"It's deja vu all over again," as Yogi Berra famously said. He was probably referring to baseball, but I have immigration in mind. Once more, this time prompted in part by the horrific events of , the United States is debating how wide to open the "Golden Door." Let's look at recent Presbyterian opinion on this on-going issue, taken from the November 2000 Presbyterian Panel survey.
In general, most Presbyterians favor keeping some form a welcome mat out for the rest of the world. When asked if they would "vote for a law to stop almost all legal immigration into the United States for the next five years," majorities of members (64 percent), elders (75 percent), pastors (90 percent), and specialized clergy (93 percent) responded no. Similarly, while few respondents want "the number of immigrants allowed into the U.S." to be increased, only 29 percent of members, 21 percent of elders, 8 percent of pastors, and 11 percent of specialized clergy want that number decreased.
But many respondents make a distinction when it comes to undocumented immigrants. Large majorities of lay Presbyterians (members, 78 percent; elders, 71 percent) and sizable minorities of ministers (pastors, 46 percent; specialized clergy, 39 percent) want the U.S. government to "do significantly more to stop illegal . . . immigration." Still, many of these same respondents, along with others (e.g., 29 percent of members, 62 percent of pastors), "favor a law to grant amnesty to undocumented immigrants already in the U.S. . . . ."
The considerable support for amnesty and for continuing flows of legal immigrants is mirrored in the positive opinions panelists have of the contributions immigrants make to the U.S. economy. Majorities in all samples, ranging from 72 percent of members to 88 percent of specialized clergy, believe that immigrants mostly take low-paying jobs U.S. citizens don't want. Most of the rest responded not sure; only 2 percent or 3 percent in any sample selected the option immigrants mostly take jobs that U.S. citizens want.
A similar pattern is found for two other questions. By ratios ranging from 5- to-1 (members) to 36-to-1 (pastors), respondents opted for immigrants mostly help the economy by providing low-cost labor over immigrants mostly hurt the economy by driving wages down for many Americans. And by ratios of 2-to-1 (members) to 16-to-1 (pastors), panelists chose immigrants become productive citizens and pay their fair share of taxes over immigrants cost the taxpayers too much by using government services.
In short, most Presbyterians support continuing immigration and have favorable views of the contribution of immigrants to American economic life. Many want amnesty for illegal immigrants. Panelists themselves provide the best overall summary of their opinions on immigration by their majority agreement, in response to another question, that "It's good for the U.S. that its population is becoming more racially and ethnically diverse."
Email the author: Jack Marcum
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