October 23, 2011
The Post’s Outlook section featured a piece by Roberto Suro and Marcelo Suarez-Orozco, a public policy and anthropology professor, respectively that purports to examine a paradox on the public’s view on immigration. The piece tells readers:
“But our public disagreements are matched by private conflicts. When it comes to immigration, we are not only a divided nation — we have a divided brain.
“The national ambivalence is evident. A Gallup survey this year found that a majority of Americans, 53 percent, said it was ‘extremely important’ for the government to halt the flow of illegal immigrants at the border. Yet an even larger majority, 64 percent, said that illegal immigrants already in the country should be allowed to remain and become U.S. citizens if they meet certain requirements.”
If there is a conflict in these views it is difficult to see what it is. It is difficult to understand how someone could want to see the flow of illegal immigrants continue. The people coming over the border under current conditions risk death in the desert, as well as being robbed or even killed by the coyotes who bring them over. Once in the country they live in an underworld with limited access to health care and education for their children and facing a constant fear of deportation.
If there is a conflict between wanting to see this flow of illegal immigration replaced by a legalized flow, and wanting for the people who have already made lives for themselves in the U.S. to be offered a path to citizenship, it is difficult to see what it is.
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