Chancellor Tien weighs in with a personal view of the national debate on immigration in the current issue of News-week magazine.
The Oct. 24 issue features a first-person column by Tien in the weekly news magazine's "My Turn" section.
In the column headlined, "America's Scapegoats: Immigrant-bashing is hurting the native- and foreign-born alike," Tien calls for an end to the fiery anti-immigration rhetoric that has erupted recently. Immigrants, he says, "are becoming the scapegoats of America's ills."
He makes it clear that he does not object to controlling immigration. "No nation can afford to throw its borders wide open." But, he says, "effective immigration policy must be grounded on reason, not on emotion."
Tien recounts his own experiences--from his arrival in the US 38 years ago as a penniless graduate student to an unfortunate recent experience at a football rally in the Southeast when he was met with chants, "Buy American, Buy American."
He concludes, "It's time America stops putting all the blame on immigrants and starts facing up to the difficult reality of a world in transition. Let's seize the opportunity to transform America into a model of diversity for the future."