Editorials

...EDITORIALS OPENING THE GOLDEN DOOR CONCERN OVER the number of illegal aliens in this country is growing, and unless economic development can be achieved in Mexico and throughout Latin America, the problem will not go away...

...Therefore there is no need to insure a systematic attention to human rights by establishing a high-level post for human rights in the state department, by issuing regular reports on human-rights violations in nations receiving U.S...

...The current practices and procedures for the enforcement of that statute result in the denial of rights to American citizens and to documented and undocumented aliens," said the report...

...As far as amnesty for the illegal aliens already here is concerned, the commission proposal is not as radical as it might first appear, there are so many of them and the legal complications are so extensive that it would be well nigh impossible to round them up and deport them anyway...

...In a move certain to arouse heated controversy, the commission recently voted 16-0 to recommend that the status of illegal aliens already in the United States be legalized and that stiff penalties be levied against employers who hire illegal aliens in the future, especially for those who demonstrate a "pattern or practice" of such hiring...

...The study also indicates that the children of immigrants, after an initial disadvantage, tend to overtake the children of native-born families in academic performance, as measured by years of schooling and percentage of children completing college-both factors that are good indicators of future economic achievement...

...The Schultz-Simon immigration study did not distinguish between legal and illegal immigrants, but its directors said that other studies had shown that there was generally not much difference in the economic progress of legal and illegal immigrants from the same country...

...The first item was based on findings of a study on immigrant families done for the Hesburgh commission by Prof...

...On this point the majority of the commission remained unpersuaded...

...In a recent report on the subject, the United States Commission on Civil Rights says that immigration laws, as written by Congress and enforced by the Justice Department, are riddled with discrimination that deprives many aliens of their constitutional rights...

...After about two to six years," he said, ' 'immigrant families come to pay as much in taxes as native families, and after that they pay substantially more...

...aid, and so on...

...that aliens in deportation hearings receive less due process protection than defendants in criminal proceedings...

...We will stop allowing it to interfere with the overriding task of opposing the Soviet Union and its allies...

...According to their research, immigrant families start earning more than native-born American families, on the average, within ten years after arriving in the United States...

...that in attempting to enforce the immigration laws, some local police departments violated the constitutional rights of American citizens and permanent resident aliens...

...Aside from the crucial issue of illegal aliens, the commission voted in favor of an increase in the basic number of immigrants from 270,000 to 450,000...

...Does the secretary's answer suggest a double standard for terrorism...

...It is past time for the American people to realize that the oft-referred to "tired, poor and huddled masses yearning to breathe free'' do very well for themselves - and for the nation - if they are given half a chance...

...Perhaps this study will only spur increased debate between those who see immigrants as a potential gain for the nation and those who fear they will take scarce jobs and add to the welfare rolls in this country...

...We won't stop talking about human rights altogether...

...In the midst of what, after all, is not a simple situation - neither the politics nor the popular support of the Salvadoran guerrillas being as broad, for example, as those of the Sandinistas in Nicaragua - Ambassador White refused to whitewash the junta's failings or blind himself to the underlying struggle for economic and political justice that is rocking all of Central America...

...The widespread practice of such abuses and public indifference to them derive in large measure from the kinds of misconceptions that the Schultz-Simon study on immigrant economic mobility is designed to eliminate, and we hope it is well publicized...

...It is a truism to say that this country was built on immigration, but this fact has not prevented extreme efforts to drastically reduce or prevent the flow of such immigrants...

...All of this makes useful background material to help in evaluating another item in the news...

...The matter cannot be considered settled...

...And as such when you move it from the mainstream of fundamental policy-making and give it an extraordinary role in organizational terms, you frequently result in distortions that probably put in jeopardy the well-meaning objective you seek to achieve...

...His removal does not augur well for Alexander Haig's crusade against terrorism.e against terrorism...

...they would not buy the idea of a mandatory work permit for every working American, citing civil liberty concerns, despite the precedent of social security cards and numbers...

