Stephen
Kershnar
Donald Trump, New England Patriots, and
Immigration
Dunkirk-Fredonia Observer
July
5, 2015
Instead of the U.S. choosing the best and the brightest immigrants,
we allow immigrants themselves to choose who gets to live here. This is in part
because of an immigration system that favors family connections over skill,
education, and money. It is also in part because of aliens who sneak into the
country in the dark of night.
Ann Coulter points out that the New England Patriots carefully select
who gets to be on their team. The team spends a large amount of money vetting
players in order to get the best players and fulfill their needs. The team’s
owners, players, and fans would be outraged if college players got to decide
who was on the team by sneaking into the locker room or by being related to a
current player. They would be even more furious when they discovered that other
teams weren’t so handicapped. The U.S. should draft immigrants similar to how
the Patriots draft players.
These issues matter because the U.S. is being flooded with low end immigrants,
especially from Mexico. The U.S. has been taking in roughly 1 million legal
immigrants a year for over thirty years and has another 11-30 million illegal
immigrants, depending on the estimate. Roughly 1 out of 8 members of the U.S.
population are immigrants, the highest number since the 1920’s. 1 out of 8. A large
number of immigrants are poor, unskilled, and on welfare. A 2011 study by the
Center for Immigration Studies found that 48% of immigrants and their U.S. born
children (and roughly 68% of Mexican immigrants) are in poverty or near poverty.
In fact, Coulter points out, we now have roughly one-fourth of Mexicans in the
U.S. (specifically, people of Mexican origin).
Enter
Donald Trump. The Republican presidential candidate
and real estate mogul, during his presidential announcement speech, said, “When
Mexico sends its people, they're not sending the best. They're sending people
that have lots of problems and they're bringing those problems. They're
bringing drugs, they're bringing crime. They're rapists and some, I assume, are
good people, but I speak to border guards and they're telling us what we're
getting."
Corporate America immediately attacked
him. NBC and Univision will not air the Trump-owned Miss
Universe Pageant, Macy’s dropped his signature clothing line. New York
Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio ordered a review of Trump's city contracts. NASCAR
is moving an annual banquet from the Trump National Doral resort in
Miami.
Shame on Trump for winging such an important point. Here’s what he
should have said. “There are many wonderful immigrants, particularly Mexicans
and Mexican-Americans. They are our family members, friends, and lovers.
However, when it comes to immigrants in general, we can do better. Compared to
natives or other immigrants we could have gotten, our current Mexican
immigrants are poorer, less well educated, less intelligent, less skilled, and
fatter. They have worse family values and three quarters of their households are
on welfare. No one seriously suggests that we are better off with millions of
Mexican immigrants than we would be with immigrants from England, Ireland,
Germany, and Japan. Just as the New England Patriots get the best players they
can, we should do the same. Let’s choose who gets to join our nation rather
than let others decide by sneaking in or citing family relations.”
Consider Trump’s sloppy argument. Mexico doesn’t send its people, but
let’s ignore that claim. He didn’t say that they have a disproportionate number
of rapists, drug dealers, and people with problems, but let us pretend he did in
order to evaluate the corporate assault.
First, consider drug dealing. The Pew Hispanic Center study found
that in 2007 Hispanic illegal aliens were 5% of the population, but 25% of
federal drug offenders. In general, Hispanics, and Mexicans in particular, are
more likely involved in crime than whites but not blacks. According to a study
by Jason Richwine using 2006-2008
data, compared to whites, Hispanics (immigrant and U.S. born) are 80% -150%
(depending on the data source) more likely to be imprisoned than non-Hispanic
whites. I should mention Ron Unz’s interesting, but I think unsuccessful, challenge
to Richwine’s analysis is worth considering.
Hispanic criminality is relevant to the immigration discussion. According
to a 2007 study by the Sentencing Project, 20% of state and federal prisoners
are Hispanic and 1 in 6 Hispanic males can expect to go to prison in his
lifetime. Trump’s courage in discussing this is in sharp contrast to cowards
such as Clinton and Bush.
Data on the ethnicity of rapists is hard to come by because the
Bureau of Justice Statistics does not keep data on what percentage of rapists
are Hispanic. The Center for Control and Prevention report that in the U.S.,
Hispanic women are less likely than white women to be raped, although Hispanic
men are more likely than white men to be raped. Mexico’s reported rate of rape
is less than that of the U.S., although it is unclear whether this is because Mexican
women are less likely to report it. On rape, then, Trump might well be wrong.
It is worth noting that Bill Clinton waived criminal background
checks on hundreds of thousands of immigrants as a way of getting a large
number of new voters right before his second election. Clinton’s sleazy move undoubtedly
brought about many unnecessary rapes and murders in America.
Barack Obama implemented one blatantly illegal amnesty and recently
tried to implement a much larger one. His administration cut back on
deportations of illegal aliens (despite lies to the contrary) and recently
sharply cut back on monitoring worksites for hiring them. Presidential
candidate Jeb Bush backed driver licenses and in-state college tuition for
illegal aliens as well as promising not to immediately reverse Obama’s
executive amnesties. Candidate Hillary Clinton can be counted on to do the
same.
