The New Case Against Immigration: Both Legal and Illegal
by Mark Krikorian
Several excellent books have been written about immigration in recent years. The latest is The New Case Against Immigration by Mark Krikorian, president of the Center for Immigration Studies and contributor to National Review.
Krikorian covers a lot of familiar ground, discussing American sovereignty, national security, economic effects of immigration, government spending, and population issues. While such issues are certainly not new, Krikorian's case is extensively documented and well argued.
What makes his book distinctive is the overall theme. He argues that immigration is incompatible with modern society. America has advanced in all sorts of ways, while the primary sources of our immigration have not. This exacerbates the difficulties of immigration, and makes assimilation less likely.
Second, as the subtitle indicates, Krikorian takes on the line taken by some Republican politicians that 'illegal immigration is bad, legal immigration is good'. Krikorian shows that the same sorts of problems caused by illegal immigration are also caused by legal immigration. Some, such as welfare, are even worse for legals.
Krikorian gently takes issue with the line taken by other immigration resitrictionists such as Pat Buchanan and Peter Brimelow that the problems caused by immigration are to a significant extent caused by racial conflicts. It should be noted that there is nothing to logically prevent both from being true.
Krikorian's book seems to be written to swing suburban voters who may not have firm positions on immigration. This may make it less enjoyable for conservatives, as he spends some time on issues like sprawl and environmental issues. In contrast, books by Buchanan and Brimelow are written to movement conservatives and working class voters. But Krikorian's focus is understandable, and if his book gets to his target audience, it may persuade many.
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