Steyn on Muslim Immigration

Mark Steyn's comments on Mulsim immigration to Britain in the 1960's could apply here:

In other words, the economic rationale for mass immigration turned out to be bogus: Muslims came in huge numbers to do "the jobs Britons won't do" and be textile workers in northern English towns. Thirty years later, there are no textile mills, but those northern English towns are Muslim.

The economic argument for mass immigration is always reductionist, simply because people do not think of themselves as solely (or even principally) economic entities. The government may see immigrants as textile workers or bus drivers or even neurosurgeons, but what matters is how those individuals see themselves - and as Europe has discovered a significant segment of that population has embraced a core identity unrelated to textile mills, NHS hospitals or any other economic enterprise.

With the amnesty supporters talking about illegal immigrats coming to America to do jobs Americans won't do, they might do well to read Steyn's words here.

These illegal immigrants do those jobs they do for one simple reason, their employer does not question them about their status. It is not that Americans won't do those jobs that illegal perform, it is that employers don't want the hassle of verifying employment status.

On the other side of the equation, our amensty leaders, despite all their rhetoric about the humanitarian aspects of amnesty, need illegal immigration for two reasons. First, amnesty allows them to look like good people while in fact creating a sub-class of immigrants who really don't want to be Americans, but just want a job. Second, amnesty leaders look at illegal immigrants as economic units which because they drive down the wages by working for less than minimum wage, gives them fodder for raising the minimum wage and cynically talk about the loss of unskilled labor jobs for Americans.