Nativism doesn't appear to be on much of a rise

[Jeanfromfillmore]

Nativism doesn't appear to be on much of a rise
There's been plenty of overheated rhetoric and creative paranoia on display this year, but nativism has been, to me, the dog that didn't bark. The Tea Parties haven't been very focused on immigration, and while abortion and socialism both became major issues during health-care reform, fears that the bill would cover illegal immigrants (it won't, incidentally) never became a marquee issue.
But in The American Prospect, Gabriel Arana suggests that the situation has worsened for immigrants, even if it's been a quiet deterioration: "Since the 2006 protests, membership in anti-immigrant groups has increased 600 percent," Arana reports. "The number of these groups has also risen from around 40 in 2005 to over 250 today." He also notes that most of the moderate Republicans who once seemed friendly to immigration reform have abandoned the issue, with Sen. John McCain being the most visible example.
Is that evidence of broader shifts in public opinion, though? The polling I can find -- and there's not that much of it -- paints a cheerier picture. A CNN poll asked whether respondents would like to see the number of illegal immigrants in the country increased or decreased. Between 2006 and 2008, "decreased" got between 65% and 69% In October of 2009, it got...73%. An increase, but nothing catastrophic.
Perhaps more on point, a Washington Post poll asked "Would you support or oppose a program giving illegal immigrants now living in the United States the right to live here legally if they pay a fine and meet other requirements?" At various points in 2007, support for this ranged from 48% to 59%. In April of 2009 -- which was well into the recession -- support hit 61%.
I wouldn't draw any overly firm conclusions from these numbers. But they don't paint a picture of nativism on an unchecked rise. And perhaps that's to be expected. People blame this recession on Wall Street. Illegal immigrants, love 'em or hate 'em, aren't at the forefront of people's minds.
Photo credit: Marvin Joseph/the Washington Post Photo.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/ezr...r_to_be_o.html