LIMITS URGED ON NEW ARRIVALS
By Maria Sacchetti, msacchetti@globe.com
Boston Globe
October 10, 2008
United States
WATERTOWN – Mark Krikorian is everywhere, it seems, making the case
against immigration.
He has been on C-SPAN, testified before Congress, and this week he
held court before a group of fellow Armenians in Watertown, many of
them immigrants themselves.
He was not what they expected. He exudes a rumpled charm, with
thick eyeglasses and a mop of thinning gray hair. But Krikorian’s
authoritative voice is so reasoned, and his demeanor so amiable,
that it makes immigrant advocates leery.
Legal immigrants. Illegal immigrants. Krikorian wants fewer of both.
>From the podium Wednesday night at the Armenian Library and Museum
of America, Krikorian eyed the two dozen in the room. Some smiled,
including his mother. Others sat stone-faced, arms folded. He
quickly deadpanned that for a week his new book was number six on
the Washington Post best-seller list.
"For one week," he said with a smile. "I knew it would never happen
again so I framed it. "
They laughed.
For the next hour, he held their attention. Krikorian is executive
director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington think
tank that issues reports outlining the costs of immigration to the
United States. This year, he is on a book tour to promote "The New
Case Against Immigration." The cover features an image of the Statue
of Liberty with her hand held up as if to say: Stop.
Krikorian’s premise: America has changed over the last century from
an agriculture-based society that welcomed millions of low-skilled
immigrants to a high-tech, service-based economy that demands higher
skills. Uneducated workers, he says, tap into healthcare and other
government-funded services and compete with American high school
dropouts for jobs.
His proposal: Sharply reduce immigration from the 1.5 million
immigrants who enter each year – which includes roughly 500,000 illegal
immigrants. He would reduce the 12 million illegal immigrants in the
country now by several million people. And he would allow 350,000 to
400,000 legal immigrants in a year, reducing the number of relatives
that US citizens can bring in and admitting a limited number of
high-skilled workers and refugees.
"In the conditions of the modern society, a person with low levels
of skill and education, no matter how many jobs he has, no matter how
hard he works, he cannot support a family . . . without support from
taxpayers," Krikorian told the group. "It just can’t happen."
Krikorian’s critics say his approach runs counter to the United States’
history as a nation of immigrants and would force families to live
apart from their relatives. The United States still needs immigrants
for low-wage jobs, they say, and it is impractical to suggest sending
illegal immigrants home.
"He’s the moderate face of a very hard-line movement," said Frank
Sharry, executive director of America’s Voice, a Washington-based
nonprofit organization that favors an immigration overhaul. "He talks
in soothing and academic tones about an agenda that I find extreme."
But B. Lindsay Lowell, director of policy studies at Georgetown
University’s Institute for the Study of International Migration,
said Krikorian and the center are making an honest attempt to make
their case.
"I think that they are intelligent brokers for a point of view I
don’t quite share," he said in an e-mail. "At least, they are honest
about putting out a number that they think is preferable while their
opposition mostly mouths vague platitudes about not ‘restricting’
immigration as if ever-growing numbers or open borders is a viable
option."
Krikorian takes pains in his book to avoid blaming immigrants. He
is the grandson of Armenian immigrants and speaks the language
fluently. Now 47, he was born in Connecticut to parents from
Medford and Watertown. He grew up mainly in the Midwest but lived
in Massachusetts as a teenager and graduated from Winchester High
School. He was educated at Georgetown University and the Fletcher
School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University.
He fell into the immigration debate because of his opposition to
bilingual education and eventually found work at the Federation for
American Immigration Reform, among other jobs. He went to work for
the Center for Immigration Studies in 1995.
After his talk, many in the crowd praised Krikorian.
"I would like to limit (immigration) if they aren’t educated, if they
are going to be a burden on government handouts," said Bette Ohanian
of Watertown, the daughter of Armenian immigrants.
Barbara Merguerian, a freelance writer, questioned why the number of
illegal immigrants had been allowed to swell.
"We’re a country of law and order," she said.
"I just can’t believe that the US government is unable to stop this
mass of immigrants to this country."
If Krikorian’s plan had been in place a century ago, some of the
people in the room might not have been allowed into the United States.
"I disagreed with him completely," said Bethel Bilezikian Charkoudian,
whose parents survived the Armenian genocide. "We’re living in a
world without borders."
From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress