How Republicans Can Win on Immigration – The Atlantic
The conservative intelligentsia is in the grip of a profound demographic pessimisma sense that a diversifying America necessarily spells doom for the right, and that the movements only hope is therefore to halt, or at least sharply reduce, immigrant inflows. Portents of demographic doom have long been a mainstay of conservative media, whether on the Fox News prime-time lineup or in highbrow journals of opinion, and embracing restrictionism has become a surefire way for ambitious Republicans to signal their edginess and resolve.
But a funny thing has happened on the road to conservative demographic doom. Since 2016, a rising number of first- and second-generation Americans have been gravitating to the political right, a trend that predates the current political travails of the Biden administration and that has grown particularly pronounced among voters of Latin American origin. Cosmopolitan liberals who have long imagined themselves the vanguard of a rising progressive majority are now confronting the possibility that they are an overrepresented rump, with political influence that stems more from their control over elite institutions than widespread popular support.
Given this emerging political realignment, immigration, and the incorporation of immigrants and their descendants into American civic life, is proving less an obstacle to conservative political ambitions than an opportunity to expand the conservative coalition. Rather than cower in fear at the progressive lefts supposed efforts to use immigrant inflows to remake the U.S. electorate, as some on the restrictionist right would have it, why dont conservatives embrace an immigration strategy that can move America in a more conservative direction?
The term restrictionism conflates two distinct ideas: that our country should take in fewer immigrants, and that Americans, and Americans alone, have the right to choose whom to admit to the United States. If the former is polarizing, the latter commands broad public support, which helps explain why Americans have traditionally drawn a sharp distinction between legal and illegal immigration, perceiving the latter as a violation of the rules the country has established for selecting newcomers. Further, there is good reason to believe that what matters to GOP voters is not absolute reduction but control. The big question, in other words, is not How many immigrants? but Who decides, and on what grounds?
From the May 2021 issue: America never wanted the tired, poor, huddle masses
The key is to focus on what I call selectionism, or the unambiguous defense of the American peoples right to choose whom to admit and whom to exclude, and to do so on the basis of promoting the national interest. By abandoning restrictionism for selectionism, ambitious Republicans could not only assuage the concerns of their base while promoting the interests of the countrythey could also, potentially, chart a path out of the current immigration deadlock that would appeal to a broad, multiracial majority of Americans.
The politics of this moment represent a striking reversal. As recently as a decade ago, many of the Republican Partys rising stars were calling for a major increase in immigrant admissions. Today, in contrast, virtually all Republicans have united around the cause of immigration restriction. And though this is true for a number of reasons, perhaps the most salient is the aforementioned conviction that immigrants and their descendants are destined to become foot soldiers of the progressive left.
Anxieties over ethnic change are a familiar feature of U.S. politics, and calls for immigration restriction grounded in a belief in fixed ethnic identities and political allegiances have a certain realpolitik logic. Cosmopolitan liberals really have described immigrants and their descendants as part of a coalition of the ascendant that can foster progressive political dominance, and at least some of their opponents have taken this demographic triumphalism seriously. The trouble with this brand of ethnocultural determinism, however, is that it reflects a political era that is drawing to a close.
Until very recently, one could take this notion that immigrant origins are a reliable predictor of support for Democratic candidates for granted. Drawing on data from the 2016 presidential election, for example, the political scientist George Hawley found that established Americansnative-born Americans with native-born parents and grandparentswere significantly less supportive of Democratic candidates than first- and second-generation Americans, even after controlling for a wide range of individual-level attributes. And though one could argue that the unique circumstances surrounding Donald Trumps polarizing presidential campaign played a role in this outcome, as Hawley readily acknowledges, it nevertheless helped make the case for conservative demographic pessimism.
Yet today, the conservative movement finds itself on the cusp of what could be a prolonged period of political success. If non-college-educated voters continue to move rightward, as many observers on the left and right confidently expect, Republicans will soon have an even larger advantage in contests for the U.S. Senate and Electoral College, which Democrats will find exceedingly difficult to overcome. This possibility has engendered dread among progressive intellectuals, who fear the prospect of a more powerful GOP, and it has given rise to popularist calls for a new Democratic politics that is more responsive to working-class interests and sensibilities. But to take full advantage of this opportunity, the right would do well to embrace selectionism.
