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Halting immigration
Fox pushing Bush to grant status to illegal aliens complicates assimilation problems
Opinion
The Battalion
Page 9 • Monday, March 3, 2003
I mmigration has again
become a contentious topic
in the United States. As the
Dallas Morning News reported,
the latest flare-up over the issue
comes as Mexican President
Vicente Fox lobbies the White
House to grant legal status to
millions of aliens from his
country. Although supporting
such a policy may benefit President
George W. Bush in next year’s election,
he would do so to the detriment of this
nation’s principles and unity.
The push for this alien legalization
measure comes during a time of
unprecedented levels of immigration.
As the non-partisan Center for
Immigration Studies
reveals, in the last 32 years
more than 30 million
immigrants have come to
the United States, now com
prising 11.5 percent of the
national population. This repre
sents an enormous spike. In fact, if
current rates of immigration contin
ue, the CIS estimates that the foreign-
born percentage of the population will
soon surpass the all-time high of 14.8
percent reached in 1890.
These numbers should alarm anyone
who cares about the future of this coun
try. Many Americans may simply brush
these statistics off, saying the United
States was founded by immigrants to
begin with. In today's political cli
mate, one even runs the risk of being
branded a racist for declaring this a
problem. However, anyone not blinded
by the left wing’s vacuous mantra of
multiculturalism and tolerance should
recognize a serious problem develop
ing if immigration is not slowed to
allow for assimilation.
Consider the following scenario
recounted on National Review Online:
When a 4-year-old Spanish-speaking
immigrant was asked his favorite color,
he referred to the red Power Ranger
character because he did not know the
JERAD
NAJVAR
word for “red,” in Spanish or
English. A teacher quoted in the
article says, “It’s as if they
don’t have a dominant lan
guage. They’re not bilingual.
They’re alingual.”
The enormous influx of
immigrants in recent decades
has clouded the definition of
American. Because there are so
many members of certain nationalities
coming to the United States each year,
there is less of a need for them to learn
English and assimilate into the American
culture. Rather, many cities are areas
that are almost exclusively populated by
members of a given minority group.
Despite all the
rhetoric about the
supposed values of
multiculturalism,
this situation will
only lead to unrest
and disunity.
ff
Despite all the rhetoric about the
supposed values of multiculturalism,
this situation will only lead to unrest
and disunity. For a society to live
peacefully, members must enjoy some
sort of a common identity. That is why
naturalization is an essential part of any
immigration policy, as the name of the
Immigration and Naturalization Service
implies.
This fact was not lost on previous
generations of policymakers and citi
zens. After the immigration boom of the
late 1800s, which resulted in many of
the same problems emerging now, the
Great Depression, World War I and new
laws from Congress all resulted in
reduced immigration levels. In addition,
as Mark Krekorian of the CIS says, a
conscious effort of “Americanization”
was undertaken by the U.S. Chamber of
Commerce and National Association of
Manufacturers. For example, Henry
Ford sponsored English language class
es for his employees.
The result was that the immigrants
came to a better understanding of
American culture at the time and influ
enced its development themselves. In
short, these new generations of
Americans grew up together to form a
cohesive society. Children of immi
grants came to see themselves as
Americans first and embraced the insti
tutions that allowed them to prosper.
However, this was only possible
because immigration was slowed down.
While some of the Revolutionaries
responsible for founding this nation
may not have shared a common back
ground, they did share something more
fundamental. They struggled together
against a tyrant to secure the basic
rights of man and establish the demo
cratic institutions they all so vehement
ly believed in.
To preserve this society and every
thing it stands for, Congress later
passed the Immigration and Nationality
Act. As the Heritage Foundation
reports, this act stipulated that any nat
uralized citizen must understand
English and demonstrate “a knowledge
and understanding of the fundamentals
of the history, and the principles and
form of government, of the United
States.”
Granting immediate legal status to
millions of Mexican aliens is inconsis
tent with this mission. To fulfill these
requirements and preserve the princi
ples and unity of the United States,
immigration must be slowed, just as it
was after the previous peak in the late
19th century.
Jerad Najvar is a senior
political science major.
want to be a fighter
don't have any other
le said.
academy campus.
