Illegal immigration has officially arrived as a major policy dispute in America.
The subject, which has long been prominently displayed on the cable news networks, was finally featured last Sunday on “60 Minutes.” The venerable show has never been known for energetic and ground-breaking journalism, but rather built a reputation for being “the final word” on familiar topics.
Its aging cast of characters has always exuded a certain sense of authority about things in general. That formula was in full flower Sunday night when Ed Bradley devoted 20 minutes to illegal immigration, employing the arched-eyebrow journalism that is the program’s trademark. That school of journalism, for those who haven’t seen it, assumes that the viewer needs a lot of help in understanding complicated topics. The reporter’s job is to use facial expression, body language and voice tone to make sure that the viewer knows when someone has said something profound or foolish.
Bradley used all these techniques when discussing whether it would be possible to improve security along the U.S.-Mexican border and especially whether anything could really be done to lessen the flood of illegal immigrants entering the U.S. from Mexico.
The Bradley piece gave a brief opportunity to Colorado Congressman Tom Tancredo to argue for better border security, but most of the report was devoted to showing that there really isn’t much that can be done to lessen the impact of illegal immigration.
Oh sure, Bradley suggested, it would be technically possible to build a fence the entire length of the border but it would be terribly expensive and probably wouldn’t do the job. One of the people he interviewed was asked how many terrorists had been arrested at the border, and he replied, “None.”
In another interview, a former immigration official opined that the tightening of border security was actually making things worse. For example, people who wanted to come to the United States become more dependent than ever on smugglers who charge high prices and sometimes leave the migrants to die in the desert. He also said that because traffic across the border has been restricted, an illegal immigrant who might otherwise have traveled alone is now tempted to bring his entire family with him.
The biggest chunk of the report was the story of a Mexican man who had become lost in the desert and died. His family members, who were interviewed in Mexico, said he had headed to America to get money so he could put a tin roof on his parents’ house.
This kind of journalism, while touching at times, does literally nothing to advance public understanding of the topic. Bradley obviously believes America has just two choices: to search out and deport up to 11 million illegal immigrants, a task he suggests is impossible; or to provide a guest worker program that would effectively legalize what otherwise would be illegal. Any other steps are, almost by definition, deemed to be futile.
Thankfully, there is plenty of evidence that “60 Minutes” hasn’t quite caught up with the American public on this topic. Large percentages of Republicans in a recent poll listed immigration as a more important topic than the war in Iraq. One of the nation’s best-known pollsters has, in fact, predicted that immigration will be the sleeper issue in 2006 and perhaps in the presidential election of 2008.
Valid reasons for concern about immigration aren’t hard to find. According to the most recent report by the Center for Immigration Studies, immigrants (legal and illegal) and their U.S.-born children account for almost three-fourths (9 million) of the increase in the uninsured population.
The center also reports immigrants account for virtually all of the national increase in public school enrollment over the last two decades.
Sixteen states have experienced the fastest growth in the number of immigrants. While Colorado isn’t on that list, it has certainly been impacted. One out of 10 Colorado residents (a total of 443,000) is foreign-born. That figure has doubled since 1995.
These numbers matter. The superficial and even trivial coverage featured on “60 Minutes” won’t count in the long run. Illegal immigration has become one of those topics that most Americans can see without even turning on their TV sets.
Al Knight of Fairplay is a former member of The Post’s editorial-page staff. His columns appear on Wednesday.
