Immigration gets on the public radar

An important aspect of immigration has been that for the most part it has occurred under the radar. Despite importing over a million mainly poor people every year and all that implies in terms of need for housing, infrastructure, welfare benefits, and medical care,  immigration and refugee policy in the US is on auto-pilot, with the pro-immigration forces steadily removing every obstacle. Most White Americans do not experience it first  hand and have no idea about the elaborate infrastructure that the pro-immigration forces have erected.

It’s probably not true that a frog will allow itself to be boiled alive if only the heat is raised slowly enough, but it’s an irresistible image nonetheless.

However, the anti-borders forces — on the left and the right — have counted on such passivity among the public to incrementally erode the American people’s ability to decide who gets to move here from abroad.

They have devised endless opportunities to appeal deportation decisions, prevented the implementation of needed control measures, pushed relentlessly to pierce numerical caps, and created strong incentives against government functionaries saying “no” to those who want to come. The motto over the doorway of the immigration office might as well be “It ain’t over til the alien wins.” (Mark Krikorian, “Hitting the boiling point over the border“)

Americans are passive because immigration, especially legal immigration, is rarely in the news. The same goes for refugee policy. According to Refugee/Resettlement Watch, the process of importing refugees is a “very quiet effort” rife with corruption (e.g., leading to chain migration of relatives; see their fact sheet). It is also thoroughly incentivized so that it’s a very lucrative business for organizations like the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society and the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (which describes the children pouring in from Central America  as “gifts,” perhaps because the job of overseeing their recruitment pays $214,000 in salary and benefits supplied by US taxpayers [“Lutherans: “The children are a gift” and we need a second lobbyist in Washington to make sure the gift keeps giving ]).

But the crisis in Texas has brought it all to the public’s attention and it’s quite clear that quite a large section of the public are not at all happy with it, to the point that, as Krikorian notes, illegals are not being resettled in states where Democratic senators are facing tough reelection campaigns. And they are being transported in the least conspicuous means possible, hoping the public won’t notice.

But the public is noticing. There have been vocal protests in a number of communities, such as Murrieta, CA, Boston (!), Tennessee, and elsewhere. 

The message here is that immigration, like lobbying, thrives in the darkness and dies in the sunshine. In fact, the numbers of Central American teenagers involved are trivial compared to the usual annual numbers for legal immigration, illegal immigration, and refugees. Unless one is personally affected by the onslaught or is a regular reader of sites like VDARE or the Center for Immigration Studies, immigration will be far down on your list of what’s important.

But the border crisis is big news so its definitely gotten the attention of pretty much everyone.

So I am thinking that this is going to have major political implications. It’s well known that White Americans are worried about becoming a minority and that being reminded that they are going to become a minority makes them adopt more conservative positions.

But, as with immigration generally, the media downplays the effects of immigration on speeding the day when Whites become a minority. As I noted elsewhere: “In all the Main Stream Media propaganda about the desperate need for an Amnesty/Immigration Surge bill, you never hear that the bill will speed up the day when whites are a minority.”

The media typically downplay the transformative effects of immigration and the negative consequences for White America. But, with the Camp of the  Saints invasion upon us and making all the daily newspapers and political talk shows, it seems to be dawning on Whites that their country really is being taken away. So there are protests. And even more than the protests, I suspect there is a lot of quiet anger and uneasiness about it that will find expression in the ballot box.

As Refugee/Resettlement Watch points out in an article on a Somali family that quickly grew to 12 children, it starts with stealth and ends with anger.

It’s interesting to watch the “pockets of resistance” grow in cities that were originally “welcoming” and now are becoming overloaded with needy migrants (legal and illegal).  It is a matter of numbers—a few migrants needing services kind of go under the radar until a tipping point is reached for the taxpayers. Cases like this one break into the news causing citizens to finally say, ‘whoa!’ what is going on here?  But, at that point it is usually too late for the community because the contractors are bringing in the relatives of the first seed population and anyone who complains is immediately labeled a xenophobic, racist, bigoted boob! and the complainers scurry for cover.  

When Whites start worrying about becoming a minority, research shows that there is a shift toward political conservatism whose likely beneficiary (alas!) will the be Republican Party.  As the article discussed in the above link shows, Whites who are told about the impending eclipse of America as a majority-White country are more likely to want restrictions on immigration.

Indeed, Dick Morris thinks that the border crisis may completely “wipe out” the Democrats. Which I suppose would be good except that the Republicans will probably be nearly as bad. The usual suspects,  Rep. Paul Ryan and Sen. John McCain, were motivated by the crisis to again voice their support for amnesty and dramatic increases in immigration. George Will says the U.S. should “welcome” illegal children. 

Despite Republican evil, it’s definitely a positive that the upsurge at the border is making Whites more aware of immigration as an issue. And it’s hard to imagine a White who is worried about the surge voting Democrat.

There is talk, mainly by Democrats, of Republicans impeaching Obama if he  unilaterally gives amnesty to illegals. But even if the Republicans took over the Senate, as seems quite possible, they would still lack the 2/3 majority needed. But they could vote to overturn his action. Of course, the pitch will be that Republicans taking a stand against immigration would play into Democrat hands for 2016 or later given the ever-expanding coalition of ethnic transformation — which is why impeachment talk is coming mainly from Democrats.  But hey, non-Whites are going to vote Democrat anyway. It’s all about race now. Or at least increasingly so, and the border situation will make it more so.

Besides, party politics is all about the short term. And for Republicans, the chance to take advantage of White anger over immigration may be too much of a temptation to resist. Even if they don’t talk much about the border crisis during the campaign, it may well shape voter attitudes given the research cited above.

And if the Republicans did get into power, there would certainly be strong voices advising them to start changing immigration policy if they hope to ever win another presidential election (even though all the big money will be pulling in the opposite direction). Certainly the Republicans can’t win without the enthusiasm of the White working class, and it’s no secret how they stand on immigration, since they are the ones most hurt by it. This could be their last chance.