2015-04-24

That Was Fast: Immigration Issue Gains Attention

Only a day ago I said Immigration Restriction A Winner In 2016. GOP presidential candidate Scott Walker took up the issue of restricting both legal and illegal immigration, and now Drudge has joined the effort.
Notice the headlines below with Germany and the EU dealing with immigration issues.
Census: Record 51 million immigrants in 8 years, will account for 82% of U.S. growth
The media and both political parties effectively suppressed nearly all discussion of immigration restriction over the past 15 years, all the while pushing even more extreme policies. Currently, the U.S. government is flying illegal immigrants into the U.S. The gap between public sentiment and government/media on the issue has widened to extreme proportions. This creates a situation where the policy can shift rapidly from expectations.

While immigration isn't the most important issue to voters, the issue crystallizes the public's belief that government doesn't care about them or listen to them. Anti-immigration has no core constituency; it cuts across all groups. Low skill immigration hits poorest Americans the hardest because the new immigrants are able to quickly compete with them for jobs. Some high skilled workers are anti-immigration too because H1-B visas are used to displace American programmers with cheaper foreign labor.

The next time social mood swings negative, many Americans may sound a lot like this woman:

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