We are all immigrants

Birds migrate, animals travel, dolphins and whales swim enormous distances, as do butterflies and bees. All beings are programmed to seek food for survival. Humans are no different.

There hasn’t been a period in history where either scarcity, famine, war, danger, curiosity or adventure hasn’t motivated people to leave their nest and travel to another, distant land.

What is most ridiculous is that migratory patterns exist for almost all species. This is not unique to humans but a biological pattern and imprint in sentient beings. Boundaries called countries are purely man-made, and Nature’s behavior patterns do not abide by man’s artifices.

Ecosystems and their inhabitants are really differentiated by climate and bioregions. Even with the presence of artificial boundaries, immigration policies can work and have. Where would our world be without Jacques Cartier, Magellan, Columbus or Marco Polo? Can you imagine them arriving in another land and being turned back for a lack of papers? The idea is preposterous, so silly that we cannot seriously entertain it. Yet that is exactly what is happening today.

Today, the “on the ground” and “in the weeds” workers in the U.S. consist primarily of immigrants, largely from Latin America and Africa. Combined, they consist of more than half the manual labor workforce. These are the hard workers who are grateful to have a job and are accustomed to manual labor and working with their hands, picking fruit in the hot sun and working in animal factories and slaughterhouses. This is extraordinarily hard work that few Americans want or will do (always exceptions). Immigrants do the cleaning, the dangerous construction work, the work that keeps America going, fed and housed.

Yet the Administration screams over the loudspeakers that “Immigrants are taking away your jobs!” Really? Another lie among many. The lies are preposterous and persistent.

Trump has taken this right out of Vladimir Lenin’s playbook: "A lie told often enough becomes the truth.” The war against immigrants is a war against ourselves, as we are all immigrants, yes, even Mr. Trump. As are many of his workers who maintain his golf courses¹ and work in the kitchens of the restaurants² at these golf courses, as we all learned about in both of his terms. As we know, he is a complete hypocrite, and nothing he says can be trusted, in regard to immigrants or, for that matter, anything else.

The undocumented immigrant propaganda piece was used quite effectively during his campaign to stoke fear and anger, which is one of his finest skills. But it’s all a lie because he knows that his businesses and businesses of every sort across the U.S. rely on immigrant workers, documented or undocumented. The old joke about lawyers is relevant here: When do you know when a lawyer is lying? His lips are moving. Sadly, that is the same with many politicians, especially those in this current Administration. The even scarier part of this is that people believe him!

To understand this crisis, one wants to take a step back to examine the causes of mass migration.

Causes of mass migration

When there is unrest in the land, for safety and security purposes, people seek to leave. Be it political upheaval, gangs roaming, military activity or drug cartels, these create a lack of safety for families, especially with young children. When there is unrest, economic instability could be the cause of it, but it certainly tends to ensue.

These conditions are exactly what motivate families to leave their home country for others. In most cases, people feel rooted in their home country, and often have lived on the same land that they and their family have farmed for generations. Leaving one’s homeland is one of the most major decisions a family can make. Rarely are they looking for riches and streets paved with gold, but rather seek economic stability and sustenance.

To leave their family’s home, relatives, and culture is a massive undertaking that is lost on the average American. There is little acknowledgment or appreciation of the difficulty in making such a move on every level.

This lack of understanding negatively impacts the relationship between immigrants and Americans and, in many American minds, sets up an idea that “they want something from me” or “they are here to freeload on social services that my tax dollars pay for”.

What is more often the case is that the immigrant is doing work in the fields and factories that put food on Americans’ tables, and does work for a pittance, which allows food prices, though not now, to be lower than they would be if the farmers paid fair wages.

Another cause of mass migration over the last few decades is the result of U.S. corporations going into Latin American countries and exploiting them on their own soil. This corporate invasion has caused massive disruption to many and has led to a form of enslavement and a culture of fear.

This proliferation of this exploitative corporate behavior led General Smedley Butler, while serving in the U.S. Army as a General, to say:

I helped make Mexico, especially Tampico, safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. The record of racketeering is long. I helped purify Nicaragua for the international banking house of Brown Brothers in 1909-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for American sugar interests in 1916. In China, I helped to see to it that Standard Oil went its way unmolested.

He further said:

I served in all commissioned ranks from Second Lieutenant to Major-General. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high-class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.

