David Frum, Jose Antonio Vargas and the state of the immigration debate

“How much immigration should we allow into the United States? And who should be allowed in?”

Those are the questions NPR/WAMU’s “1A” poised in it’s April 11 episode featuring David Frum (The Atlantic) and Jose Antonio Vargas (Define American). Along with “how should they be enforced?” they are also the fundamental questions of immigration policy.

Early in the episode, Frum – who was invited to discuss his recent article “How Much Immigration Is Too Much?” (The Atlantic, April 2019) – cautioned that these questions must be answered by Americans “while keeping sight of the humanity of people.”

“They are doing what you would do in their shoes,” said Frum.

Frum was very clear about his recommendations: go back to levels of the 80s (550,000 per year), prioritize skills & nuclear family, and make the workplace the central arena for enforcement (basically, the Jordan Commission’s recommendations) plus an amnesty for “the long-settled illegal immigrants.”

When guest host Todd Zwillich suggested that the Gang of Eight bill was a missed opportunity to resolve these questions, Frum politely demurred.

“You have to read the fine print,” Frum said as he explained that all “comprehensive” bills are agreements between interest groups who agree on increasing immigration, which is why they ultimately fail.

Jose Antonio Vargas, a Pulitzer-prize-winning journalist who is in the country illegally, wanted nothing to do with the question of limits. He complimented Frum as “a serious thinker” but spent most of his time on the show suggesting Frum’s ideas were beyond the pale. Vargas tried to draw a line between Frum’s column and white nationalism, he questioned the source of Frum’s statistics, and – despite Frum’s words to the contrary – said he felt Frum was attacking him personally and immigrants in general.

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