Dual Allegiance and the Politics of Immigration Reform

By CIS on December 1, 2005

WASHINGTON (November 2005) -- If immigration proposals currently before Congress, such as the McCain-Kennedy or Kyl-Cornyn bills, are enacted without changes, they would contribute to the ongoing rapid spread of dual allegiance among U.S. citizens. Do we want this process to continue by default, or should the United States begin to reject immigrant dual allegiance in principle and take measures to restrict it in practice?

This is the question asked by Hudson Institute Senior Fellow John Fonte in a new paper, "Dual Allegiance: A Challenge to Immigration Reform and Patriotic Assimilation". The paper, published by the Center for Immigration Studies in cooperation with the Citizenship Roundtable, an alliance of the American Legion and the Hudson Institute, begins with a Foreword by Newt Gingrich, and an Introduction by Thomas L. Bock, National Commander of the American Legion, and Dr. Herbert I. London, President of the Hudson Institute.

The paper is at: https://www.cis.org/articles/2005/back1205.html

The Hudson Institute’s Center for American Common Culture and the Center for Immigration Studies will host a panel discussion on the paper on Wednesday, November 30, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. at the Hudson Institute’s new location, 1015 15th Street N.W., Sixth Floor, in the Betsy and Walter Stern Conference Center.

The speakers will discuss the paper and analyze the current debate over immigration, both in general and within American conservatism in particular. They will include:

John Fonte, Hudson Institute

Michael Barone, U.S. News and World Report

David Keene, American Conservative Union

Mark Krikorian, Center for Immigration Studies

Moderator: John O’Sullivan, Hudson Institute