With interventions such as these by the U.S. Military throughout the world, not to mention those by the CIA, many had to flee their countries for safer ground. We come to understand that, certainly not all, but much of the disruption across the world has been caused by the USA’s military and federal agencies, leading to mass migration, that is, massive immigration, legal and illegal.

The economic benefit of immigrants in the U.S.

According to the Cato Institute, undocumented immigrants paid approximately 96.7 billion dollars in taxes in 2022 (ITEP, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy). They contributed considerably more in taxes than they receive in benefits over time, particularly at the Federal level.

Immigrants make up about 17% of the U.S. workforce (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). They are critical to sectors such as agriculture, construction, manufacturing, and food production. Immigrants increase economic output, productivity, and consumer demand (Brookings Institution). Reduced immigration leads to labor shortages and reduced tax revenue, weakening economic growth.

Population & demographics:

Immigration offsets declining birth rates and an aging population (U.S. Census Bureau). Lower immigration contributes to slower population growth and long-term workforce decline.
Fiscal Impact Over Time
Long-term studies find that immigrants and their descendants provide a net positive fiscal contribution to the U.S. economy (National Academies of Sciences)

Immigrants and the law

A good argument can be made that there are rules, regulations and laws governing the protocols of the formal process of immigration. As a nation of laws, we are obligated to abide by them. For decades, these laws were abided by with some exceptions, and then it came about that the exception became the rule. To say the least, this is problematic, and these immigration laws need to be enforced while understanding some of the underlying causes of mass flight. One can have compassion for the immigrants seeking entry and treat them with respect and dignity while still enforcing the law and stopping illegal entry. It’s a skill that Border Patrol should be trained in.

For those who have entered the U.S. legally, there should be no problem. ICE agents should bypass them. Those here who are undocumented may be so for any number of sound reasons, and others, for other reasons or agendas.

Prosecuting criminals should be done in all circumstances per the law, documented, undocumented, natural or born citizen. This goes without saying. But even the undocumented have become integrated members of villages and towns across the country. They’ve most often become good neighbors, friends and contributors to their respective communities.

Sound immigration policy sounds like this

Seal the borders as best possible using surveillance methods that are already highly developed in coordination with Border Patrol, so as to vastly reduce or fully prevent illegal entry.

For all documented and undocumented immigrants in this country, student or work visas, as well as those living in the U.S. today. Provide them with a path to citizenship.

Per the above, which references those with criminal records, they are to be tried and, if found guilty, deported to their home of origin. If innocent and interested in a path to citizenship, it is granted. This is compassionate, and economically prudent and intelligent. It solves so many challenges rather quickly and smoothly. No families get broken up. ICE agent population vastly decreases, as does their scope of work. U.S. population increases as well as its work force and tax base.

The enjoyment of people from all cultures allows for the original vision of this country being “a melting pot”, and the re-instatement, indelibly inscribed on the Statue of Liberty, is revived yet again:

Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

Summary

The economic case is made—more money comes in than goes out due to the presence of immigrants. The case for work Americans don’t want to do—hard labor, agricultural and otherwise— is solved. The case regarding contribution to an aging population is made, and to a dwindling population overall is made.

The cultural contribution of food, music, dance, art, ritual, holidays, enjoyment, sacred and spiritual life adds to the richness and diversity of American culture.

The horrors of what is currently occurring are a moral disgrace and harming our standing in the world, as well as how Americans view our government in general and this Administration in particular, as well as ourselves. In effect, this Administration has essentially declared war on its own people—perhaps the very worst crime a government and Administration can commit. This is all to control people and maintain power. It has nothing to do with benefit to the People. In fact, it’s been fatal for many, traumatic for others. It has become its own economic machine at the expense of Americans and others, yet again in the hands of the industrial prison and security complexes.

America has been forced to see its own shadow by electing convicted felons to office. The good news is that upon seeing the darkest parts of the American soul, it appears as a nation we are ready to come back to reclaim our goodness, a vastly more humane way of behaving politically, socially, economically and morally.

Americans and the whole world need to know that the presence of immigrants, documented and undocumented, even though the law should be abided by without question, richly adds to America’s bottom line, culture and soul. If our forefathers were treated as immigrants today, we probably wouldn’t be here at all, nor would anyone in government or even the President himself.