The New Immigration Politics

THE debate over illegal immigration seems to have grown hackneyed. The same old controversies are rehashed-do illegal aliens contribute more or less than the entitlements they receive? Do they assimilate as fast as previous groups? Is the present mess any different from past waves of foreign immigration? And so on.

Facts, usually lacking or compiled by partisans, are twisted to score points, as the issue of who benefits has replaced the sanctity of law. Various bodies of experts, none of whom know how many illegal aliens are residing inside our borders, offer mutually exclusive testimonies. In exasperation at the lack of reliable data, the argument often devolves into personal anecdote- “Juan is the most hard-working and reliable roofer I’ve ever hired,” or, in contrast, “This is the second time an unlicensed driver without insurance or registration has rammed me and tried to flee the scene.”

About the Author

Victor Davis Hanson

Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University; the author of The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won; and a distinguished fellow of the Center for American Greatness.

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THE debate over illegal immigration seems to have grown hackneyed. The same old controversies are rehashed-do illegal aliens contribute more or less than the entitlements they receive? Do they assimilate as fast as previous groups? Is the present mess any different from past waves of foreign immigration? And so on.

Facts, usually lacking or compiled by partisans, are twisted to score points, as the issue of who benefits has replaced the sanctity of law. Various bodies of experts, none of whom know how many illegal aliens are residing inside our borders, offer mutually exclusive testimonies. In exasperation at the lack of reliable data, the argument often devolves into personal anecdote- “Juan is the most hard-working and reliable roofer I’ve ever hired,” or, in contrast, “This is the second time an unlicensed driver without insurance or registration has rammed me and tried to flee the scene.”

About the Author

Victor Davis Hanson

Victor Davis Hanson is a classicist and historian at the Hoover Institution, Stanford University; the author of The Second World Wars: How the First Global Conflict Was Fought and Won; and a distinguished fellow of the Center for American Greatness.