The Politics and Geopolitics of Immigration

“The GOP’s harsh immigration stance will cost it,” so says Michael Gerson in this piece, “A Suicidal Stand on Hispanics” (Washington Post, Friday, May 14th), where he admonishes fellow Republicans about their anti-immigration position and the political fallout that can potentially come from it. While defending the GOP from the Democrats’ charge that the Party is becoming an “anti-immigrant party” (Gerson does argue that being offended by those who break immigration laws, or expressing concern about illegal abuse on public services, or believing that enforcement should precede immigration reform do not necessarily make one an anti-immigrant), he points to elements within the Republican ideological coalition that are anti-immigrant, specifically, “those who believe that Hispanics, particularly Mexicans, are a threat to American culture and identity.”

And so he raises this alarm:

Immigration issues are emotional and complex. But this must be recognized for what it is: political suicide. Consider that Hispanics make up 40 percent of the K-12 students in Arizona, 44 percent in Texas, 47 percent in California, 54 percent in New Mexico. Whatever temporary gains Republicans might make feeding resentment of this demographic shift, the party identified with that resentment will eventually be voted into singularity. In a matter of decades, the Republican Party could cease to be a national party.

Indeed, Republicans should find this alarming, and, for the sake of the party’s future, must pay heed.

But even more alarming is the potential geopolitical fallout that can come from not pursuing “a good neighbor policy” towards Mexico. Given its internal problems (including out-of-control drug cartels whose profit-seeking activities may at some point be exploited by terrorists from Latin America and the Middle East), Mexico needs assistance and support from the US, whether that takes the form of free trade, or open immigration, or something else. Although it is not a failed state, Mexico has problems that affect the US directly. A stable Mexico is America’s geopolitical stake.

Observing the American Union's fortune in having Canada as its neighbor up north and Mexico down south, Tocqueville once said that the Union did not dissolve because it had no great wars to fear: “The great good fortune of the United States is not to have found a federal Constitution enabling them to conduct great wars, but to be so situated that there is nothing for them to fear.”

It is indeed our fortune to be surrounded by neighbors whose principles of politics and government, cultural beliefs, and ways of life are similar to ours. We ought to be thankful.