(Newser)
–
President Obama's plan to offer immunity to many young illegal immigrants "presents a quandary for the conservative movement," writes Alex Pareene on Salon: While most conservatives are opposed to immigration (yes, some of them are even opposed to the legal kind), they also recognize that they need support from Hispanics and other children of immigrants in order to win. How to handle this delicate balancing act? Pareene has an easy solution, and one that's already begun to be realized: "Make everything in America suck."
The reason some people are willing to risk their lives in order to get to America is because it's supposedly "the land of opportunity." But that's not quite as true these days, with "dismal" income mobility and an unemployment crisis, and the situation is even worse for children of immigrants: 30% live below the poverty line, 25% don't graduate high school, and 15% have no health insurance. Combine America's newfound suckiness with the fact that there is "no coherent path to citizenship" for those not born in the US—and no path at all for some would-be immigrants—and you may just "convince those foreigners that maybe things aren’t so bad where they are." Click for Pareene's full column.
