Sunday 15 August 2010
Rupert Cornwell: Are you now, or have you ever been, a migrant?
Immigrants are not the problem. The US was built by, and thrives on, immigrants with their new ideas and go-getter attitudes. The problem is illegal immigrants: those who scoff at US laws - whether immigration laws, driving licence laws or insurance laws. Successfully flouting whole sets of US laws with impunity, they learn that they need only follow those laws that are convenient for them and ignore any that are not.
Compared to this problem, the citizenship of an infant is irrelevant. If s/he grows up in the US from birth, s/he's an American for better or for worse. If s/he goes back to the home country and makes a decision at 18 to return as a citizen, s/he's probably just the kind of immigrant we want.
Immigrants are not the problem. The US was built by, and thrives on, immigrants with their new ideas and go-getter attitudes. The problem is illegal immigrants: those who scoff at US laws - whether immigration laws, driving licence laws or insurance laws. Successfully flouting whole sets of US laws with impunity, they learn that they need only follow those laws that are convenient for them and ignore any that are not.
Compared to this problem, the citizenship of an infant is irrelevant. If s/he grows up in the US from birth, s/he's an American for better or for worse. If s/he goes back to the home country and makes a decision at 18 to return as a citizen, s/he's probably just the kind of immigrant we want.
# posted by Had It in Holland Park @ 01:27 
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