...And Professor Schultz said, "We tend to attribute more problems to immigrant groups than is warranted from what we have seen in their rapid upward mobility in our society...

...This statement by Secretary of State Haig followed comments,, at his first press conference, about Soviet and Cuban actions in Latin America and Africa...

...A lot hangs on the antecedent of' 'it...

...For his part Father Hesburgh argued the need for strict penalties for offending employers and noted, "Employer sanctions don't work very well without identification...

...At the same time, Ambassador White has been an outspoken advocate of the Carter administration's human rights emphasis...

...There is, however, no doubt as to which side of the argument the study's directors are on...

...a change in priorities...

...Such recommendations for an increase in the number of immigrants to be admitted to this country will undoubtedly provoke heated debate...

...The commission, an independent bipartisan body, said that raids conducted by federal agents in pursuit of illegal aliens resulted in unconstitutional searches and seizures...

...So I would like to see some organizational change in the period ahead - no deemphasis...

...At the same time the majority of the commission called for use by prospective employees of existing forms of identification such as birth certificates and high school diplomas, in which there is reported to be a brisk trade in counterfeiting...

...TERRORISM & RIGHTS "International terrorism will take the place of human rights in our concern because it is the ultimate of abuse of human rights...

...Julian L. Simon of the University of Illinois...

...Does his answer suggest that the key to our opposition to terrorism will not be the outrage it does to life, dignity, and freedom, but the fact that this or that source of arms or guerrilla training can be detected...

...Or is he narrowing his view, as the context suggests, to international terrorism, i.$., what Moscow promotes...

...The delivery of the commission's report in March will almost certainly produce similar reactions...

...Said Professor Simon: "The average immigrant is a remarkably good investment for taxpayers," and he noted that immigrants were ' 'not heavily on welfare or unemployment compensation rolls, as the popular wisdom has it...

...Is the secretary saying that terrorism plain and simple is the ultimate abuse of human rights...

...One reason for not being reassured is Secretary swift dismissal of Robert E. White as ambassador to El Salvador...

...T. Paul Schultz of Yale and by Prof...

...Translated into English, this means something like: "American power serves human rights - more or less by definition...

...Indeed, such efforts constrain use of American power...

...The secretary's further explanation was hardly a model of lucidity: "It's been my view human rights is an essential and fundamental aspect of American foreign policy and domestic policy...

...International terrorism (Soviet, Libyan, or Palestinian) is evil, but domestic terrorism (Argentinian, Salvadoran, South African, Guatemalan) is, well, ugly but nonetheless tolerable...

...Neither number includes refugees, who are subject to separate limits, nor immediate relatives of American citizens, who are exempt from numerical limits...

...Nonetheless, public and congressional reaction is likely to be unfavorable unless there is some assurance that the future flow of illegal aliens will be drastically curtailed...

...voted down was a staff proposal for issuing mandatory counterfeit-resistant work permits for all Americans, a move that the staff argued would virtually eliminate illegal immigration over a ten-year period...

...That is what the recommendations of the Hesburgh commission would do...

...For Father Hesburgh and the staff of the commission this fact signaled the necessity for the nationwide, counterfeit-resistant work permits which in turn would make feasible severe penalties for cheating employers...

...Two years ago Congress and the president created an executive-legislative-public commission to study immigration policy, called the Select Commission on Immigration and Refugee Policy and chaired by Father Theodore Hesburgh of Notre Dame...

...Given this fact, it would be useful for President Reagan and the Congress to take into account two recent items in the news...

...White has stood by America's policy of backing the Salvadoran junta as a "middle road" between extreme right and armed left, a policy that this journal has increasingly questioned...

...Furthermore, the commission recommended admission of 100,000 immigrants a year for five years to accommodate relatives of newly legalized aliens and those who have been waiting abroad for years under the current system...

...Furthermore, contrary to a widespread belief, they contribute more in taxes than they take in public services...

...the commission's full-length final report, due March 1st, will be the most thorough and authoritative government report on the topic ever issued, but Congress is likely to be as divided on the issues as the members of the commission proved to be...