Over the past two years, immigration has been transformed into a wedge issue, one that, like crime, race and abortion, taps into popular passions and defines essential political values. This transformation has moved the debate beyond the Beltway and the elites that once dominated it to a far larger political and public audience. But the opinions of these larger audiences are being shaped by impressions, emotions and flawed studies and not by hard facts. As a result, reforms are being proposed that address perceptions rather than reality.

What are some of the basic facts that should guide our thinking and policy on this issue?

\o7 The policy context. \f7 Immigration policy needs to be viewed not as one but three separate policies: the admission of legal immigrants on family- and work-related grounds; humanitarian admissions, principally refugees and asylees, and the control of illegal immigration through border and workplace enforcement.

The distinction is important because the focus on our failure to control illegal immigration has led many to view immigration as a whole in a negative light. As a result, the strengths of our legal and humanitarian admissions policies have been obscured and the standards we should use to evaluate them have been lost.

\o7 The immigrant population. \f7 We need to be clear about the characteristics of current immigration flows. The most commonly noted is their scale: More immigrants entered the United States in the 1980s (10 million) than during any decade in our history. Less frequently noticed is that the share of the population that is foreign-born (8%) is one-half what it was at the turn of the century (15%).

In addition to their scale, what is striking about current flows is their concentration and pace: A mere six states are home to 75% of all immigrants; 93% live in urban areas. In terms of pace, almost half of the immigrant population was not here 10 years ago. The apparent failure of many immigrants to integrate rapidly--to speak English well, for example--has more to do with their recent arrival than their abilities or separatist inclinations.

Contrary to popular belief, most immigrants are here with the nation's express consent. Of the 19.7 million foreign-born counted by the 1990 Census, more than half were legal permanent residents, one-third were naturalized citizens and roughly 13% were here illegally.