(Letter to the Oregonian)
Regarding Mark Matsushima's article on our hostility toward immigrants, I sympathize with his argument that these are people who just happen to be of other ethnicities and races, and that we should treat them fairly because they will eventually fit into our culture and add to it. He is absolutely right. However, he misses the point. Race and ethnicity are irrelevant to many people's discomfort with newcomers. They are crowding our spaces. If the eleven million illegal immigrants in this country were blond, blue-eyed Swedes, their presence would still reduce our freedom to move in much the same way as more people in a room does. Our parents may have entered America as immigrants, but that does not mean America can add immigrants forever and still guarantee the un-congested cities and open countryside we value and enjoy. We limit the number of people who can ride in a car. Why not set a limit to the size of the US population? Why not begin to deal with the procreation choices individuals make that exacerbate environmental and social problems world-wide? Why not talk about over-population?
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