Speaking at a town meeting in Iowa, Elizabeth Dole, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, announced her support for restricting illegal aliens' access to nonemergency government benefits. Dole's statement reflects the fact that, in spite of the frontrunners' reluctance to address this issue in the campaign, immigration policy and the costs of illegal immigration are very much on the minds of voters in all parts of the country.

Dole stated that, "The California proposition is one I would agree with," referring to Proposition 187, which was passed in a 1994 referendum vote by a landslide margin of 59 percent to 41 percent. Polls taken around the country indicate that Americans, by a wide margin, favor barring those who are in the United States illegally from receiving nonemergency government benefits and services.

"Thirteen months before the election, the frontrunners in both parties have been doing their best to avoid confronting tough issues," observed Dan Stein, executive director of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). "But eventually they will have to begin speaking about the issues that are of concern to the public. Obviously, the Dole campaign has recognized that the costly and disruptive effects of illegal immigration is a salient issue with voters."

Dole's choice of locations to make her statement is an indication that immigration is increasingly becoming a national issue, not one limited to handful of states. "In the past several years we have seen an explosion of foreign settlement in areas of the country that had not been previously affected," said Stein. "Heavy tax burdens, school overcrowding, social disruption, and other problems associated with excessive levels of legal and illegal immigration, are no longer just a problem isolated to California and a few other states. There are virtually no regions that are not feeling the effect now."

FAIR noted that Dole's position on this matter closely mirrors that of the late Barbara Jordan, a Democrat who chaired the bipartisan U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform. In 1994, Jordan told the Washington Post, "One thing is very clear: Illegal immigrants are not entitled to benefits."

"Immigration, which is adding more than one million people to our population each year, is an important issue and deserves serious national debate," Stein said. "That has not been happening because neither major party has been willing to confront the special interests that want to silence opposition to the current policies. The decline in voter participation and general disgust with the political process is a reflection of the fact that important national issues are not being addressed. It is exciting to see that Dole is willing to step forward and talk about the need to deter illegal immigration."

FAIR 10/99