: large letters' at the
it spell out, "BringMe
ig men and women in
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ics of Pikes Peak,
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Air Force Secretan
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speak with some of
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ictims of assaults, said
work together to over-
ut 4,000 cadets a year
.1 in 1954. It opened its
lets in 1976.
ck Prairie
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1-680-0508
Government must develop alternative fuel
Faced with a number of options, the Bush administration should choose wisely
O il prices have hit a
29-month high, forc
ing gasoline prices to
rise to an average of $1.66
and to as much as $2.00 per
gallon, according to The
New York Times.
This increase of more than
50 cents compared to the
average price per gallon last
year is being worsened by three for
eign crises. A possible war with Iraq,
civil unrest in Venezuela and an oil
workers’ strike in Nigeria threaten to
further increase the price of oil as the
summer travel season approaches.
Such dependence on foreign oil
comes at a precarious time as the
United States is hoping to
recover from the recent
recession. Faced with these
problems, President George
W. Bush and Congress need
to make the development of
a reliable alternative fuel a
top priority.
According to CNN, Bush
proposed a $1.2 billion ini
tiative spanning five years to devel
op hydrogen as an energy source.
According to the Office of
Management and Budget’s Web site,
www.whifehouse.gov/omb, “hydro
gen-powered fuel-cell vehicles have
the potential to provide energy
diversity, fuel economy and environ
mental benefits.”
However, Bush’s proposal is
flawed. According to the Washington
Post, $500 million of the initiative is
already allocated to an existing
hydrogen fuel development program.
In effect, Bush is increasing funding
by hundreds of millions of dollars
over five years to a program of ques
tionable effectiveness.
The plants producing the hydro
gen may even be fueled by oil,
according to The Washington Post.
The allocated sum is also too high
considering America’s current
dependence on foreign sources of
oil and the fact that the initiative
makes no mention of how the
hydrogen is being produced.
The Department of Energy clas
sifies nine fuels as alternative fuels,
so hydrogen represents only one of
nine or more possible answers to the
U.S. energy dependence crisis.
Other options include biodiesel,
electric, ethanol, methanol, natural
gas and solar power. Some of these
options deserve heavier considera
tion as they have most of the infra
structure in place to distribute a new
fuel, such as cleaner burning natural
gas.
In another example, the Electric
Power Research Institute states that
the infrastructure for electric fuel
cells is already 98 percent complete.
Bush and Congress must look at all
possible energy options, and then
commit to the most viable one.
As gas prices rise and the politi
cal motivations tied to fuel sources
become apparent, there is a greater
need for a cleaner, domestic alterna
tive fuel source.
Bush and Congress should signif
icantly increase funding for all alter
native fuels, not just hydrogen. Bold
leadership is needed if the United
States is to become a more energy-
independent country.
Jonny Havens is a senior
history major.
JONNY
HAVENS
MAIL CALL
Fee increases needed to
better Texas A&M
It shocked and left me a little dis
heartened when I read that the fee
referendums had been voted against.
What troubles me is the fact that
people expect to receive world class
education without paying for it. If
money is the main concern in decid
ing which educational institution one
should attend, there are cheaper
alternatives than Texas A&M.
We the students have to take some
responsibility for ensuring the level
of greatness at Texas A&M for future
generation of Aggies.
Do we want our children to use the
same computers in the Student
Computing Center as we did? Do we
as Aggies want a second rate recre
ational facility in lieu of the cost of a
movie ticket and a small coke? NO.
The government cannot foot the
entire bill like some would want. We
must pay the price to be an Aggie.
We must pay the price to be the
BEST.
And if you’fe not interested in
being the best, then take the trip
down the road to that small
parochial school in Austin.
Kevin Merrill
Class of 2004
International flavor left
out of after-party
First, I want to say how beautifully
International Week turned out. At the
talent show 1 was anxiously waiting
for the "party" afterwards. Lots of
music from all over the world came
together on one stage, and 1 could
hardly wait to dance to these beats
at the party.
So you can imagine my disappoint
ment when I got to this so-called
International Party. At first I thought
the DJ was just warming up the
crowd with Missy Elliott and disco
music. But no. This was all the music
they had. I heard a student in the
crowd say, "I could be dancing to this
music in my dorm!"
I went up to the DJ and said," Since
this is an International Party, could
you play some international music?"
He told me that he didn't have any
other music than what he was
already playing. So much for bringing
out the different cultures in this
party. He then said that the people
who asked him to do this party had
asked him to play "Texas music" in
his words.
I just wanted to state my disap
pointment in this grand finale. I
absolutely loved and enjoyed the
rest of the week, 1 just wish there
had been more variety in music to
dance to at the International Party.
Blanca Obregon
Class of 2004