Immigration
My ancestors came to this country fleeing religious persecution, seeking to build a better life, and to find greater freedom to practice their religion. They came from England, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, and Haiti. They settled in Maryland, Louisiana, Rhode Island, and Ohio.
Except for Native Americans who we have treated abominably, we are all descended from immigrants to the US. Our ancestors fled wars, poverty, and oppression in their home countries and sought new opportunity here. As a nation we have been built upon the hard work of immigrants and welcomed immigrants from all over the world seeking new economic opportunity and new political and religious freedom. We have had dark periods as a nation in our treatment of Native Americans, of Japanese and Chinese immigrants, of Irish, of Catholic and Jewish immigrants, of Italian and Eastern European immigrants, of Mexican American immigrants, and most especially the black immigrants who were brought here in bondage. We as a nation have improved in our treatment of new immigrants; it has not been ever easy.
In the US, we “need young immigrants to stay competitive, create economic growth and prepare for an aging workforce and the increased retirements of the “Baby Boomer” generation to avoid the fates of other aging nations.” https://www.fwd.us/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/FINAL-MYTHBUSTERS-The-Positive-Economic-Impact-of-Immigration-1.pdf Immigrants add to GDP, increase productivity, create new companies, bring the spirit of entrepreneurship, and pay the Social Security taxes necessary to support our retirement systems like Medicare and Social Security. We are attracting highly educated immigrants that fuel our technology companies, staff our hospitals and long-term care facilities, invent, create, and innovate; we need to attract and retain them. We have lots of job vacancies in the US and not enough workers to fill them so that is one of the reasons we are attracting many immigrants.
Donald Trump ran for the presidency in 2016 on an explicitly anti-immigrant platform, calling them rapists, drug dealers, scum from shit-hole countries, polluters of our blood, and the like. He governed from 2017-2021 as he had campaigned, starting with a Muslim ban, separating immigrant children from their parents, using Title 42 (a public health law) for arrests and deportations during the Covid pandemic, adopting a “remain in Mexico” policy for asylum seekers concentrating them right at the border, trying to end temporary protected status for refugees of natural disasters (Haitians and El Salvadorans) and from political violence (Nicaraguans and Cubans), and seeking to end birth citizenship (protected by the US Constitution) such that if you are born in the US to immigrant parents, you are a US citizen. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65574725 He restricted lawful and legal immigration to its lowest levels in a generation by capping refugee and immigrant admissions. Part of the reasons the US Mexico border is such a mess today were Trump’s policies. His plans for a second term are more of the same, including mass deportation and immigrant removal camps. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/how-trump-would-crack-down-immigration-second-term-2023-11-14/#:~:text=Trump%20has%20said%20he%20would%20push%20for%20a%20%22a%20merit,during%20the%20COVID%2D19%20pandemic.
Trump is of German and Scottish ancestry, rising in two generations to great wealth and the Presidency of the United States; none of his grandparents were born in the United States or spoke English. Two of his three wives were immigrants, https://www.history.com/news/donald-trump-father-mother-ancestry His anti-immigrant stances and policies make little sense to me given his personal background.
Some of Biden’s Irish Catholic rooted family came to America during the potato famine. The President takes great pride in his ancestral roots in Ireland. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/bidens-irish-roots-visits-ancestral-homeland/story?id=98472620#:~:text=The%20president%27s%20great%2Dgreat%2Dgreat,%2D%2D%20Biden%27s%20great%2Dgreat%20grandfather.
