The immigration crisis roiling at the nation’s southern border, and right here in the metro area, can be resolved — if Americans stand behind leaders who want change, not chaos.
U.S. immigration policy stands out as one of the nation’s most catastrophic and humiliating failures by Republicans and Democrats alike.
Tainted immigration policy from the Obama and Trump administrations have now fermented into a deadly brew under the Biden Administration.
Vastly expensive and wasteful remnants of Trump’s notorious “great wall” along segments of the southern border stand as testament to Trump’s insidious exploitation of some Americans’ fear or disdain for immigrants, and especially immigrants who are people of color.
The fear is back. Without the ability to control who moves across the U.S. border, nearly anyone can, and without real consequences.
That allows not only for unregulated immigration of tragic, desperate refugees, but drug cartels and other human trafficking criminals as well.
Among the most insidious of these traffickers are Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other southern state officials who kidnap or bribe immigrants and force them to cities like Chicago, New York and Denver.
Without a federal ability — or willingness — to quickly and legally provide temporary worker permits, these desperate and hopeful immigrants become expensive wards of the city, the region, and, sometimes, the state. The federal government, even under the Biden Administration, has left Denver and its neighboring cities to fend for themselves to provide for upwards of 40,000 refugees in the last 18 months.
Such an onslaught of immigration is a catastrophe, not unlike those caused by floods, fires or earthquakes. Congress and the Biden administration either ignore it or sadistically relish the plight of cities that have stepped up to this humanitarian crisis.
Even though it is Congress and the federal government that have created this quandary, they’re willing to saddle local municipalities and local taxpayers with the mounting burden.
Republicans and Democrats must end the cruelty, the inhumanity and the vast lost opportunities for immigrants and the nation alike. They must work together to finally solve this quagmire, of which illegal immigration is only a symptom: jobs.
Endless U.S. industries and businesses depend on the labor that illegal immigrants provide. Until that issue is addressed, nothing will change. That need for labor is as strong now in the metro area as it was a year ago or more.
For decades, the problem of illegal immigration has been primarily about jobs, and presidential hopeful Donald Trump and his acolytes have worked hard to distract from that. Despite all the heated rhetoric and emotional arguments targeting both sides of this thorny issue, there is a growing cadre of inconvenient facts we’ve highlighted repeatedly:
• There are an estimated 12 million undocumented immigrants in the United States, and their stories and circumstances are astoundingly varied. Officials estimate greater Aurora is home to about 130,000 undocumented immigrants.
• Many of these immigrants are settled and integrated into our communities. They have jobs. They own cars and homes. They make more than $60 billion a year from U.S. businesses. They have children in schools. They spend vast sums of money in the community.
• They are our friends, neighbors and a daily part of our lives, distinguishable from the 40 million Americans not born in the United States only by their lack of documentation.
• Business groups and more than a few industries haven’t been shy in making it clear that these immigrants are critical to their operations. Many metro businesses can’t currently find adequate numbers of employees, even with illegal immigrants backfilling the workforce. Removing these people from the workforce would be disastrous to the U.S. economy.
• Deporting illegal immigrants is far from a simple matter. Many families consist of citizens and non-citizens, many with varying degrees of legality. Tearing apart families will only lead to tragedy and increased government expense.
• The cost of rounding up, collecting from holding cells, housing, processing and deporting millions of immigrants would be astronomical. Even proponents admit that.
The answer isn’t disinformation, deportations or a wall, it’s employment.
The nation needs a vastly changed immigration system that offers worker permits. It must include heavy penalties for businesses that employee undocumented workers. It must be a system that allows immigrants to work here legally without having to be citizens. It must be a program that allows for accomplishing citizenship for those who play by rules.
The only answer is comprehensive immigration reform that continues America’s lauded policy of open arms, transparency and accountability.
Clown ass site 🤡 Blame it on Greg abbot not Biden, who opened the borders. We did not have over 300,000 encounters MONTHLY at the southern border under Obama or Trump 😂 There is a reason why we see that under Biden, it’s all part of his plan. Fuck this site
“US immigration reform is about jobs, not fear”
False dilemma.
This piece makes a perverted attempt to tell us -but for – the system preventing employment opportunity for this uncontrolled flood at the southern border of trespassers instead just rewrite the law and clear them for employment…problem solved.
Dave what did you learn in first grade about standing in line waiting for your turn? Apparently, nothing. You don’t just show up and think you’re entitled to cut the line. Unless you follow your own bizarre thinking, that you’re authorized some work permit before others that have been for some time and already inline as everyone else is expected. So, what’s changed? What curious world accepts line cutting?
The statements made in this piece are made not to inform but to continue more depraved judgment and a baseless premise of what we are watching coming out of this administration. In short, half the county thinks this pathetic border episode is calculated.
The Sentinel, and this opinion is an example of their penchant for little value of accuracy although easy legwork by meeting with John Fabbricatore for his input. He is running for congress CD 6 this fall. You obviously had the opportunity to get his perspective of 30 years of boarder policy. His time on the border and years in D.C. along with a few congressional hearings under oath. I certainly suspect his first-hand years in the field of that experience would not fit the narrative that Dave is willing to accept much less publish.
This is more like the Titanic and its fatally unattainable course with Captain Joe at the wheel and his hand pushing it full throttle.
You are correct!! People come to the US for jobs and a future not available in their home country. The prospect of work and a future brought European immigrants in the 18th and 19th century, and Central and South Americans in the 20th and now 21st century. They migrate because they hear there are jobs here from family and friends who have already migrated. Absolutely we should control the southern border but also we should understand that America depends on migrant labor – it always has!!