Although human nature does not change, nations’ populations and subsequent needs do. We are now maybe the world’s third-most-populous nation behind China and India; no longer do we need to worry about populating our shores. If we want our ambiance to remain as pristine as possible, we should now try to control population to what is considered manageable or “sustainable” in growth. The tired old saw about being welcoming to all migration as the function of the USA is for the discard pile of clichés.
With artificial intelligence on the way we expect to soon have an excess of humans. This country has absolutely no reason to consider it our responsibility to make the asylum seekers of the world happy here. Compassion for our own less fortunate and improving our population should now be our only responsibility; we are no longer here to take in the world’s discards.
Joe Biden’s destruction of Donald Trump’s immigration prevention measures immediately upon taking office was as stupid it was capricious. The encouragement of aliens in the violation of established law should be considered a high crime and result in Biden’s impeachment and deposing. Rather than criticizing Gov. Greg Abbott for trying to bring our invasion into proper perspective (by busing aliens to Democrat strongholds), a person who loves the USA would praise him. Bacterial and viral organisms are as unarmed as are illegal alien invaders, but they still are called invaders when they are deleterious. But illegal aliens are well armed, with the propaganda that people like Ruben Navarrette give them.
That Ruben wants us to believe that this country has a responsibility to be the pressure valve for the failed governments and failed societies of the world that offer less freedom and/or opportunity to their citizens than they should is a complete misunderstanding of national responsibility in the modern world, and is a misuse of a column by its columnist.
The razor wire and border walls we should be proud of putting in the face of the invaders should tell them we’ve had enough of their trespassing and demand relief. Laws already on the books would allow our border customs and border patrol personnel to turn back all those who arrive at our border without proper documentation for entry. We have embassies and consulates for authorizing entry; anyone showing up for entry should be required to obtain proper documentation before arrival or should be repelled — sent back to whence they came.
We have a unique and wonderful opportunity to make a real improvement in the quality of the average U.S. citizen. We could embrace this opportunity precisely because of our demographic changes that have come about through a lack of judgment in policies, making it less desirable for us to rear our needed replacement and growth in population from within. We could choose the cream of the crop from other nations and bring them here instead of allowing whoever shows up at the border to gain free access. This could be one of the most vital functions of our embassies and consulates — to get quality immigrants to fill our needs instead of those marginalized fleeing their cultures.
Yes, we can always use a limited number of the less educated and untrained, but we have enough of these homegrown unfortunates to fill our needs. Yes, there are some high-quality people who show up at our borders, but we should send them to the U.S. embassies branches in their own areas for investigation. Then, when they are properly documented, they will be prepared for entry.
As to our dependence on immigrant labor, I do not know to what extent we actually do. If all welfare other than Social Security were dependent upon whether or not individuals are actually either looking for or training for work, I might give Ruben’s ideas more credence. We have a large percentage of our workforce not working because they sponge off others, not because they can’t work. We have those who refuse to do work they consider beneath them, but would do the work if it paid more. This work will get done when the pay gets high enough. If our government’s budget fit the tax burden, we would not have the money to afford freeloaders on welfare. The fight against inflation may take care of this.
It is clear that we will very soon reach our saturation level with more than 200,000 to 400,000 new inhabitants crossing our border permanently each month (plus visa overstayers). We will add a small country each year to our population. Who will provide the jobs these would do, the health care they will need, the education they will get? We all will pay, as will they. Your job, if they don’t take it, will pay less as a result of them being here. Ruben does not have to worry about that; his job cannot be taken by an alien. If taxpayers foot the bill, it will only add to inflation, recession or both.
Jim N. Taylor lives in Harlingen.
