out here illegally for 21 years, the U.S.-born child will eventually be eligible to sponsor them and other relatives for permanent visas. Never mind that no one has found any evidence that this is indeed common practice today. The statistics often cited, of the number of births per year to illegal immigrants, could be births to newly arrived mothers -- or simply to undocumented women (and they now number in the millions) already living permanently in the United States. Still, sentiment is building that ending birthright citizenship would reassert the rule of law.

Proponents of ending birthright citizenship do not imagine that the Constitution will be amended. But a legal scholar, John C. Eastman of Chapman University, claims that the 14th Amendment has been misinterpreted. In his view, the key words are not "born . . . in the United States," but rather "subject to the jurisdiction thereof" -- a phrase he thinks can be used to exclude illegal immigrants by statute. More alarming still, he has convinced several congressmen, and provisions to this effect have been included in two pieces of legislation under consideration in the House. The political risks alone ought to give proponents pause. Just imagine how these proposals look from the point of view of a Hispanic voter. For more than 200 years, common law and then the Constitution granted citizenship to the children of immigrants. But now that it's Latinos who qualify, the Republican Party is mobilizing to change the rules.

(snip)

The overwhelming majority would finish out their lives here in the U.S. as second-class noncitizens with no hope of full participation in our society and little incentive to try in school or to aspire to mainstream success. Talk about a recipe for a permanent underclass: legally marginalized, undereducated, languishing near the bottom of the economic ladder and -- can anyone doubt -- increasingly resentful.

(snip).

Ms. Jacoby is a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute.

URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113236356635802100.html (subscription)

[Deja Q]

1. Plenty of non-immigrant Americans feel the same way.

(let's save the lecture that we're all immigrants on some level for another day)

Many of us do not feel like full participants in our society. Thanks to every excuse made for a lost job.

America is about the bottom line profit. Nothing more. Or less.

And if that means you are to be excluded from life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness than so be it.

[question everything]

5. Yes, but non-immigrants will never riot

Most here are conditioned to believe in the "American Dream" - that has long turned into a nightmare.

Revolutions in other countries - where the class system was entrenched - were mad at the site of luxury in the palace while the rest where dying of sickness and starvation, and climbed the barricades.

Here, when people see the excess and greed and opulence of the CEOs they don't want to storm the barricades; they dream about someday being that CEO.

This is why socialism and communism never took hold in this country. These system seek to, yes, redistribute the wealth so that we do not see this obscene disparity. Most people in this country do not want to redistribute the wealth; they want the wealth.

People riot when they feel they have nothing to lose. In this country, for some reason, even the most miserable wretched people have not reached this stage, yet.

This is how the opposition to the Vietnam war gained momentum in 1968, I think. When college kids who thought they were saved by their college deferments saw them disappear.

[Demeter]

9. As I Was 12 Years Old And Living In Detroit in 1967

I must dispute your notion. This country's known riots throughout its history, and if the government keeps up the way it is, we're going to have another civil war, too.

By the way, socialism and communism had their knees cut out from under them with Roosevelt's New Deal, which the morans are now trying to take away. Nice try at revisionism, though.

[Cerridwen]

2. How far back in my family tree do I have to look to insure my

ancestors were here legally? Can I be retroactively stripped of citizenship?

[Midnight Rambler]

3. Well, seeing as how my family was already here before the Europeans came

I guess I wouldn't have anything to worry about. Oh wait... I'm brown. Fuck.

[joemurphy]

4. No Citizenship for Children of Illegal Immigrants!!!!

November 4, 2005

The Hon. Thomas Tancredo
1130 Longworth House Office Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20515-0606

Re: No Citizenship for U.S. Children of Illegal Aliens!

Dear Rep. Tancredo

This is the first time I’ve ever written you, but I see you a lot on C-Span and on The Lou Dobbs show on CNN. I’ve always been one of your biggest fans. (By the way, you really look sharp in that blazer you always wear! Great haircut too!) Whenever I see one of your statements in the local paper I always make a point of clipping it out and showing it to my wife, Elzbeta Toth. She likes you a lot too.

Actually, Elzbeta and I both thought that we wouldn’t see much more of you on C-Span after you became President of “Colorado Term Limits, Inc.” and swore a solemn oath to limit yourself to only three terms in the House of Representatives. We were sure glad when you changed your mind about it and ran for your fourth term back in 2004. We need more patriotic Republicans like you in Congress! It’s only thanks to guys like you that this country isn’t totally overrun by Mexicans!

One of the things Elzbeta and I like most about you is how you always seem to notice things that others don’t. And I don’t just mean Mexicans. For example, you were the only one that I know of in Congress that noticed that the National Park Service had put up a memorial to the 9-11 victims of Flight 93 in Pennsylvania that was shaped in the form of a “Crescent.” Nobody but you was sharp enough to pick up on the fact that the Park Service was also going to use the word “Crescent” in the name it was going to give to the Memorial. You were right to point out that “Crescents” are big-time Islamic symbols and that the Park Service, by calling the Flight 93 Memorial Crescent a “Crescent,” was really honoring the Islamic hijackers that stole the plane and not the victims! Those traitors! Elzbeta and I were really glad when you made the Park Service drop the word “Crescent” from the name of the Flight 93 Memorial. That was great work! But there’s another “Crescent” we wanted to tell you about that I think you missed. Besides being called “The Big Easy,” the city of New Orleans is also nicknamed "The Crescent City". As long as you’re getting rid of “Crescents,” we were thinking maybe you could do something about that one and make New Orleans less Islamic too!

