The Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions Audio Archive
Program 767: The Immigration Debate: The Idealists vs. the Realists
John Higham, of Johns Hopkins University, explains how current discussion about immigration policy merely recapitulates the same dynamic that has shaped the debate over the last century: idealists who oppose more immigration controls by citing universal moral values, and realists who favor stronger controls on pragmatic grounds. In the face of growing agitation for stricter controls, Dr. Higham suggests that the most the idealists can hope for is to keep the restrictionist movement from acquiring a regressive character. Followed by discussion with Richard Arellano, Harry S. Ashmore, Walter Capps, Otis L. Graham, Jr., Ronald M. Green, Garrett Hardin, David Heer, Harry H. L. Kitano, Marcos Manuel Suarez, James W. Wilkie, and Melanie Wirken. Illegal Immigration VIII. Dec. 9, 1977. [CSDI program number 767; UCSB tape numbers A8527/R7, A8528/R7]
The Center for the Study of Democratic Institutions (CSDI) was founded by Robert Maynard Hutchins and was based in Santa Barbara, California, from 1959 to 1987. During that time it brought together many of the most capable and distinguished minds of the times to discuss vital issues facing American society of the day. Thanks to donors Neal Linson, Ceil Pulitzer, and Stanley Sheinbaum, a project has begun to digitize and make accessible on the web some of the most important conference proceedings, talks, and dialogues recorded by CSDI.