San Diego was a national battleground during the midterm elections with millions spent on the 52nd District race, and our region may be at the epicenter of the next big national issue — immigration reform.
We’ve already seen glimpses of this battle: buses blocked in Murrieta, a bitter vote against an immigrant shelter in Escondido, and candidates’ pre-election calls to “secure our border.”
But because of San Diego’s location on the border, our unique role for the U.S. military, and our world-class research complex, we’ve also seen the more thoughtful side of the argument. We know that immigrants are a major asset for our regional economy, our military forces, and our scientific research. They fill many jobs shunned by those born in the U.S., serve in the Navy and Marines, and staff the laboratories in La Jolla and Sorrento Valley.
Rep. Darrell Issa, who represents north San Diego and south Orange counties, put the thoughtful side of the argument very succinctly on ABC-TV last weekend: “The fact is, we send home the best and the brightest from around the world when they would like to stay here and add to our economy.”
As a Republican, Issa was quick to add that he hoped President Obama would not take executive action on immigration, saying “a great deal is possible on immigration reform.”
But he echoed what many in the San Diego business community would say about the importance of immigrants in building our economy.
Immigration has always been a fundamental part of America. In 2010, the foreign-born population, including illegal immigrants, totaled 13 percent. That’s actually less than the average of 14 percent during the period 1860-1920, when Irish immigrants fought the Civil War, Chinese immigrants built the transcontinental railroad, and waves of European immigrants dug coal mines and built factories.
Today immigrants build companies like Google (founder Sergey Brin from Russia), SpaceX and Tesla (founder Elon Musk from South Africa) and eBay (founder Pierre Omidyar from France).
Despite these examples, there’s a tinge of fear in the national debate. It’s a fact that many immigrants have entered illegally in their search for a better life, but the real, underlying issue is fear that immigrants compete for jobs, strain resources and change our culture. It’s hard to see that in San Diego, where despite the proximity to the border there’s a healthy job market and multi-cultural innovation. California burritos, world-class craft beer, groundbreaking biotech and leading cellular technology, much of it sold to China, show the enormous economic value of an open community.
Marshall Tuck, the unsuccessful candidate for state Superintendent of Public Instruction, made a point of stopping in San Diego the day before the election to visit the Preuss School. Founded 1999 to educate children from low-income parts of San Diego who strive to become the first in their families to graduate from college — many from immigrant families — the school has been nationally recognized as the top school in the county, with an unprecedented 31 students winning Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation scholarships to national universities over the years.
As the debate heats up in Washington, let’s hope the politicians look to San Diego to see how immigration can work in America.
Chris Jennewein is editor and publisher of Times of San Diego. His paternal grandparents immigrated from Germany and Italy. His wife’s great grandparents immigrated from Russia and Poland.