A tough stance against illegal immigration is a popular stance
— as long as it is tough in the right way. Also, the public
absolutely insists that English should be the official language,
meaning the only official language, in these United States
— and Latinos in the United States agree with the broader
public.
Those are the two key findings from a mid-April survey by
respected pollster McLaughlin & Associates, conducted at the
behest of the conservative group Citizens United. (And clearly, the
sample population in the survey was not tilted rightward: Various
cross-tabs in the poll show absolutely no bias in either the
liberal or conservative direction.)
Let’s zip through some of the poll numbers first, and then
discuss what they mean.
By a margin of 63-36, Americans believe that illegal immigration
is a major problem (vs. a minor problem or not a problem at all).
Latinos also agree, but by a much closer split of 50 to 47.
By a 74-22 margin, Americans agree with the following statement:
“We have to stop the flow of illegals before we address what to do
about those who already are here.” Latinos agree, 63 to 32.
Somewhat surprisingly (to me at least), when given six choices
as to what is “the best way to stop illegal immigration” (including
getting tougher on employers who hire illegals and increasing
federal funding for more border agents and new technology), the
choice that finished dead last among the six, with only 7 percent,
was “building a wall or fence along the US-Mexican border to
prevent all off-road illegal immigration into the US.” When asked
directly, though, whether they would support a border fence, 50
percent said yes and 41 percent said no. This was one of the only
issues on which there was a marked difference between Latinos and
the broader public: Latinos dislike the fence idea by a 35-61
margin.
On the other hand, Latinos by a percentage of 56-35 support the
hiring of 6,000 new border patrol agents, bringing the total to
more than 18,000. The broader public, according to the poll,
supports more agents, 70-20.
Now, here is where the poll gets really interesting: 88
percent of all respondents, including 88 percent of Latinos, favor
English immersion classes for students from other linguistic
backgrounds. This puts the lie to the idea that Latinos would
prefer to be taught in those trendy “bilingual” classes that try to
ease such students into English by teaching in their original
language first. And 80 percent of Americans, including 62
percent of Latinos, favor making English the official language
of the United States.
Support is also strong across the board for requiring valid
photo identification in order to vote, and for “a tamper-proof
identification card system to determine instantly whether a job
applicant is entitled to work inside the United States,” and also
for prohibiting states from issuing drivers’ licenses for illegal
immigrants.
Finally (for our purposes), 68 percent of all those surveyed,
and 56 percent of Latinos, support enactment of a “zero tolerance”
policy requiring deportation of illegal immigrants.
There’s lots more in the poll (available here and here), but it all pretty much tracks the same trends as
the poll questions I’ve highlighted.
WHAT IT ALL MEANS is that, first, the problem of illegal
immigration remains of serious importance to the voting public;
second, the public wants the borders closed and strongly
disapproves of illegals; third, the public thinks immigrants ought
to be assimilated into our culture and abide by our laws and
customs; fourth, Latinos do not differ very much from the
broader public in their views on these subjects; and fifth, that a
candidate who learns to talk about these issues in the right way
will gain an advantage without risking a backlash among the
ever-increasing number of legal Latino voters in this country.
It takes some reading between the lines, though, to figure out
what that “right way” is. I think the key distinction is that the
public wants firmness but not harshness. The border fence earns
support, but not strong support, for instance — which could
indicate that, symbolically, an American people steeped in the
ideals of freedom, especially freedom from physical restraint, are
less enthusiastic about something that looks physically confining.
Forgive the amateur psychologizing here, but the lesser enthusiasm
for the fence could signify that one of the very ideals that many
opponents of illegal immigration want to hold inviolable is that a
free society depends on ordered liberty of the sort in which most
citizens voluntarily abide by our laws, rather than have them
physically enforced, because obeisance to the duly constituted laws
of our land creates a society in which freedom itself can flourish
more widely.
Wait: That sentence was rather dense. Try this: We ourselves
enforce our laws by obeying them, because doing so serves the
greater good from which we, too, benefit.
We want anybody who comes to this country to understand and live
by that ideal. That ideal is harder to symbolize with a fence than
it is with a border whose strictures are observed without a
physical barrier.
Note that a majority still says that if it takes a fence to do
the job, then by all means build a fence. But that’s the least
popular option, the fallback if other options fail.
THERE’S A CRUCIAL COROLLARY to these results that the pro
amnesty/easy-guest-worker/lesser-restriction crowd always gets
wrong. Again and again, that crowd — Ted Kennedy, John McCain,
President Bush — acts as if they flat-out don’t believe the
frequent protestation of the tough-on-illegal coalition that the
tough guys really do welcome legal immigrants, just not
illegal ones. At the National Review Institute conservative summit
earlier this year, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush otherwise wowed the
crowd — but he created an angry buzz that had not even begun to
dissipate a full day later when his pro-guest-worker comments
almost explicitly criticized the motives of the get-tough folks, as
if they (we) are all xenophobes rather than people who
sincerely welcome outsiders as long as they, but only if they, are
willing to follow our laws.
The subtleties in the McLaughlin poll, showing overwhelming
support for strong border enforcement but a carefully calibrated
sense of how to go about it, shows that Americans remain a
welcoming people but a people who insist that it must actually
mean something to be an American. It means that you abide
by our laws, including those governing how you come here in the
first place. It means that you join our common culture, especially
by learning our common language. Yes, your culture can enrich ours,
and our culture will value the additions yours makes to our own —
but only if you make the effort to make yours a part of ours,
rather than to make ours bend to yours at our own expense.
Our language and our laws are sacrosanct. If you don’t like it,
stay out — or else be hunted down, jailed, and deported.
But if you want to actually be an American, and voluntarily
respect the social compact, this sacred covenant, that defines our
civic life….well, then, by all means, come on in! Good citizens
and good visitors are always welcome here in these United States.
Just do us the courtesy of honoring our rules.