President Joe Biden kept some Trump policies such as Title 42 expulsions until the public health crisis of Covid 19 expired. On the other hand, he opened and improved existing opportunities for legal immigration which Trump had capped or tried to end. Rather than closing down opportunities for legal immigration, he opened the nation’s restrictions on immigration back to the pre-Trump era levels. He opened new programs (Temporary Protected Status) for Venezuelans, Cubans, Hondurans, and Haitians fleeing severe oppression in their own countries. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/biden-three-immigration-record Biden created Parole programs as well for Afghans and Ukrainians fleeing war and death at the hands of the Russians and the Taliban. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/biden-three-immigration-record
Many more immigrants have applied for legal entry under Biden than under Trump, and many more and higher percentages were deported under Biden. Cato reports that the Biden Administration made 350% more arrests and deportations for unlawful entry than did the Trump Administration. https://www.cato.org/blog/new-data-show-migrants-were-more-likely-be-released-trump-biden The large numbers of immigrants seeking to enter the country has provoked a backlash against immigrants and immigration.
It is important to distinguish between legal immigrants and undocumented immigrants. The undocumented can’t legally work, can’t receive most federally funded public assistance, and they cannot become citizens and vote. They live in the shadows, work many of the most dangerous, dirty and poorest paid jobs; always fearful of deportation, they are more easily exploited. It is estimated that there are 11 million undocumented persons living in the US. They are a permanent underclass and are treated as such under the law. For example, they are not allowed to work, but they must pay taxes, and they are excluded from many forms of federal public assistance for individuals and families in need. Lest we perpetuate and grow a permanent underclass of US residents, they need to be able to earn a pathway to citizenship, a compromise that has eluded Congress since it was last negotiated and approved in 1986 under the leadership of President Ronald Reagan.
Legal permanent residents after a five-year waiting period can apply to become citizens and to vote. They are not a permanent underclass, but a class on the rise. When they pay Social Security taxes, they can receive Social Security and Medicare after they retire. They and the newly naturalized citizens are some of the most dynamic and productive elements of the American workforce.
The problem the US is facing at its Southern border under the Biden Administration is twofold. One, many, many more people are seeking lawful entry to the US pursuant to American laws on asylum, and two, we don’t have sufficient immigrant personnel to process and adjudicate these claims so the prospective entrant seeking asylum is released in this country while waiting for a date for a hearing before an immigration judge. We depend on the individual to show up for a hearing that may be year(s) away. We don’t allow them to work legally during the interim unless they get a difficult-to-obtain work permit. https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/sep/10/us-immigration-work-permits-asylum-maze We expect someone other than the federal government to help them since federal laws bar many forms of federal financial assistance to them until they become legal permanent residents (green card holders) and have been so for at least five years. https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/what-public-benefits-can-green-card-holder-receive.html NB: California, with state only funds, does financially help those whom the federal government excludes from assistance.
The bi-partisan immigration bill negotiated in the Senate would have made three big changes: 1) let immigration officers rather than immigration judges make the decision on deporting asylum seekers; 2) increase the standard for approving asylum cases to “clear and convincing” evidence, and 3) give the DHS Secretary the option and then the requirement to close the border to new applicant/entrants when the numbers of people seeking entry reach certain numerical thresholds. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-the-bipartisan-border-deal-would-transform-the-u-s-immigration-system#:~:text=The%20bipartisan%20deal%20would%20tighten,Congressional%20correspondent%20Lisa%20Desjardins%20reports. This compromise was supported by the US Chamber of Commerce, the Wall Street Journal, and the Border Patrol Officers.
It was opposed by Trump who feared it would give President Biden a big, bi-partisan election year victory on Trump’s signature issue. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/the-collapse-of-bipartisan-immigration-reform-a-guide-for-the-perplexed/#:~:text=The%20team%20negotiated%20for%20four,nominee%2C%20former%20president%20Donald%20Trump. And sadly for our country, the GOP Senators and the House GOP promptly did Trump’s bidding. https://www.npr.org/2024/02/06/1229602743/how-the-republican-support-for-the-border-bill-evaporated American voters support for immigration and immigrants has been deteriorating, particularly among Republican voeters. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/where-voters-stand-on-immigration American voters were opposed to Trump’s harsh immigration policies; they are opposed to Biden’s more open immigration policies. We do need broad scale immigration reform but lack the political will and consensus to achieve it.