On the Right

NEW YORK, JANUARY 28

If seniority were binding, the new chairman of the Senate’s Immigration Subcommittee would be Jon Kyl of Arizona, who however turned it down, ceding to Spencer Abraham of Michigan. Why did Mr. Kyl turn it down? Because Arizona has a very long, porous border with Mexico, and the Hispanic vote in the state is correspondingly weighty. Senator Abraham is from far-off Michigan, and whatever he says about immigration will be unnoticeable at the polls unless Michigan annexes Ontario. Meanwhile, Senator Abraham is fleetingly a hero of the full-house immigration lobby (the more immigrants, the merrier).

About the Author

William F. Buckley Jr.

William F. Buckley Jr. founded National Review magazine in 1955.

NEW YORK, JANUARY 28

If seniority were binding, the new chairman of the Senate’s Immigration Subcommittee would be Jon Kyl of Arizona, who however turned it down, ceding to Spencer Abraham of Michigan. Why did Mr. Kyl turn it down? Because Arizona has a very long, porous border with Mexico, and the Hispanic vote in the state is correspondingly weighty. Senator Abraham is from far-off Michigan, and whatever he says about immigration will be unnoticeable at the polls unless Michigan annexes Ontario. Meanwhile, Senator Abraham is fleetingly a hero of the full-house immigration lobby (the more immigrants, the merrier).