Immigration policy: pride and prejudice
U.S. needs an answer
Gordon L. Weil
Immigration has become a bedrock issue in the U.S. and many
European countries.
Coming up with an American immigration policy has become so
divisive that achieving consensus seems impossible. Two presidents have brought the country to
the point where a solution is stalemated.
A cornerstone of Donald Trump’s presidency has been ending
unauthorized or illegal immigration. He
has succeeded in almost shutting down illegal entries over the southern
border. He has also pushed efforts to
remove long-time, productive residents whose elimination would boost the number
against whom he had moved. He now targets
legal immigration.
Joe Biden allowed foreigners to pour across the southern
border. He lacked an immigration policy,
perhaps because he had other priorities.
He clearly reversed Trump’s first term approach, possibly to appeal to
minority voters. Instead, he created
broad public concern that the U.S. could not even control its own borders. He set the stage for the Trump revival.
The original Americans, aside from the Indians, were
immigrants from western Europe. Racially
they and their descendants are white.
Whatever the Constitution and laws might say, their followers have expected
that the country would remain predominantly white, and Blacks would remain
subservient. Underlying the issue of
immigration policy is race.
The most obvious expression of this sentiment was the exclusion
of Chinese for many decades. Today’s
unfounded claim that the U.S. is a Christian country carries the implicit message
that the white founders set binding terms for the future. Minorities remain at the sufferance of the
majority.
Demographic projections indicate that the U.S. will be
majority non-white in two or three decades.
If voters would cling to white control, they could oppose immigration on
the grounds that new arrivals will accelerate change in the nation’s racial
make-up. To some, the election of
President Obama was a warning.
Humanitarian and economic causes have led millions to seek
new homes in countries with stable, democratic governments and the opportunity
for better lives. Some want asylum and
many want economic and social freedom.
The response can be a mixture of pride and prejudice.
Their influx has raised concerns in potential host
countries. People worry about the
economic and social change resulting from major additions to the national population
and the political power of the newcomers that could disrupt traditional
patterns of control.
In the U.S., the issues that arise from immigration have
become embedded in the basic discourse about the nation’s future. Some concepts are widely accepted, while
others are seriously challenged.
Americans generally understand that their country is a
nation of immigrants. Waves of people
from foreign countries have flowed into the U.S. throughout virtually all its
existence. Each group has faced resistance
and even discrimination in the decades after their arrival. African Americans, who did not migrate
willingly, suffer exceptional indignity.
Immigration has been a major source of population growth. More people has meant more workers able to
operate the tools of virtually all aspects of the nation’s stunning economic
growth. Their growing personal prosperity
has created a burgeoning consumer economy.
American economic greatness has depended on immigration.
Moving beyond the sentiment that the national territory was
large enough to accommodate millions more, the U.S. adopted an immigration policy. While new arrivals should continue to be
welcomed, the country could reasonably meter the flow to ensure stability.
Trump has been intent on expelling as many unauthorized
residents as possible. It proved relatively
easy to identify long-term, law-abiding illegal entrants and attempt to expel
them to make his numbers look good.
The public concern about immigration did not focus on such
people but rather on recent and lawbreaking immigrants. While reassured about border security, the
public was not enthusiastic about the removal of contributing community members
or separating parents from children, who might be citizens. Nor was ICE’s denial of their due process
rights.
Trump wants to reverse the citizenship of immigrant children
born in the U.S. by a new interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment. He blocks the entry of people from some
countries. He wants green card applicants
to leave the country and reapply from their home countries.
He has recently indicated that he would like to roll back
legal immigration. The number of legal
immigrants and refugees was virtually identical in 2024 to what it was in 2015. There is no rising tide to be blocked unless
race is the issue.
Immigration is vital to the economy. In 2023, immigrants contributed $2.6
trillion, about 13 percent of Gross Domestic Product. They paid $492 billion in taxes. After the slowdown in immigration, American economic
growth may slow.
Trump’s total anti-immigrant policy, reaching productive
residents, will reduce the size of the U.S. population and of the American
economy. The Democrats offer no alternative. This is where bipartisan leadership must
begin.
