Immigration in the 2016 Presidential Campaign

WASHINGTON, D.C. /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A new series by the Center for Immigration Studies explores immigration in the presidential campaign and the post-election immigration system that may replace the present policies of non-enforcement and massive, record-breaking numbers of legal immigrants and illegal aliens. Part One examines the public’s powerful voice that has risen to counter the establishment’s conventional wisdom and finally led to a national debate and a once-in-a-political-lifetime opportunity to reform an immigration system which does not serve the national interest.

Stanley Renshon, author of the report and a Center fellow and professor of political science at the City University of New York Graduate Center, writes, “Three factors — Trump, trust, and national security — have created an unprecedented opening for questioning and discarding the narrowly framed and rigidly held narratives that have passed for ‘reform’ in the immigration debate.”

To view the entire report click here.

The unprecedented number of immigrants and the challenges to the long held concept of a primary American identity and of the necessity of assimilation to that American identity concerns many Americans. This concern has moved immigration to a top-tier issue in the 2016 public campaign debate and allowed Americans to finally have the necessary national debate, which has been hampered by “a campaign of silencing and shaming with accusations of being anti-immigrant, racist, and worse has been mounted, somewhat successfully, to silence them.”

The issues discussed in Renshon’s series lead to valuable questions all the candidates should be asked:

• How many immigrants are a sustainable number?
• What kinds of immigrants should we seek?
• How can we best help new immigrants to become emotionally, and not just financially, attached to this country?
• And how can we keep illegal immigration from being a continuing source of civic distress?

The public seeks an immigration policy which works for the national interest and stands for the rule of law. Renshon asks the question, “Will they get it?”

In Part Two, Renshon will examine “The Collapse of Public Trust and the Chance for Real Immigration Reform.”

ABOUT THE CENTER FOR IMMIGRATION STUDIES

The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit, research organization. Since our founding in 1985, we have pursued a single mission – providing immigration policymakers, the academic community, news media, and concerned citizens with reliable information about the social, economic, environmental, security, and fiscal consequences of legal and illegal immigration into the United States.

The Center is governed by a diverse board of directors that has included active and retired university professors, civil rights leaders, and former government officials. Our research and analysis has been funded by contributions and grants from dozens of private foundations, from the U.S. Census Bureau and Justice Department, and from hundreds of generous individual donors.

Our board, our staff, our researchers, and our contributor base are not predominantly “liberal” or predominantly “conservative.” Instead, we believe in common that debates about immigration policy that are well-informed and grounded in objective data will lead to better immigration policies.

The data collected by the Center during the past quarter-century has led many of our researchers to conclude that current, high levels of immigration are making it harder to achieve such important national objectives as better public schools, a cleaner environment, homeland security, and a living wage for every native-born and immigrant worker. These data may support criticism of US immigration policies, but they do not justify ill feelings toward our immigrant community. In fact, many of us at the Center are animated by a “low-immigration, pro-immigrant” vision of an America that admits fewer immigrants but affords a warmer welcome for those who are admitted.

Learn more by clicking here.

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