Invest in Immigrants, Don’t Deport Them
Image by Nitish Meena.
Immigrants across America are quaking in their boots as they fear being arrested by federal agents and deported from the country – all because they sought refuge from a bad life in search of a better future. Donald Trump blames President Biden for encouraging mass migration, and he is pledging to close the border and deploy U.S. troops to carry out deportations when he enters office.
But there is a better solution to dealing with the millions of immigrants in America. How about we invest in them instead? What if we help pay for their education and turn them into law-abiding citizens who contribute to the future of our country by filling the millions of jobs that are vacant?
How about we take wasted taxpayer dollars and instead build massive communities to house the immigrants as well as our homeless? America wastes so much money and governments can do far better things with taxpayer dollars.
A decade ago, researchers at San Diego State University and the University of California, Davis spent part of a $325,000 National Science Foundation grant to make “RoboSquirrel,” a taxidermied rodent that can wag its tail. The purpose: to help study interactions between squirrels and rattlesnakes.
Do such programs still exist today? Of course.
Did you know that last year the government spent $6 million to boost Egyptian tourism, and gave $38 million in Covid relief money to a bunch of dead people? Incredibly, the Department of Defense spent $8,395 on a lobster tank.
The point is that America can do better and its taxpayer dollars can be put to better use. In this case, I propose to use as much funding as possible toward immigrant housing, education, and employment.
Many immigrants used to come from Central and South America although now many come from far-flung places such as China.
According to a study conducted by The Washington Post, “Adults from Mexico and Central America accounted for most border crossers until the pattern changed starting in 2014… Many were fleeing gang violence in Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.”
The study found that in recent years many Cubans, Haitians and Nicaraguans arrived, “driven by deteriorating conditions in those nations and constraints on U.S. deportation flights to them. The number of illegal entries from these nations fell starting in 2023 after Biden created a way for them to enter legally through a U.S. sponsor.”
During the Biden administration, the arrival of “extra-continental” immigrants grew, coming from countries such as India, China, Colombia and Mauritania.
The fear of being deported is real.
Trump’s incoming border czar Tom Homan on Sunday issued a stern warning to migrants illegally entering the U.S. in the final days of the Biden administration.
The incoming Trump administration, he said, will conduct the “biggest border operation this country has ever seen.”
But some migrants say they could be killed if sent home. Many of them risked their lives crossing oceans or other dangerous terrain to reach the border in search of a better life. Their asylum claim is based on their flight from persecution, not just a yearning for American prosperity.
What this means is that America would be nothing short of cruel to send them back to their country of origin and this should be prevented by any means possible.
Like the “JustStopOil” protesters in Europe, Americans should rise to the occasion, and rush to the rescue of immigrant families fearful of being deported.
America has so much to lose and the immigrants have so much to gain. The decision should be crystal clear and they should be allowed to stay in the country where they can prosper and contribute to society like any other American.
America is supposed to be “the land of the free and the home of the brave.”
These immigrants are some of the bravest people, having escaped persecution. Now, all they want is to be free.
It is incumbent upon America to provide that freedom.
The post Invest in Immigrants, Don’t Deport Them appeared first on CounterPunch.org.