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POLITICS Bloomberg Businessweek January 29, 2018

Views have hardened as voters who never gave
immigration much thought have taken their cue Saudi Arabia Ends
from party leaders, says Nathan Kalmoe, a polit-
ical scientist at Louisiana State University and
co-author of Neither Liberal nor Conservative: A RitzyCrack
Ideological Innocence in the American Public. “The
people most likely to be swayed one way or the
other are the people who tend to pay less atten-
tion to politics,” he says. down
Ending the stalemate will require both parties
to change. Democrats can’t blow off Republicans’
demands for enforcement of the law, as they’ve
done in the sanctuary cities movement, says
Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center
for Immigration Studies, which favors curbs
on immigration.
Democrats would also do well to acknowledge
research indicating that low-skilled natives’ wages
fall when a flood of low-skilled immigrants compete ○ Government officials expect the kingdom’s
for their jobs. Employers often end up having to anticorruption purge will net $100 billion in payments
raise pay when the government cuts back on visas—
as it did last summer with the H-2B program for
seasonal guest workers. Even some undocumented Around midnight on Jan. 21, the Ritz-Carlton in
workers see it that way. If undocumented immi- Riyadh hardly looks like the holding pen for some
grants were sent home, “they’d have to raise wages of Saudi Arabia’s most wanted. Since November,
for native-born Americans,” says Pedro Romero, a some of the kingdom’s richest princes, cabinet
38-year-old undocumented worker who arrived officials, and businessmen have been detained 43
from Mexico 18 years ago and cuts and lays custom in the palatial five-star hotel as part of a sweep-
marble in Houston. “And see even then if they want ing anticorruption purge. There are no armed
to work outside in the sun when it’s hot.” Support guards visible; only one police car is seen outside
for immigration would also be higher if the gov- the compound. In the well-lit lobby, with Arabic
ernment spent some of the tax revenue from the music playing over speakers, government staffers
newcomers on aid to displaced workers and—this are scattered around cafe tables. There’s a buffet,
is crucial—assimilating new immigrants. but nobody is eating.
Republicans, for their part, need to separate On a couch near the reception desk, Sheikh
themselves from the race-based rhetoric that some Saud Al Mojeb, the Saudi attorney general, does a
elements of the party have embraced. That’s tough head count of detainees. So far, about 90 have been
considering that some of the basest language is now released, having reached settlement deals with the
coming from the president. government. Fewer than 100 remain, including five
FROM TOP: JACQUELYN MARTIN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES; CHESNOT/GETTY IMAGES; DATA: PEW RESEARCH
The rest of the world is watching. “Your current who are weighing proposed deals. Those who don’t
president is very prominent in German media. It’s reach an agreement will be referred to prosecutors.
really astonishing,” says Matthias Mayer, project “The royal order was clear,” Al Mojeb says. “Those
manager for Bertelsmann Stiftung, the foundation who express remorse and agree to settle will have
that’s majority owner of publisher Bertelsmann any criminal proceedings against them dropped.” ○ Alwaleed
SE. Germany has gone to great lengths to exorcise The Saudi detention plan is winding down,
its Nazi past. Says Mayer: “That someone would with authorities expecting the Ritz to be cleared
ban persons from specific countries, that is some- of detainees by the end of January. The govern-
thing that would be a right-wing fringe position in ment sees it as a resounding success. One senior
Germany.” Getting this issue right is essential for official believes it will net more than $100 billion
global businesses that employ diverse workforces. in settlement deals. That money could be a shot
America has found a path forward on immigration in the arm for the Saudi economy, still struggling
in the past. It can do so again. —Peter Coy and to recover from the 2014 drop in oil prices. The
Sahil Kapur, with Isabel Reynolds and Thomas Black payments have been a combination of cash, real
estate, stocks, and other assets and will likely be
THE BOTTOM LINE Democrats and Republicans have moved managed by a government committee, according
further apart in their views on immigration over the years, leading
to intractable differences over one of the core tenets of America. to the official.