An Analysis of Victor Davis Hanson's Views on Illegal Immigration

Victor Davis Hanson's September 5, 2006, Hillsdale College speech on illegal immigration and the state of the debate on this issue interested me and gave me valuable additional information on the subject. Dr. Hanson pointed out some legitimate cultural and economic problems with illegal immigration -- including the ironic behavior of some Mexican illegals, who proudly wave the flag of the country they escaped while burning the flag of the country they came to. Dr. Hanson used fascinating statistics to illustrate this double standard: 57% of all Mexican citizens want to emigrate to the United States, but 52% of them also say that the American Southwest rightfully belongs to Mexico-the very country many of them want to leave!

I find many illegal immigrants' desire to turn parts of the United States into microcosms of Mexico problematic; after all, a microcosm of Mexico would suffer the same cultural and economic problems that impelled the immigrants to come to the United States in the first place! If, for example, efforts to turn California into "Mexifornia" succeed, this will only diminish the quality of life for immigrants there, giving them an incentive to move to other parts of the United States and similarly transform them. I admire those who seek to move to the United States to improve their standards of living and find productive work, but such individuals should not be allowed to tamper with institutions that made their liberty and living standards possible in the first place. I fully agree with Dr. Hanson that it is time to do away with forced bilingualism in the governments and education systems of many border states -- thereby giving immigrants a greater incentive to learn English and integrate themselves into American society.