Immigration causes racism says UN official

Issue 61: February 4, 2001

+== TIME OUT PROJECT ==+

According to a January 29 Agence France Presse report, Mary Robinson, the United Nations Commissioner for Human Rights, told the International Forum on Combating Intolerance held in Stockholm that globalization has "implications" in racism. "Population movements often lead to a rise in xenophobia," she said.

At ProjectUSA, we thought this was an interesting statement, if imprecise (e.g., standing on a tall ladder does not "cause" acrophobia), and so we called the United Nations here in New York City (212-963-1234) and asked to be connected to Mary Robinson’s office.

We asked the man who answered whether it was the official policy of the human rights wing of the UN that, as Commissioner Robinson had claimed, immigration causes racism. The man, who refused to give his name, answered cautiously that as Commissioner, Mrs. Robinson’s opinions were certainly those of the office, but that sometimes she just expresses her personal opinions.

(Mrs. Robinson has also blamed the Internet for spreading hate and called on high-tech companies to fight racism (!). And in Mexico last year, demanding the U.S. be charged before international bodies with human rights abuses, she blamed the difficulties illegal aliens face in crossing the U.S. border on U.S. attempts to make it difficult for illegal aliens to cross the border.)

The man at the UN suggested we call Robert Husbands in Geneva who is in charge of putting together the World Conference against Racism, which will be held in South Africa, August 31 - September 7 (Husbands’ international telephone number: 011-41-22-917- 9290). We tried, but we were unable to reach him to ask whether he agreed with Mrs. Robinson that immigration causes racism. And, if so, would the Conference condemn Tibetans for their racist resistance to the massive immigration of ethnic Han Chinese now pouring into Tibet?

(Chinese now outnumber Tibetans in the Tibetan capital city by three to one: http://www.tibet.com/Humanrights/poptrans.html)

+== CALL TO ACTION ==+

Meanwhile, President Bush prepares for a February 16 trip to Mexico. All sides make it clear that immigration will be a primary topic for discussion during his meetings with new Mexican President Vincente Fox, who is a strong promoter of higher levels of mass immigration from Mexico to the U.S. And, according to the Dallas Morning News (Jan 31), Mexico’s new Foreign Minister Jorge Castaneda, "acknowledging that his countrymen will continue to sneak into the United States for years to come, cautioned Tuesday that the new administration will take a more aggressive role in denouncing border violence against undocumented immigrants."

If Bush caves to Mexican aggressiveness and submits to Mexican demands to increase mass immigration, he will be acting irresponsibly on several levels, including:

First, when it is easier for a country to export its excess workers to a richer neighboring nation to send home money, then that will be the policy — the case with Mexico. (Such remittances are Mexico’s third-highest source of income.) Studies show that, because the incentive is removed to implement the educational and institutional reforms necessary to maintain a developed economy, those countries mired in Third World economic conditions are hobbled in their attempts to raise domestic standards of living by an over-reliance on the exportation of cheap labor. If Mexico is to get its economic house in order, and raise the standard of living for ALL Mexicans, the cycle of dependency created by selfish U.S. immigration policies must be broken.

Second, Dr. Virginia Abernethy of Vanderbilt University and others have shown that the tendency toward additional population growth in sending countries is increased by economic emigration. The Third World adds another U.S. population — net — every four years; surely, if we care at all about the kind of planet we are leaving to future generations, Americans must reassess our exploitative and destructive immigration policies.

Third, unremitting mass immigration is reckless in the Robinsonian sense: America is not magically immune to the kind of human passions that animate the hostile resistance, violence and oppression found today in Tibet. It is socially irresponsible for Bush and other Republicans to advocate continued mass immigration simply so that some businessmen can get richer.

You can contact the White House and urge the President to act responsibly on mass immigration by calling the White House comment line during business hours at 202-456-1414 or by emailing president@whitehouse.gov.

Remind the President that a Gallup Poll released on Thursday shows that eighty-five percent of Americans think it is important that President Bush and Congress do something about immigration in the next year and that fifty-five percent of those surveyed were dissatisfied with the level of immigration into the U.S. (http://www.fairus.org/html/stein/stein1.htm#poll_0201)

+== EMAIL OF THE WEEK ==+

I have read that there is a movement developing to grant yet another amnesty to illegal immigrants. I object to rewarding lawbreaking with the gift of American citizenship. America cannot absorb the world’s population. Giving illegal aliens citizenship is tantamount to saying that because someone has snuck into your home they have a right to stay there.

Sincerely, Brenda Reed, West Virginia

+== QUOTE OF THE WEEK ==+

Conventional Danish wisdom through the 1980s was that these immigrants (to Denmark) would be assimilated. Surprise, surprise, multiculturalism bred anger and resentment rather than integration.

Phyllis Schlafly
A Warning From Denmark
Copley News Service, January 31, 2001
http://www.eagleforum.org/column/2001/jan01/01-01-31.shtml

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