A very interesting article. Kinda plays into the reasons for more Muslims joining the conservative ranks & Rep. party.
I am not quiet sure what the author means by ‘immigration reforms’ but none the less the figures in this article tell the story
By Al Knight
The Center for Immigration Studies has published a paper that raises two vitally important questions:
Does the rapid growth of a Muslim population in this country pose a threat to the influence and power of American Jews?
Will American Jews rethink their position on immigration and, more important, reduce their support for the Democratic Party that supports liberal - not to say wide-open - immigration policies?
It is too early to answer either question directly, but the center’s backgrounder - written by Dr. Steven M. Steinlight and available online at www.cis.org - provides a long list of reasons why this issue may have some staying power.
Steinlight cites studies that show 55 percent of American Jews believe Muslims are the most anti-Semitic group in the United States. The same population is acutely aware that there has been a sharp increase in anti-Semitism in Western Europe, which, Steinlight says, “tracks perfectly with mass immigration, especially of Muslims.” It was reported last year, for example, that Muslims now outnumber Jews in Canada. The Jewish population in the United States is estimated at 5.3 million, but already there are 4 million Muslims.
That’s only part of the story. The Jewish fertility rate is low, the Muslim rate high. Rapid further growth in the Muslim population is virtually assured by existing laws. Muslims have naturalized at high rates and may as citizens under the 1965 Immigration Act bring in extended family members, including nuclear family members. According to Steinlight, in “some West Bank towns, as much as half the population now lives in the United States or has American citizenship.”
Steinlight’s critics have said that he has assumed a uniform quality to the Muslim population and that the current number of Muslims in the U.S., by itself, doesn’t pose a threat to Jewish political influence, nor will it undermine American support for Israel. Those assertions remain in dispute. What is not in dispute is that Jews in America are influential far beyond their numbers.
Steinlight points out that in President Clinton’s Cabinet, a majority were Jews. Jewish advisers also are very important in the Bush administration, especially in the areas of national security, foreign and military affairs. Ten percent of the U.S. Senate is Jewish. A majority of Ivy League university presidents are Jewish, and Jews typically make up a third of the faculty at these elite schools.
Jews also play key roles in Hollywood and in American finance, but most important, American Jews contribute almost half of the money spent in Democratic presidential primaries.
Given this influence and political power, one might ask, why should anyone worry about a loss of Jewish influence or a change in the policy of support for Israel?
Steinlight offers this explanation: “The Jewish population will be eclipsed by an ethnic group whose interests directly conflict with theirs and many of whose leaders and members are openly hostile to Jews. The Constitution, the basic integrity of the vast majority of Americans, and the professionalism of American law enforcement will militate against the kind of anti-Semitic violence taking place in France and elsewhere. … What these factors will not be able to prevent is the loss of political support for Israel that would doom the Jewish state to total political isolation.”
The relative balance between Muslim and Jewish populations is, of course, only one of many issues that ought to concern Americans about immigration. There are many others, such as border security, student visa policy and the whole issue of enforcement of laws barring illegal immigration.
Until very recently, it had been assumed that the political interests favoring reduced immigration would have to gain supporters in the Republican Party, a tough task in an election year. The publication of the Steinlight backgrounder, and the intense interest it has generated, changes that. It gives some hope that while it may be difficult to increase Republican support for immigration reforms, maybe, just maybe, the same effect can be achieved by a reduction in the Democratic Party’s resistance to such reforms. May it be so.