Consider that most Americans strongly prefer educated immigrants in high-status jobs over other immigrants, and this preference varies very little according to education, partisanship, labor-market position, and ethnocentrism, according to a study by the political scientists Jens Hainmueller and Daniel Hopkins. As a result, high-skill immigration has had a markedly different political impact than low-skill immigration.
In 2018, the economists Anna Maria Mayda and Giovanni Peri released an analysis of the impact of immigrant inflows on county-level election outcomes from 1990 to 2010. They found that an increase in the proportion of college-educated immigrants in a given countys population was associated with increased support for Democratic candidates, while an increase in the proportion of non-college-educated immigrants was associated with increased support for Republican candidates, a result that they hypothesized was tied to the perceived costs and benefits of immigrant inflows. That is, because higher-skilled newcomers were seen as generating positive spillovers for their communities, they boosted support for the more pro-immigration Democrats; a lower-skilled influx, in contrast, buoyed restrictionist Republicans.
From the October 2021 issue: Plan Z for immigration
In the years since 2010, however, the immigration landscape has changed. In the 2000s, it was not uncommon for Republicans to back the expansion of low-wage guest-worker programs to signal their pro-business bona fides, a stance that, as Mayda and Peris work suggests, engendered a conservative backlash in rural regions. Outside of agriculture, however, GOP-aligned employers and donors have lost interest in spending their political capital on making it easier to recruit low-skill immigrant labor. The rise of offshoring has meant that large domestic employers have less economic interest in lobbying for low-skill immigration today than in earlier eras, when low-skill, low-wage manufacturing represented a larger share of the U.S. economy. Weve seen this pattern in many of the worlds market democracies. More and more, support for low-skill immigration is rooted in humanitarianism, not hard-nosed economic self-interest. The result is that the Republican elite has largely jettisoned its politically costly commitment to low-skill immigration, thus allowing for a pivot to a more politically appealing selectionist stance.
At the same time, as the Democratic Partys activists and donors have moved leftward, Democratic policy makers have come to reject the default expectation that new immigrants should be economically self-reliant, an expectation closely tied to selectionism. During the welfare-reform era, conservative Republicans and moderate Democrats worked together to pass limits on immigrant eligibility for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, non-emergency Medicaid, Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, and a range of other programs, an approach dubbed immigration yes, welfare no. This proved politically effective for immigration advocates, as there is evidence that U.S. voters are more concerned about immigrants collecting public benefits than they are about the prospect of immigrant wage competition.
More recently, however, progressives in the media and the nonprofit sector have come to place a heavy rhetorical emphasis on the moral and humanitarian dimension of immigration policy, suggesting that denying entry, and public benefits, to almost any would-be migrant would be unacceptably cruel. Democrats in state legislatures and in Congress have worked to expand access to public-benefit programs to immigrants, including unauthorized noncitizens. On the left, immigration yes, welfare no is giving way to immigration yes, welfare yes, a stance that remains anathema to conservatives and moderates. The implication of this position is not only that U.S. citizens have no say in who is admitted to the country but also that American taxpayers must foot the bill for immigrants who cant support themselves. Given the unpopularity of this arrangement, restrictionism is becoming a more potent wedge issue for Republicans running against Democrats who find themselves constrained by elite progressive opinion.
But if restrictionism has greater appealat least to some votersthan the more self-flagellating forms of progressive humanitarianism, it is still not a position capable of building a durable national majority. Indeed, these two poles in the immigration debate feed off each other, locking the country in an unproductive, zero-sum dispute. Conservatives and some moderates, fearful that liberals wish to pursue a de facto open-borders policy, embrace restrictionist politicians as the least-bad option. Meanwhile, elite progressives, correctly judging that full-blown restrictionism alienates many voters, feel little pressure to moderate their rhetoric or take concerns over low-skilled and irregular migration seriously. The result is an immigration debate pitting the woke against the MAGA, with the broad majority of Americans of all colors left out. For Republicans, selectionism offers a way to break this impasseone that meets the concerns of their existing voters while broadening the partys appeal to the first- and second-generation voters already trending in its direction. The children and grandchildren of post-1965 immigrants would be especially drawn to a selectionist approach that welcomes productive newcomers while rejecting any compulsion to set immigration policy on the basis of the racialist fixations of cosmopolitan liberals.
Adam Serwer: The real border crisis
As for what a selectionist immigration agenda might entail, much depends on whether it should center on bloodless materialism or some robust vision for how newcomers might shape Americas cultural and political character. In light of the changing global economic and demographic landscape, and challenges and opportunities as varied as renewed great-power competition and the rise of intelligent machines, there is a strong case for focusing on attracting superstar talent. As Caleb Watney of the Institute for Progress has observed, the advantage to a country that attracts geniuses compounds over time, as clusters form around themtalent attracts more talentwhich helps all the individuals and firms in such clusters become more productive than they would be in isolation. Post-Brexit Britain has moved sharply in this direction. Having asserted the sovereign right to control immigrant inflows, the British government is adopting a points-based immigration system and launching a new high potential individual visa aimed at graduates of the worlds most prestigious research universities. And though populist critics warn that the governments selectionist approach is inviting an anti-immigration revolt, the survey evidence thus far suggests otherwise.
Progressive humanitarians and conservative restrictionists alike would no doubt denounce this frankly elitist approach to immigrant selection, but 78 percent of U.S. adults support encouraging high-skill immigration, including 63 percent of the minority of voters who favor reducing immigrant inflows overall. While evidence on the economic and fiscal impact of low-skill migrants on the native-born is contested, there is an overwhelming academic consensus on the economic benefits associated with high-skill inflows.
Nevertheless, I dont anticipate that a selectionism grounded in a narrowly utilitarian calculus will carry the day. If conservatives do eventually embrace a more creative and aggressive approach to immigrant admissions, as I believe they will, it wont be because of arguments about maximizing Americas growth potential, important though they may be. I suspect it will be in response to more-contingent developments. The ongoing incorporation of anti-socialist Venezuelans into the conservative coalition, for example, might lead Republicans to look favorably on other South Americans seeking to flee the rising influence of Marxist political movements in their homeland. In a similar vein, the political awakening among Asian Americans opposed to racial preferences and alarmed by rising urban violence might cast Chinese migrs fleeing their native countrys intensifying authoritarianism in a more favorable light. Rank-and-file conservatives might also see wisdom in welcoming Ukrainian refugees, or in raiding the most-skilled scientists, workers, and entrepreneurs from Russia and other geopolitical adversaries. And though the demands of progressive humanitarianism dont resonate with the right, at least some religious conservatives can be counted on to champion the interests of Christian minorities facing persecution in Africa and elsewhere, a brand of selectionism grounded in cultural affinity.
It would be foolish to expect Republican politicians to suddenly start disavowing their restrictionist commitments. But as more and more first- and second-generation voters turn right, the shrewdest conservative political entrepreneurs will come to recognize that immigration can represent a demographic boon more than demographic doom.
View post:
How Republicans Can Win on Immigration - The Atlantic
- US House Republicans divided over how to pay for Trump's tax cuts - Reuters - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Ramaswamys expected run for Ohio governor would test experienced Republicans and tradition - WTOP - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Column | Republicans try to look forward, but Trump forces them back to Jan. 6 - The Washington Post - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Ramaswamy's expected run for Ohio governor would test experienced Republicans and tradition - Beaumont Enterprise - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Republicans plan slew of reconciliation meetings at their Florida retreat - POLITICO - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- $124 Billion in Federal Benefits on House Republicans Chopping Block - AFGE - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Ballots from Helene-damaged areas are among the 65,000 that Republicans want to throw out in North Carolina - CNN - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Article | More Republicans back IRA tax credits in reconciliation fight - POLITICO Pro - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Republicans reportedly ready to cut Medicaid funding to pay for Trump plans - The Guardian US - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- House Republicans Create New Jan. 6 Inquiry to Recast the Assault - The New York Times - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Utah Republicans take aim at teachers