Excessive Immigration Is the Problem

The Quote Below—More Misinformation from the Media

“Donald Trump portrays himself as a champion of legal immigration, drawing a bright line between those who enter the United States with permission and those who break the law. “We need people,” he has said of legal immigration.

“But in his first term in office, Trump aggressively pursued policies that sought to limit legal immigration — and his 2024 platform signals that he would do it again.

“The 2024 Republican platform Trump has endorsed calls for an end to ‘chain migration,’ a derisive term for the family-based process that most Americans use to bring their relatives into the United States. Trump disparaged family-based migration in his first term, when he tried and failed to pass bills that would have slashed legal immigration. He has vowed to reverse Biden administration policies that have allowed tens of thousands of Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans and Venezuelans to enter the United States legally each month. . . .

“Trump’s words in favor of legal immigration are ‘a nice break to hear after nine months of nothing but vile toxic comments of immigrants,’ said Kica Matos, president of the National Immigration Law Center, an advocacy group. ‘But it’s completely unbelievable. . . .’

“But ‘illegal bad, legal good’ is the course the Trump campaign is taking. Over the past few months, Trump has inaccurately described undocumented immigrants as mostly convicted criminals, promised to deport them en masse and said that they are ‘poisoning the blood’ of our country, drawing criticism echoing Nazi rhetoric.”  And he continues to say he supports legal immigration. . . .

“Recent polling finds a growing number of Americans favor immigration restrictions. A June Gallup survey found that 55 percent of Americans want to see immigration in the United States decreased, an increase from 41 percent last year and a record high since 2001”. . . . — Trump Says He Supports Legal Immigration. In His First Term, He Tried To Slash it, Marianne LeVine, Washington Post [Link]

Fact Check of Above Quote: This editorial suggests that Donald Trump is a hypocrite because he said he supports legal immigration while he has a record of trying to reduce it. But there is no contradiction here at all. It’s like saying that someone who goes on a diet is opposed to food.

Virtually no one opposes all legal immigration, including Trump. This issue is whether we should cut back on mass immigration, for the sake of national health, or continue with our immigration gluttony. Today, 51 million immigrants (legal and illegal) reside in our country, the highest total ever. They constitute 15 percent of the population, the highest percentage ever. Viewed another way, one out of every seven U.S. residents is now foreign-born.

The consequence is an overweight diversity which is weakening our national unity and culture—and that’s one just one of the problems mass immigration is causing. Clearly we need to get off this binge and go on an immigration diet. A good place to start is the one mentioned by Donald Trump, and that is to slash “chain migration” the largest numerical category for the admission of immigrants. It admits people on the basis of family connections and works as follows: An immigrant has priority to bring in his relatives, who in turn bring in their relatives—and on and on.

Chain immigration has two problems. One, it sets unending immigration in motion with no provision to limit it. Two, it makes immigrants’ preferences for their family members, rather than national interest, the leading priority for accepting immigrants. As part of that interest, for humanitarian concern, we can continue to admit the spouses and minor children of immigrants. But the time is long past to cut off admission of their parents, their adult children, and their siblings.

As this article concedes, most Americans want immigration reduced. Their sentiment is not against all immigration. It’s against excessive immigration which is harming our country.

 

 

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here