NYC AS EXAMPLE OF OPEN IMMIGRATION

Nina Bernstein writes in yesterday's New York Times that the new immigration bill if passed and signed into law could drastically change the composition of immigrants living in New York City.

"The proposed law certainly would not end the flow of legal immigration to New York. But it could profoundly alter the currents that have long fed the city’s mom and pop entrepreneurship, its kaleidoscopic diversity, and family networks that nurture and help assimilate newcomers. "

"More of the city’s newcomers, compared with immigrants in other parts of the country, continue to gain entry through the very family visas that the pending bill would restrict or abolish — and that would be replaced with a point system based on skills and education.

"New York was front and center when Congress refashioned America’s immigration system in 1965, replacing quotas based on race and national origin with a system centered on reunifying families. This time, with heated debate focused on illegal immigrants who cross the Mexican border and settle mainly in the West and South, New York’s experience has received less attention."

In other words, the diversity of races, cultures and nationalities now found in New York came about because the immigration system allowed family members of those who gained legal permanent residency to immigrate, obtain a "green card," and achieve that same status for themselves. New York City thus has a high ratio of legal to illegal immigrants, as the NY Times story reports.

But under the new proposed bill, family ties would mean little in deciding who can immigrate to the U.S. Instead, the new bill puts emphasis on a candidate's education and job proficiency and skills.

"“I love what I have now, and everything I have now, I work on it,” said Steven Lai, 46, whose immigration at 23 depended not only on his mother’s sponsorship, but on a long line of male forebears who endured 20-year family separations and exclusion from citizenship as they labored in the United States, first building railroads in 19th-century California. “Family is more important than everything else,” said Mr. Lai whose mother, Oilhang, 66, helps in the store.


"Under the proposed point system, Mr. Lai would have been locked out. The measure aims to reduce chain migration — the practice of one immigrant sponsoring others — and to make room for those the federal government selects as the world’s best, brightest and most easily assimilated. It would end preferences for the adult children and siblings of United States citizens, and eliminate a citizen’s right to sponsor parents. Instead, the government would admit foreigners who scored highest on a scale that values advanced degrees, skills approved by the Department of Labor, and fluency in English, much more than family ties. Only those admitted on points could sponsor their spouse and minor children."

In effect, under the current system, we have "open borders," at least to most close relatives of those already here with a green card. The resultant ethnic mix is what makes New York City so interesting and vibrant. There are various clusters and neighborhoods of Pakistanis, Italians, Irish, Russians and Poles. There are Ghanaians, Kenyans, Koreans and Chinese. In New York City, there is no rule, written or unwritten, that says, speak English. Many immigrants never want to speak a language other than their native language. But look at the second generation. The children all talk English with a New York accent.

And consider the economic effect of such open immigration. New York City is booming because of its immigrants.

"Yet immigrants like Mr. Lai, who learned English and locksmith skills at night school and opened his business 18 years ago with family savings, have been a vital economic engine for the city, said Gary Gerstle, a historian of immigration who teaches at Vanderbilt University. The city’s record, he and others say, casts doubt on the dichotomy being drawn in the debate between family ties and other factors that might lead to economic success.


"“The way that New York has come back is one of the great American success stories of the last 40 years, and immigrants are absolutely central to it,” Professor Gerstle said. “Mom and pop stores in New York have been a very dynamic force in the making of American society, and I would not want to see that possibility foreclosed.”"

This is what I would like to see for all American cities. Not the monochromatic dullness of everyone being from Northern Europe and everyone speaking English. But the vibrancy and diversity of language and culture and color as in NYC.

This is why I am for open borders. Mr. Bush, tear down that fence. Let America be open to every immigrant, no matter how poor, no matter what race, no matter what language. Therefore we need to defeat this new harsh immigration bill that would put up more barriers to open immigration by limiting family sponsorship of new immigrants.