The Quote Below—More Misinformation from the Media
“Throughout the presidential campaign, voters consistently told pollsters that they were sick and tired of America’s broken immigration system and its porous border. And to the surprise of many Democrats, that number included many Latino voters and naturalized citizens in cities like Chicago that historically built their populations by welcoming new Americans. . . .
“We say there is much reason to worry about all of that. It is vital that Trump and his officials, and his opponents, cool down the rhetoric, change the tone and, ideally, reframe the debate in favor of the economic benefits to the nation of legal immigration.
“Job one should be expanding the avenues for legal immigration, and Homan, Miller and Noem all should be talking a lot more about that. Work-visa programs for highly educated workers need to grow exponentially. . . .
“Here is the third rail of this debate: Many leading progressives don’t want this law enforced, but they also don’t want to say out loud that they want decriminalization of all immigration violations because that position doesn’t have enough popular support. Trump used that Democratic illogic to help get himself elected on the grounds that he, and only he, would actually maintain the rule of law in an area that everyone agrees is a federal responsibility.
“There is no question Trump will have the right to enforce federal immigration laws. . . . The big question here to our minds is how the nation ethically deals with the simple reality that it has not meaningfully enforced its own laws for years due to American internal conflict and thus has tacitly encouraged people to cross the border illegally. That’s the best argument for some form of compassionate Ronald Reagan-style amnesty for otherwise law-abiding persons already here for several years. . . .
“So by all means secure the border, Mr. Trump. . . . But also start talking about the power of legal immigration, start boosting its numbers, and easing the red tape and the endless delays. Mr. Trump, get your hardliners talking about that as well as enforcement.”– Trump’s Immigration Deportation Plans Need Compassion and a Dose of Humanity, The Editorial, Chicago Times, 11/17/24 [Link]
Fact Check of Above Quote: This editorial is an improvement over most of the pro-immigration dogmatism expressed by the “mainstream” media. It concedes that illegal immigration is not such a good thing, and that President-elect Trump is within his rights to try to stop it. Most interestingly, the editorialist shines light on the duplicity of far-left “progressives,” who want no enforcement of immigration laws at all—though they pay lip service to enforcement for the sake of political expediency. Exposure of their deceit is a rarity in the media.
Yet despite its good points, this editorial generally follows the narrative of mass immigration advocacy. It says we should enforce our laws, while rewarding the people who break them with amnesty. Rewarding an activity only encourages more of it, which is precisely what happened after past amnesties.
The editorial calls for more legal immigration, as if we didn’t have enough already. For more than thirty years, legal immigration has averaged more than a million a year, the highest sustained level in our history. Today, we’re long past time for a time-out to begin assimilating the huge numbers we have already admitted. If not, our unfettered diversity will be the downfall of our unity.
Mass immigration made some sense in the 18th and 19th centuries when we had vast wide-open spaces to fill. Today don’t need so many people to build our country because it is already built. If we have jobs to do, we can encourage Americans to do them by raising wage levels and improving working conditions. Reducing immigration is a good way to accomplish these goals.
Also, with an immigration time-out, companies will have greater incentive to automate jobs many people prefer not to do. In any case, automation is proceeding, and in the near-future machines will be doing many or the jobs now done by people. With that happening, we won’t need to worry so much about labor shortages.
An old saying recommends “moderation in all things.” Now more than ever, that should apply to a recklessly extreme policy of immigration.