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I noticed a news report about low turnout at anti-immigration protests:

Illegal immigration protests organized across the country Saturday drew small numbers, and some were outnumbered and out-shouted by those who support immigrant rights.

There are a lot of misconceptions and just plain confusion attached to the immigration controversy. Perhaps one of the most volatile areas of the topic is the question of what degree racism plays a part in the motivations of immigration opponents.

For example, contrast this quote from the news article linked above:

…Turner’s group in Glendale was surrounded by [counter-demonstrators] who chanted, “Racists go home.”

…with this one:

“This is not a racist thing,” said Daniel Anastasia, 46, a construction worker from Westchester, N.Y. “We pay taxes, they don’t. I get paid what the union says. The contractor pays them cash. It’s not fair to me.”

Let’s look at the points Mr. Anastasia raises: 1) taxes and 2) lower wages for illegal immigrants. These are valid concerns, but how we each deal with concerns matters deeply.

Mr. Anastasia pays taxes and actually most illegal immigrants also pay a great deal of taxes. Let’s grant the general validity of Mr. Anastasia’s statement, though, by noting that there are some taxes that some illegal immigrants don’t pay — either because of:

• Being terrified of filling out the paperwork of a bureaucracy that wants to kidnap them, or…
• Noticing that one of the few perks of a “low profile” lifestyle is the opportunity to rightfully keep more of what little they earn.

Mr Anastasia pays taxes because he will face risks of repercussions if he doesn’t. Those repercussions violate his natural right to keep what he earns. Mr. Anastasia is being coerced.

Clearly, there is a difference between the situation Mr. Anastasia finds himself in and that the typical illegal immigrant laborer does. Both are victimized by government. Both (presumably) work hard. One, though, accepts a lifestyle of submission to the state in return for a marginally better economic situation. The other, due solely to the matter of geographical origins, doesn’t have that option and faces a great deal of extra difficulties in life — unjustly.

If Mr. Anastasia doesn’t like the fact that someone pays fewer taxes than him, why is he begging the oppressor, government — the people who impose those taxes on him — to kidnap, harass and/or further oppress the immigrant? It would seem that he is blaming the wrong people. The immigrant doesn’t tax Mr. Anastasia, the government does. Mr. Anastasia is apparently more opposed to immigration than he is to government and taxes, as he wants government to restrict immigration — presumably using still more tax money extorted from Mr. Anastasia and others.

So, the tax argument is nonsense — even when one starts thinking about it from a point of view sympathetic to the immigration opponent as a taxpayer. Plain and simple nonsense. It makes no sense.

Mr. Anastasia also notes that illegal immigrant workers get paid less than he does and states that this isn’t fair. Mr. Anastasia clearly means that it isn’t fair that he, as someone who accepts the opportunity to grovel before the mighty government in return for marginally better economic circumstances, should face economic competition from those who are fleet-footed and quick-witted enough to survive at the margins of society, and who have to do so because their immigration status doesn’t allow them the opportunities for self-domestication he has accepted.

In truth, it isn’t fair to anybody and especially not to the immigrants. If the immigrants didn’t face persecution, they would not be forced to underbid Mr. Anastasia. Actually, “underbid” isn’t even accurate because they are merely accepting low bids from employers willing to hire them — because their persecution leaves them little other choice. Clearly, the illegal immigrant day laborer is not making off like some bandit, counting his loot and thinking what a sucker Mr. Anastasia is. Rather, the life of the immigrant is a pathetic one full of hardships.

What that means for the Mr. Anastasias of the world is that they are shooting themselves in the foot by supporting immigration restrictions. While legal immigrants would of course mean extra competition in the job market, the wage difference would not be anywhere near so drastic if illegal immigrants could act in the job market without fear of the legal system. Yet that wage difference is what Mr. Anastasia claims to be upset about.

In fact, free-market economics tells us with pretty clear certainty that cracking down on illegal immigrants will increase the risks immigrants face and therefore lower their wage bargaining power — so they’ll be forced to accept still lower wages. Not only will their lives be more miserable, but the Mr. Anastasias of the world will see even more of a wage difference to resent.

What does all this have to do with racism?

As I’ve explained above, immigration opponents often claim to be motivated by economic injustice (as they perceive it) — but their response to it is to call for still more injustice. They cite economic difficulties they face and then call for policies that will make those difficulties worse. Clearly, that’s not rational. Speculation about their true motives then becomes fair. The only alternative I can see is to assume they’re merely stupid.

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Tags: Politics //