But Shall It Prevail?

The New Case Against Immigration: Both Legal and Illegal, by Mark Krikorian (Sentinel, 304 pp., $25.95)

OUR modern debate on immigration, which began in the early 1990s after 30 years of largely unquestioned orthodoxy, has been a lopsided affair. Let’s begin with the fact that immigration is one of those issues on which the nation’s elites are overwhelmingly on one side and most Americans on the other. This picture emerges from all the polling data: Take, for example, the 2002 study conducted for the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations comparing the opinions of 2,800 randomly selected Americans with those of 400 political, business, religious, cultural, and other “leaders.” Among much else of interest, it found that while 60 percent of Americans felt that the then-current level of immigration was a “critical threat to the vital interests of the United States,” only 14 percent of America’s leaders shared that view. Not surprisingly, 55 percent of Americans said they wanted immigration reduced. Only 18 percent of our betters felt the same; 60 percent of them liked the current level just fine. Disparities between elite and popular opinion on questions about illegal immigration were still greater. And the elite/popular gap was greater on immigration than on any other topic.

About the Author

John O’Sullivan

John O’Sullivan is a senior fellow at National Review Institute and a contributing editor of National Review.

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Immigration

The New Case Against Immigration: Both Legal and Illegal, by Mark Krikorian (Sentinel, 304 pp., $25.95)

OUR modern debate on immigration, which began in the early 1990s after 30 years of largely unquestioned orthodoxy, has been a lopsided affair. Let’s begin with the fact that immigration is one of those issues on which the nation’s elites are overwhelmingly on one side and most Americans on the other. This picture emerges from all the polling data: Take, for example, the 2002 study conducted for the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations comparing the opinions of 2,800 randomly selected Americans with those of 400 political, business, religious, cultural, and other “leaders.” Among much else of interest, it found that while 60 percent of Americans felt that the then-current level of immigration was a “critical threat to the vital interests of the United States,” only 14 percent of America’s leaders shared that view. Not surprisingly, 55 percent of Americans said they wanted immigration reduced. Only 18 percent of our betters felt the same; 60 percent of them liked the current level just fine. Disparities between elite and popular opinion on questions about illegal immigration were still greater. And the elite/popular gap was greater on immigration than on any other topic.