unions amid political clash over education - The Associated Press - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Leading Republicans wrongfooted by Trumps sweeping January 6 pardons - The Guardian US - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Opinion | What It Means That Republicans Arent Acting on the Pete Hegseth Allegations - The New York Times - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- How Republicans Will Try to Pay for Trumps Agenda, and a New A.D.H.D. Study - The New York Times - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Ramaswamy's expected run for Ohio governor would test experienced Republicans and tradition - WV News - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- On pardons and January 6, Republicans torn between moving forward and looking back - CNN - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Missouri Republicans are trying to overturn Kansas Citys ban on housing discrimination - KCUR - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Ramaswamy's expected run for Ohio governor would test experienced Republicans and tradition - Yahoo News Canada - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Trump to meet with Republicans key to tax negotiations and other GOP priorities - POLITICO - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Republicans Say This Anti-Immigrant Bill Will Protect Victims of Abuse. It Will Do the Opposite. - The Intercept - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- At Trumps second inaugural, a changed Washington and a full embrace from Republicans - The Associated Press - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- To gain a court seat, Republicans seek to throw out thousands of votes - The Washington Post - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Another Round of Redistricting in Ohio Could Help House Republicans - The Cook Political Report - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Republicans Press To Change TRUST Act To Align With Trumps Agenda - CT News Junkie - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Whats the Secret to Trumps Success? Its the Republicans, Stupid. - WhoWhatWhy - January 26th, 2025 [January 26th, 2025]
- Chip Roy leads House Republicans in effort to repeal law used by Biden administration to prosecute pro-lifers - Fox News - January 22nd, 2025 [January 22nd, 2025]
- With the full embrace of Republicans, Trump returns to a changed Washington - PBS NewsHour - January 22nd, 2025 [January 22nd, 2025]
- Pa. row officers are sworn in and all 3 are Republicans - timesobserver.com - January 22nd, 2025 [January 22nd, 2025]
- Full List of Republicans Breaking With Trump on January 6 Pardons - Newsweek - January 22nd, 2025 [January 22nd, 2025]
- Pennsylvania row officers to be sworn in, marking first time Republicans hold all three offices - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - January 22nd, 2025 [January 22nd, 2025]
- Not All Republicans Are Happy With Donald Trump's Executive Orders - Newsweek - January 22nd, 2025 [January 22nd, 2025]
- Pardoned Biden Family Members Were Targets of Republicans - The New York Times - January 22nd, 2025 [January 22nd, 2025]
- Targeting Vulnerable Republicans, Campaign Demands 'Hands Off Medicaid' in Spending Cut Talks - Common Dreams - January 22nd, 2025 [January 22nd, 2025]
- I covered Rep. Turner for years. Here's why fellow Republicans booted him. | Opinion - The Columbus Dispatch - January 22nd, 2025 [January 22nd, 2025]
- Republicans in Congress warn rising US bond yields could hit Trump's tax cut plans - Reuters - January 22nd, 2025 [January 22nd, 2025]
- House Oversight Republicans open Congress with rants against telework, unions - Government Executive - January 22nd, 2025 [January 22nd, 2025]
- For Republicans interested in universal EFAs, budget and governor may be obstacle - New Hampshire Bulletin - January 22nd, 2025 [January 22nd, 2025]
- Vivek Ramaswamy's interest in running for Ohio governor isn't scaring away other Republicans - NBC News - January 22nd, 2025 [January 22nd, 2025]
- Chip Roy leads House Republicans in effort to repeal law used by Biden administration to prosecute pro-lifers - Yahoo! Voices - January 22nd, 2025 [January 22nd, 2025]
- Opinion | Republicans insist that Trump is hugely popular. His approval ratings say otherwise. - Yahoo! Voices - January 22nd, 2025 [January 22nd, 2025]
- The Super Bowl of politics: Suburban Republicans in Washington for Trumps inauguration - Daily Herald - January 22nd, 2025 [January 22nd, 2025]
- Republicans Take Control of Congress and Harris Certifies Her Own Loss - The New York Times - January 7th, 2025 [January 7th, 2025]
- Immigration bill first up for House Republicans - POLITICO - January 7th, 2025 [January 7th, 2025]
- Topper Leads House Republicans in Taking the Oath of Office - Pennsylvania House Republican Caucus - January 7th, 2025 [January 7th, 2025]
- House Republicans plan to act as majority, DFL threatens Opening Day absence in power sharing tug-of-war - Minnesota House of Representatives - January 7th, 2025 [January 7th, 2025]
