Emulating George Orwell’s “Animal Farm,” President-Elect Donald Trump’s warring GOP has indicated that, “All immigrants are equal, but some immigrants are more equal than others.”
Trump gadfly and acolyte Laura Loomer lit up the MAGAsphere over the weekend by taking exception to plans made by Trump favorite Elon Musk to exempt select, educated immigrants from threatened immigration limits and deportations.
Proponents of allowing educated, skilled workers into the United States, while keeping other immigrants out of the country, say they are more valuable to the nation, giving it a competitive edge over nations such as China.
Loomer, cheered on by millions of Trump-GOP members, insists that all jobs, and especially the best jobs, should be reserved only for “Americans.”
Musk insists he’s behind Trump’s threat to deport millions of “illegal” immigrants, even if it involves changing current immigration law, creating “illegal” immigrants who currently are here under legal asylum, parole or temporary protective status.
All are wrong, Musk, Loomer and Trump.
No credible U.S. leader argues that immigration and border entry should not be regulated or controlled.
For years, the most common “illegal” immigrant in the United States was one who came to the country legally as a visitor or on a visa, and overstayed one or both. Most often, these immigrants created homes, lives and families. They pay taxes and for all intents and purposes are as “American” as anyone, except they cannot vote nor collect most federal benefits.
Both highly skilled and just highly motivated immigrants are critical to the U.S. economy. Every credible economist analyzing the recent economic churn since the onset of the pandemic agrees that without the skilled and “unskilled” labor of migrants, the U.S. economy would have suffered greatly, either by pushing inflation even higher or stalling in a recession.
Unemployment has long been at a historic low. Employers cannot find enough skilled and unskilled workers at this time to meet their needs.
There is no good reason to round up and deport immigrants.
Instead, Trump and Congress should create accessible worker visas for immigrants and powerful penalties for companies that hire anyone who isn’t a citizen or a sanctioned immigrant worker.
For workers who do not commit crimes and do pay taxes, they can work toward a Green Card and eventually citizenship.
As to dismantling programs such as Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals and other immigration statuses that have served the nation and immigrants so well for so long, Congress and the incoming Trump administration should look instead for meaningful changes.
For years, both Democrat and Republican elected leaders have helped Americans understand DACA residents are children caught up in a quagmire of policy and bureaucracy they are powerless to solve or even address.
In almost every case, they know no home other than the United States and they have no home other than here.
Outside of a set of paper credentials, they are no different than any other child born here or naturalized.
Former President Barack Obama wisely stepped around the unwinnable 2012 politics of the moment and created the DACA program by executive action, creating security for millions of American children. The nation referred to the DACA kids as “DREAMers” referring to the federal act that created their legal immigration status.
One of the sorriest moments in U.S. History came during then-President Trump’s 2018 State of the Union Address.
“Americans are ‘dreamers,’ too,” he boasted, preening for the camera and his Republican fans in the House Chamber.
Immediately, the line was lauded by people who agreed with it, understanding Trump’s slight at the children of immigrants.
“Thank you, President Trump,” Ku Klux Klan wizard David Duke said immediately in a social media post. “Americans are ‘Dreamers’ too.”
DACA foes don’t understand that the thousands of “DREAM-ers” in Aurora, and hundreds of thousands more across the country, are every bit as American as any of the rest of the nation. Americanism doesn’t come from credentials. It comes from community and allegiance to the notion that all of us are equal.
Congressional leaders are being offered a unique moment while Trump is trying to keep peace among his own internal warring factions.
Republican and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate should step in to draw the lines around immigration reform, limiting future immigration to the nation’s needs and allowing current immigrants to, legally, step into the jobs the nation critically needs, and wants, them to do.
“Sensible immigration reform” = “Let them all in.”
We’ve already tried “sensible immigration reform” the last four years. Time for something different.
And how did your family start out in the U.S.?
Ah yes, an open borders advocate trying the “nation of immigrants” line as a thought-stopping mechanism to argue that no limits on immigration should be enforced.
You’re free to f off to the land of your ancestors any time, Jeffy-poo. We all know how much you love your violent immigrant gang members.
There has to be a common-sense approach to immigration reform, so the country can get the workers it needs and we can have an orderly method for determining who we allow in. I do not believe it is only educated workers. We need unskilled workers also to pick fruits and vegetables and perform other unskilled labor. As a former director of a Small Business Development Center, I am also aware that immigrants are a prime source of entrepreneurs, upon which our economy relies for over 50% of new jobs!
“Common sense approach” = “Let them all in.”
We’ve already tried a “common sense approach” the last four years. Time for something different, even if it means you don’t get your underpaid peon labor so you can save a buck on an avocado.