Progressive Calls for Immigration Control

Yes you read that right, and an academic one, no less, much to the consternation of the circles he travels in. “I’m a philosophy professor specializing in ethics and political philosophy, and like many of my fellow academics, I’m a political progressive,” Philip Cafaro writes in The Chronicle Review. “I value economic security for workers and their families, and support a much more equal distribution of wealth, strong and well-enforced environmental-protection laws, and an end to racial discrimination in the United States. I want to maximize the political power of common citizens and limit the influence of large corporations. My political heroes include the three Roosevelts (Teddy, Franklin, and Eleanor), Rachel Carson, and Martin Luther King Jr.”

“I also want to reduce immigration into the United States. If this combination strikes you as odd, you aren’t alone. Friends, political allies—even my mother the social worker—shake their heads (or worse) when I bring up the subject. I’ve been called a “nativist” and a “racist” (thankfully not by Mom), been picketed on my own campus, and had close academic friendships strained.”

Cafaro teaches at Colorado State University at Fort Collins. “Significantly, immigration-driven competition has been strongest among working-class Americans, while wealthier, better-educated citizens have mostly been spared strong downward pressure on their incomes,” Cafaro avers. “According to an analysis by the Center for Immigration Studies, immigrants account for 35 percent of workers in building cleaning and maintenance, but only 10 percent in the corporate and financial sectors; 24 percent of workers in construction, but only 8 percent of teachers and college professors; 23 percent among food-preparation workers, but only 7 percent among lawyers.”

“No wonder wealthy Americans and the bipartisan political elite that largely serves their interests typically support high levels of immigration.” Cafaro notes the irony that the push for open borders has pushed so-called progressives into the same camp with the U. S. Chamber of Commerce and the Wall Street Journal editorial page.

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