countries are reason enough to sta’ put.rnBut the continued presence andrnspread of the foreign population is arnsmall problem compared to the massiverninflux of poor non-Westerners, which isrncertain to continue until and unless thernpopulist parties either win control ofrnWestern European governments or exertrnenough pressure to force a thoroughrngoing reform of immigration laws.rnAmartya Sen, in an essay published inrnthe New York Review of Books, observesrnthat the populations of the so-called developingrncountries are rapidly expandingrneven as per capita incomes in thoserncountries are sharply declining. In countriesrnthat are too poor to tackle the problemsrninvolved in feeding their currentrnpopulations, Sen suggests, a skyrocketingrnbirthrate will only make existing strainsrnon resources even less tolerable and increasernthe temptation to emigrate.rnIf this is true, then the current populistrnuprising may only be a prelude torna far wider conflict. Whether WesternrnEurope will escape colonization by thernver’ people it once subjugated may dependrnon the outcome of that battle.rnMichael Washburn is an editorialrnassistant at Chronicles.rnMaybe Foreverrnby John C. VinsonrnThe Immigration Invasionrnby Wayne Lutton and John TantonrnPetoskey, Michigan: The Social ContractrnPress; 192 pp., $4.95rnIs the current wave of immigration tornAmerica, mainly from the ThirdrnWorld, an invasion? Wayne Lutton andrnJohn Tanton maintain that it is. Thernauthors effectively argue that our unprecedentedrnlevel of immigration, forcedrnon the country by selfish interests, is remakingrnAmerica in man- negative ways,rnespecially by eroding our national culture.rnBut are Lutton and Tanton justifiedrnin using a term suggestive of violentrnconquest? After all, the arrival of approximatelyrn1.2 million foreigners eachrnyear is mainly peaceful, even if aboutrn300,000 of that total come illegallv. Butrnc’en if “invasion” is not the best word,rnthe authors are correct to inipK- that thernterm “immigration,” b itself, does notrndo justice to our predicament.rnSay “immigration,” and the averagernAmerican will call to mind the image ofrnEmma Lazarus’s “huddled masses,” orrnmaybe an arriving Old World couplernviewing the Statue of Liberty for the firstrntime with admiration in their eyes.rnSchools and the media have carefullyrnplanted and cultivated these mental imagesrn—sometimes with honest intent andrnsometimes on behalf of interests thatrnstand to reap power and profit fromrnstreams of newcomers. Yet lest we havernany misgivings, “immigration,” we arernassured, will one da’ result in assimilationrnof the immigrants to the Americanrnway of life. The image is that of thernMelting Pot.rnBut as Tanton and Lutton show, allrntrends indicate that the overload of immigrantsrnand their unprecedented diversityrnare causing a meltdown of the pot:rnthat immigrants arc changing Americarnmore than America is changing them. Ifrn”immigration” is no longer the appropriaternword, then what is? One possibilityrnis “colonization.” Though the termrnmay connote military action, it also suggestsrnthe idea of a group of people arrivingrnin a land and imposing itself on therninhabitants, even if the process is relativelyrnnonviolent. Many immigrantsrntoday are not bashful about flying therncolonial colors, and some, like past colonialists,rneven believe they are rendering arnservice to the “natives”: a Korean immigrantrnrecently proclaimed in a newspaperrncolumn that the mission of his peoplernwas to improe the moral climate ofrnAmerican life. Some humility, however,rnmay be in order for this Asian Kiplingrnwith his Yellow Man’s Burden. For example,rnthe proliferation of Koreanownedrnliquor stores in South-CentralrnLos Angeles has made many of the localsrnrestless; they do not appreciate this influencernon their moral climate. Otherrnself-proclaimed gift-bearers are thosernHispanic immigrants vho would offerrnus the superior “famih values” of LatinrnAmerican culture, ecn as the Hispanicrnillegitimacy rate (immigrants and nativebornrntogether) considerably exceeds thatrnof the white American majority.rnSome immigrants, like man- pro-immigrationrnAmericans, maintain thatrnnewcomers have special vigor and energyrnthat native-born Americans somehowrnlack. In their view, America, like CountrnDracula, needs regular supplies of “newrnblood” for health and well-being, andrnparticularly for the American econom-.rnLeft unexplained is how such countriesrnas Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan getrnalong quite well with their own blood.rn^SJ^SS^ “^mJ^^Urn^^^^•Hrn^B^^^^^ 0. | -rn-^^^^^^^mrn1/'”‘ ‘^rn’ • • – ^rn•diiki Not all colonists, of course, have goodrnintentions, or even claim to have them.rnMany Mexican immigrants make it plainrnthat they are coming to recover Cahforniarnand the other “lost territories” ofrnMexico. Once here, they hope to reinforcerntheir claim to these lands throughrnhigh birthrates generously subsidized, asrnTanton and Lutton point out, with taxesrnfrom the rest of us. Particularly troublingrnis a group called MEChA, based onrna number of campuses in California andrnother states. With the help of uncheckedrnimmigration, it advocates ethnic cleansingrnto rid the American Southwest of allrnnon-Hispanics. Admittedly, MEChA isrna fringe organization, but even the mainstreamrnof the pro-immigrant movementrnseems to view the frontier between thernUnited States and Mexico as hardly morernsignificant than the state line betweenrnCalifornia and Neada.rnIn October, illegal aliens and theirrnAmerican supporters organized a massrnrallv and march of 70,000 people in LosrnAngeles to affirm the inalienable right ofrnaliens to utilize the tax monies paid byrnAmerican citizens; large numbers carriedrnMexican flags. Though Tanton andrnLutton may exaggerate by using the termrn”invasion,” in another sense they understaternthe problem. An invaded countryrnmay hope that the inader will departrnsome day, leaving it to return to normal.rnOnce Hitler’s troops left France, therneountr- went back to being French. Butrnforeign populations, as opposed to foreignrnarmies, are another matter. CanrnMiami and Los Angeles ever becomernAmerican cities again?rnJohn C. Vinson is president of thernAmerican Immigration ControlrnFoundation in Monterey, Virginia.rn34/CHRONICLESrnrnrn