Some common sense about immigration…..

From where you would expect it to come from-across the pond.

I am of mixed feelings about the Arizona immigration law. On the one hand,border security needs to be tightened up-we need to start having immigration checks both ways in and out of the country and if you get stopped for breaking the law and are found to be here illegally-then you get sent packing.

At the same time-the idea that you have to produce your “papers” just because a cop thinks you are suspicious-well that does smack of something un-American. It makes Arizona no better than the stinking Chinese.

The situations are different in one obvious way. In contrast to law-enforcement officers in Arizona, the Chinese authorities didn’t have to waste time wondering whether I was a citizen. One glance told them where I stood. (I understand that there are some Caucasian-looking Chinese citizens, but they are scarce.) The only judgment call was whether they should bother to check whether, well, my “papers were in order,” in the phrase we all know from WW II movies.

If they had checked very often, I would have been in trouble. In theory, foreigners are always supposed to carry their passports (as Chinese citizens are supposed to carry their identity cards). In practice, I almost never did. When checking in for a flight or registering at a hotel in China, sure: Without a passport, you couldn’t do either thing. But when at “home” in Shanghai or Beijing my wife and I kept our passports in our apartment’s safe. The theoretical risk of being asked for documents was outweighed by the truly dire potential consequences of our passports getting lost or stolen.

I’ve been in a similar situation-and I was also witness to watching the Chinese police hassle any woman with a Filipino or Indonesian face in Hong Kong.

So much of the discussion about immigration is rooted in fear-not facts. Consider here, in my current “adopted” hellhole  state of residence of Alabama. A candidate for Governor (Tim James) is campaigning for office by saying that driver’s test should only be given in English.  Since the S.O. ( who took her driver’s test in Japanese, is a legal resident  in this country, and does speak English-but was more comfortable taking the test for something pretty important in her native language) is affected by this law-I pointed out to her how it was an attack on her, not just the  Mexicans who build the houses down the street. I wonder how Mr James would feel if he was in Japan-and had to deal with ATM’s that were only printed in Kanji. Something tells me he would be pissed off. Then again, in Japan, you can still get around without a car. Not so in the tea bag loving state of Alabama-where everything is spread out and public transportation is a fiction. Furthermore,  there’s nothing he can do about the tests. It was a federal order. He knows this.

Which brings us to words about immigration you should be hearing-from the Economist:

Many people have observed how the networks of overseas Chinese and Indians benefit their respective motherlands. Diasporas speed the flow of information: an ethnic Chinese trader in Indonesia who spots a commercial opportunity will quickly alert his cousin who runs a factory in Guangdong. And ties of kin, clan or dialect ensure a high level of trust. This allows decisions to be made swiftly: multimillion-dollar deals can sometimes be sealed with a single phone call. America is linked to the world in a different way. It does not have much of a diaspora, since native-born Americans seldom emigrate permanently. But it has by far the world’s largest stock of immigrants, including significant numbers from just about every country on earth. Most assimilate quickly, but few sever all ties with their former homelands.

Which as Lexington points out-can be too our benefit:

Immigration provides America with legions of unofficial ambassadors, deal-brokers, recruiters and boosters. Immigrants not only bring the best ideas from around the world to American shores; they are also a conduit for spreading American ideas and ideals back to their homelands, thus increasing their adoptive country’s soft power.

Arizona’s law is sure to be struck down in the courts soon-and most probably deservedly so. However it has definitely highlighted the need to deal with immigration problem-just as the nation needs to deal with its other problems. These are a much greater threat than the Podunk nation of Iraq or Afghanistan. Yet, look where we invest our resources.

UPDATE!: The S.O. reminded me that part of what James said is a lie-the applicant must be prepared to take the driving test with a tester who speaks English, and interpreters are not allowed to go on the test drive.  She had a heck of a time with the lady who gave her the driving portion of the test ( her Japanese licence did not count for diddly when we got here)-because the woman spoke with a southern drawl that was pretty thick.  “Alabamaese” throws her for a loop-she is used to people who actually speak proper English.