Noting the record number of “encounters” at our southern border, the editors of the Wall Street Journal finally address a point I have been making here for years, namely that the failure to secure our borders undermines the case for legal immigration:
The U.S. needs to tighten its rules on asylum to send the message that not everyone in the Western hemisphere can come to the U.S., but the Biden Administration and Democratic leaders in Congress won’t act.
By the way, these are the migrants you read about who are bused or flown from the border to cities across the country. Most of those flights and buses aren’t sent by GOP Governors. They’re sent by the Biden Administration, which wants to ease the pressure on border regions. But that’s why mayors such as Eric Adams in New York are declaring emergencies as they cope with the new arrivals.
All of this represents an American political failure, of which there are many these days. It is also doing great harm to the cause of legal immigration. The perception of an essentially open border is building a political backlash in favor of more restrictionist immigration policies. The bitter truth, which the left won’t admit, is that Mr. Biden’s border failure has done more damage to the immigration cause than Donald Trump’s policies ever did.
The percentage of immigrants in the United States at present is the highest it’s been in a century, when it was at the highest level in our history. At that time the United States essentially slammed the door on new immigrants.
I believe that countries have carrying capacities for immigrants, that ours is higher than most, but that we have reached that carrying capacity. I think we need a guest worker program with a specific focus on Mexican workers. I think we should be accepting more refugees and legal immigrants. Together I think those things mean that we need to reduce the number of people here illegally. I don’t think a wall would be effective because I think that walls are only as effective as the most corruptible border agent. My preferred solution is very tight employer-based restrictions on the employment of workers here illegally, similar to those in Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, with substantial penalties for violations That’s what I want.
What does the Biden Administration want?.
Too many people profit from open borders. The Evil Party thinks all these legal and illegal immigrants are Democrat party fodder. Lots of employees want cheap, undocumented (controllable) manual laborers. Some of the laborers are actual chattel slaves. Sex gangs want prostitutes, especially child prostitutes.
In the meantime, the native White population has a below replacement fertility rate, and the White population is declining not only as a percentage but in absolute numbers. White children under 15 are even now a minority.
The Ruling Caste looks around and sees that the Brazilian, Hindu, Mexican, and even many African Ruling Castes live quite well off a population of peons. Of course, if they knew any history, they would know that the Ruling Caste always lives as well as the technology permits.
The chart is instructive and I agree with your general points and prescriptions. However, I don’t see any political interest in any of those ideas. Immigration politics is currently so dysfunctional that neither the GoP nor the Democrats have an actual policy.
I suspect we will see waves of anti-immigrant violence. Indeed, we’re already seeing them. That’s what the attacks on Koreans in Dallas were.
I agree with the employee approach for immigration. People come here for work. If they cant work they dont come. The problem with this approach is that the well to do in both parties want those cheap illegal workers. It will be hard to pass and hard to enforce.
Steve
Democrats want a permanent electoral college majority, and they want to appear magnanimous at the same time.
Like they’ve bullshitted the blacks, they bullshit the browns.
Gray’s comment is blunt but valid. Separating constituencies into groupings by race, gender, class – the practice of identity politics – has been effective in past elections. However, the Social progressives, Marxist-leaning agents in the Democrat party have pushed out fairness, reason and sensible values, creating a shift in these past dem locked-in constituencies away to people offering more substantial help to advance lifestyles and the Constitutional rights granted to them in this document..