- Republicans divided over agenda as Trump calls for action - Reuters - January 7th, 2025 [January 7th, 2025]
- Trump Calls SALT-Focused Republicans to Florida Before Tax Fight - Bloomberg - January 7th, 2025 [January 7th, 2025]
- Republicans take over Washington amid a worldwide anti-incumbent wave: From the Politics Desk - NBC News - January 7th, 2025 [January 7th, 2025]
- Republicans trust in accuracy of US elections jumps after Trumps win, AP-NORC poll finds - The Associated Press - January 7th, 2025 [January 7th, 2025]
- House Republicans Pledge Drilling and Make It Easier to Shed Federal Land - The New York Times - January 7th, 2025 [January 7th, 2025]
- Republicans grapple with Trumps position on package for tax cuts and spending - Washington Times - January 7th, 2025 [January 7th, 2025]
- Senate Republicans Move to get Voter ID to Wisconsin Voters in April - MacIverInstitute - January 7th, 2025 [January 7th, 2025]
- Republicans loved crypto before Trump jumped on the bandwagon. Here's why. - USA TODAY - January 7th, 2025 [January 7th, 2025]
- Republicans begin rolling out public safety and immigration bills ahead of session - Daily Herald - January 7th, 2025 [January 7th, 2025]
- Republicans are working to get the country 'back on track,' says Rep. Byron Donalds - Fox Business - January 7th, 2025 [January 7th, 2025]
- Trump to meet with Senate Republicans on Wednesday - The Hill - January 7th, 2025 [January 7th, 2025]
- Republicans gear up for lightning-speed reconciliation bill - E&E News - January 7th, 2025 [January 7th, 2025]
- House, Senate Republicans revive Trump-backed push to crack down on noncitizen voting - Fox News - January 7th, 2025 [January 7th, 2025]
- One Bill or Two? Republicans Weigh the Wisdom of Trumps Reconciliation Strategy. - NOTUS - January 7th, 2025 [January 7th, 2025]
- 'Willing to take that risk': Republicans want Trump to have vast control over government spending - Business Insider - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- A Razor-Thin House Majority Creates Headaches for Republicans - The Wall Street Journal - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- Republicans will still have to deal with the debt ceiling in 2025. Heres what you need to know - CNN - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- Trump has pressed for new voting requirements. Republicans in Congress will try to make that happen - PBS NewsHour - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- Crazy worked just fine the first time: Why some Republicans see Trumps imperialist musings as an act of negotiation. - POLITICO - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- Mitch McConnell protege Scott Jennings shines as the Trump Republicans voice on CNN - Washington Times - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- After fighting virus, storms and Republicans, departing Gov. Cooper focuses on wins - The Daily Dispatch - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- Republicans quietly cut IRS funding by $20 billion in bill to avert government shutdown - Salon - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- Ohio Republicans lavishly take care of their own - Warren Tribune Chronicle - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- This move by Speaker Johnson could help build trust with Republicans, NY rep says - Fox Business - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- Expect a quieter Jan. 6 this time around as long as Republicans avert a looming speakership crisis - POLITICO - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- Letter to the Editor: Republicans havent secured the border - Tama News-Herald - Toledo Chronicle - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- Republicans Fear Speaker Battle Means They 'Can't Certify the Election' - Newsweek - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- Tamara Keith and Amy Walter on Biden's big moves and the Republicans' funding fight - PBS NewsHour - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- Dozens of Republicans broke with Trump. Are primary challenges next? - POLITICO - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- After fighting virus, storms and Republicans, departing North Carolina Gov. Cooper focuses on wins - The Associated Press - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- House Republicans float a debt limit, spending pact deal with themselves - POLITICO - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- Republicans' X Verifications Disappear After Criticizing Elon Musk's Comments on American Workers: 'Doesn't Really Believe in Free Speech After All' -... - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- Wegmann: Frustration With Speaker Johnson Among House Republicans, But Is There An Alternative? - RealClearPolitics - December 27th, 2024 [December 27th, 2024]
- Democrats and Republicans in Congress worried that Gabbard might leak information to Syria - NBC News - December 8th, 2024 [December 8th, 2024]
- Opinion | What Republicans and Democrats Get Wrong About Crime - The New York Times - December 8th, 2024 [December 8th, 2024]