Lisa Votino-Tarrant

Are Lawmakers Incapable of Looking at the Long Run?

This is a cross-post from Long Island WINS

A friend sent me the following news clip over the weekend:

Is anyone else frustrated by this? I feel like I have been repeating myself to a brick wall. Long Island WINS had a panel discussion a few weeks ago called "Lessons from Riverside, NJ in the costs of attacking immigrants" which tried to establish with the people in the audience that attacking immigrants is bad for local economies. People don't want to live where they aren't wanted. And when they leave, so do their contributions to the culture and local economy.

The coverage of the event has stretched across the blogosphere. Why? Because this is something that our lawmakers and anti-immigrant opponents haven't gained an understanding of yet. The people who stand against these anti-immigrant bills aren't making-up their information....they are using other governments who have already passed and implemented these sorts of bills as examples.

Anti-immigrant legislation doesn't work. Governments that were part of the first wave of these bills now find themselves in the position of repealing them. Elected officials find themselves on the receiving end of criticism when local economies go sour and often lose re-election.

When local governments pass anti-immigrant laws no one wins. Plain and simple.

Lisa Votino-Tarrant: Author Bio | Other Posts
Posted at 5:24 PM, May 06, 2008 in Immigration
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