Immigrant Daily

60% are ambivalent

In an LA Times article, Tamar Jacoby points out that a majority of U.S. citizens are not anti-immigrant, but merely expect the politicians to resolve the issue.  He writes:

Public opinion surveys on immigration are remarkably consistent, changing little even in the last year. An unvarying 20% to 25% of voters are bitterly anti-immigrant: determined to close the borders, send illegal workers home, cut back even legal immigration quotas. Although they are a minority, these xenophobes are loud and intense; they call in to talk radio, show up at town hall meetings, write to their members of Congress and dominate the debate. Another 15% to 20% are generally sympathetic to immigrants but neither vocal nor intense. And the majority — the 60% in the middle — is ambivalent and uncertain, undeniably anxious about the influx but also prepared to come to terms pragmatically with the 12 million illegal immigrants in the country.

I guess that this would make me a rarity in the world — one of those that are sympathetic and somewhat vocal, but I wonder if it is enough?  I have been writing about immigration and its benefits on this blog for a while now, but sometime I feel like my work is futile.  Ultimately, this issue is like many other political issues such as abortion — those that are anti-immigrant will stay that way, while those that are sympathetic are unlikely to change their opinion.  The people in the middle is what the two sides are fighting for — trying to convince one person in the middle that immigration is good or bad seems to be the goal.  In my case, I feel like I am doing my best, but sometime I wonder if it is making any changes.  When I look at the current political climate and debate it seems that the anti-immigrant groups are definitely winning the debate among the Republican candidates — now those candidates are fighting over the title of the “most conservative” and even candidates that were sympathetic towards immigrants like McCain and Huckabee have not changed their tune.  Yet I wonder how their harsh anti-immigrant stance fits-in with their Christian beliefs?  Where has the concept of forgiveness and love of one another gone?  I guess conveniently hidden in the New Testament.