My wife and I also backed you completely when you fearlessly took on the Denver Public Library after you caught it trying to buy library books written in Spanish. Nobody else but you had the courage to confront a big institution like that! But you were right! The only ones that would be reading Spanish books would be illegal Mexicans that don’t speak English. Buying library books in Spanish only encourages more illegal Mexican immigration! What a waste of money! We were glad when you stood in the Library’s way and blocked that steamroller from going through! Also, because it was such an important matter, Elzbeta and I didn’t mind when you called what the Public Library was doing “cultural Balkanization.” See, Elzbeta and I are originally from Hungary (which, if you look at a map of Europe, you will see is kind of in the Balkans). I guess Elzbeta and I are sort of “Balkanized” too. Ha! Ha! Anyway, we knew you didn’t mean any offense so we let it go.

Elzbeta and I were also right there with you when you said in your interview on that Florida radio show that if Osama Bin Laden blew up a dirty bomb in a U.S. city, then we ought to drop a nuclear weapon on Mecca and Medina and all those other Arab holy places. I know it made a lot of people angry, but that’s just good foreign policy thinking in my book. Did you discuss that with Dick Cheney and Condoleezza Rice before making your statement? Ha! Ha! I’ll bet you did! Anyway, I’m glad you stuck to your guns and refused to give an apology when those Muslims you offended all over the world were demanding one. Never compromise on matters of moral principle! Don’t give an inch! That’s the Republican way!

And don’t think Elzbeta and I haven’t noticed your Presidential ambitions! You’ve certainly got our votes if you manage to get that Republican nomination. By the way, I looked on your website and noticed that you are presently ranked 9th among Republican candidates for 2008 – just behind Mike Huckabee and Hailey Barbour. Like I told Elzbeta, 9th is pretty good when you consider that you’re running against charismatic heavyweights like them. Keep on fighting! Pretty soon you’ll storm past Huckabee and Barbour and be challenging the likes of Santorum and Gingrich!

But I better get on to the reason for this letter. Elzbeta and I are both long-time Republican voters. We agree with you 100% that something should be done about all these Mexican immigrants that keep coming here and taking jobs from U.S. citizens. Your idea -- building a big wall clear across the whole Mexican border -- makes a ton of sense to us. Even if it might cost the $8 Billion that people say it will – it’d still be worth it just to keep those Latinos on the other side! But it’s your other idea – the one about taking U.S. citizenship away from U.S.- born children of illegal immigrants – that’s got Elzbeta and I a little nervous. We were wondering if you might consider writing in an exception for U.S. born children of illegal Hungarians.

See, my wife, Elzbeta Toth, was born here in the U.S. but her parents, Ferenc and Matilda Esterhazy were both illegal immigrants at the time of her birth. They both came here in 1956 after the Hungarian Uprising by sneaking across the U.S. border from Canada. (Hey, maybe we ought to wall off that border too!). Anyway, Matilda was later given asylum and she eventually became a U.S. citizen. However, Ferenc never bothered with the paperwork. Both of them were still illegal when Elzbeta was born to them in Pottstown, Pennsylvania in 1959. Unfortunately, in the mid-1960s Ferenc developed a really bad hemorrhoid problem and was deported after he was caught shoplifting anal suppositories from a drug store here in Indianapolis. Because Ferenc never got his papers, that makes Elzbeta the U.S.-citizen daughter of illegal Hungarian immigrants – someone that could get deported if you get your Constitutional Amendment passed. That’s got both Elzbeta and me wondering if your proposal to strip children of illegal immigrant parents of citizenship applies not just to Mexicans, but also to Hungarians. If Hungarians are included that might be bad news for Elzbeta.

Elzbeta and I have been married for over 30 years. I’d really hate to see her stripped of her U.S. citizenship and deported after all these years. That’s why I’ve written you. We’re both hoping that there might be some kind of exception for children of illegal Hungarians in your proposal. Ordinarily, I’m not one to ask for favors, but you’ve always seemed like a fair person in your appearances on Lou Dobbs’ show. I figured that a reasonable man like you would recognize the need for a special exception for Hungarians like Elzbeta.

I also read somewhere that during the Vietnam War you didn’t have to serve in the army because you were mentally ill, prone to anxiety attacks, and were using mind-affecting drugs. When I read that it gave me hope that you would be sympathetic to Elzbeta’s plight. Since you were the beneficiary of a special exception for mentally ill people yourself back in the 1960s, I was thinking that you might make a special exception for Elzbeta too. So, how about it? Elzbeta and I would be really grateful if you did!

By the way, Elzbeta and I are both glad that you are no longer mentally disturbed and have stopped using mind-altering drugs. We both think you look really good now. To look at you, no one would even believe that you once had problems like that.

Well, I know you’re a busy man, and I guess you’re still a long way from getting that Constitutional Amendment to strip Mexican babies of U.S. citizenship passed. But I still wanted to give you an early heads up on Elzbeta’s special problem so that you could keep her in mind when drafting the wording of the Amendment.

So, keep on repelling those Mexicans! Get that wall built and deport all their U.S.-born babies! Elzbeta and I are pulling for you!

Your friend,

Lazlo Toth
Voting for Republicans (both unindicted and indicted) since 1952!

(Inspired by Don Novello’s Lazlo Toth Letters)

[BlueInPhilly]

6. The UK Does

If I'm not mistaken, they also go by Jus Soli (soil), not Jus Sanguini (blood).

[hezekkia]

7. my $.02

weren't the first Europeans on this continent also illegals? where were their documents?

:think:

[Thom Little]

8. This "jurisdiction" angle is a bald-faced lie.

This is obviously just a slick piece of lawyering to try and destroy a constitutional right, but he doesn't seem to understand what he'll have to defend. If we have no "jurisdiction" over illegal immigrants at all, that means we can't prosecute any illegal immigrant who commits a crime in the USA. I'd like to see this guy try to defend THAT.