Stephen Kershnar
Immigration and
the Essence of a Nation
Dunkirk-Fredonia
Observer
December 27, 2021
Large numbers of immigrants have
recently come to the United States. This will change the country.
Using Census Bureau numbers, the
Center for Immigration Studies reports that in the US
there are now 46 million immigrants (legal and illegal). This is the largest number ever
recorded. Immigrants are now 14.2%
of the population. Roughly, this percentage has tripled
since 1970 and doubled since 1990. It is nearly the highest percentage ever.
The highest was in 1890 when 14.8%
of the population were immigrants. By 1910, the percentage of immigrants began
to drop precipitously.
This
flood of immigrants ratcheted up the country’s population. Using Bureau of
Labor numbers, roughly 86 million people – 26%
of the US population – are immigrants and their children. This makes the
country considerably more crowded than it was in the 70’s and 80’s.
This flood of immigration is not only new but
differs from the rest of the world. In 2015, the US had a larger immigrant
population than any other country. It had 19%
of the world’s immigrants despite having 4% of its population. Currently,
no other country has even a quarter
the number of immigrants we do.
The
Biden administration is on track to let in more than 2 million illegal aliens. There were already more than 22 million illegal aliens in the country. On one estimate, the average
illegal alien and her children cost taxpayers $8,000
per year. As a group they cost taxpayers more than $100 billion per year. These estimates are controversial and other estimates
are far lower. Still, on most estimates, illegal aliens pull money out of
citizens’ wallets.
The question is how this flood of
immigrants will change the US. One important issue here is whether the United States is constituted by
a people, a set of ideas, or both. Many countries are constituted by a people
or a limited number of peoples. Consider, for example, China, Denmark, Israel, Japan,
Norway, and South Korea.
It is often thought that the US is not
constituted by a limited number of peoples - despite its Western European and
African heritage - rather it consists of a set of ideas. These ideas include
economic and political freedom, specific Constitution-based content and
structures, and individualism. This is what allows the US to persist despite
incorporating 86 million new people. The question arises whether the new peoples
accept this set of ideas.
Currently, the politically freest countries in the world are European and some East Asian
countries (Japan, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan). The economically freest
countries largely follow roughly the same pattern. It is not obvious that immigrants from countries that are
currently and historically unfree will support the American set of ideas. As
George Mason’s economist Garrett Jones argues,
immigrants tend to bring their worldview with them and change the country they
move into to be more like the country from which they came. If this is correct,
we can expect immigrants who come from countries with less of a history of freedom
to be less likely to support this set of ideas than those from countries with
better histories.
This is not merely an economic finding. Consider
whether the historic American people – that is, current Americans minus
immigrants and their children - would have voted for the Biden administration
and Democratic Party that continues to try to cut back on freedom, engages in
political corruption, and considers destroying long-standing American institutions.
For political freedom, consider free speech on university campuses, gun
ownership, and social media censorship. For economic freedom, consider attempts
to jack up taxes and regulations, monitor people’s bank accounts, and push affirmative
action and quotas. For corruption, consider immigration policies that run
roughshod over the law, Obama-era IRS corruption, the Russia Hoax, and unconstitutional
Covid policies. For attempts to change long-standing American institutions,
consider attempts to add DC and Puerto Rico as states, eliminate the electoral
college, nationalize election procedure, and pack the Supreme Court. Consider,
also, the administration’s indifference to inflation. Were the 86 million new
people not here, most, if not all, of these changes would not have occurred and
the proposed changes would not get serious consideration.
This is not to say that immigrants do not
bring plenty to the nation. They clearly do. But it is to say that they will
greatly change it. This is especially true with regard to immigrants who are
not from Western or East Asian nations. Part of the problem here might be cultural diversity. The most culturally diverse countries in the world are poor –
consider India - and often unfree – consider, Cameroon,
Chad, Congo, and Nigeria. Economist Erkan Gören found that
cultural diversity is inversely related to
per capita income. Still, one might doubt whether cultural
diversity causes poverty or unfreedom. Some of the worst nations in the world
lack diversity. Consider Haiti
and Rwanda.
Massive immigration - especially from non-European and
non-East-Asian countries – will likely change the set of ideas that are part of
the American identity and affect Americans’ wealth. Even if this were not true,
it is unclear that a nation is merely a set of political institutions or a way
for citizens to become wealthier. Arguably, it is a people who have a shared
history and identify with one another. This explains why no leading figure supports
admitting 20 million third-world immigrants a year even if doing so would make
us freer and richer. Similarly, almost no one wants Americans to be citizens of
ten or more countries and, thus, have little connection to the American people.
It also explains why almost no one wants her small town to be flooded with
Hasidic Jews or strictly observant Muslims regardless of how they vote and
regardless of whether they are pleasant and supercharge the business community.
As the US takes in a massive number of immigrants it will
change the country. This change is worth considering before we let in another
46 million.
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