{"id":5274,"date":"2016-09-02T08:35:08","date_gmt":"2016-09-02T14:35:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=5274"},"modified":"2016-09-02T08:39:18","modified_gmt":"2016-09-02T14:39:18","slug":"whats-the-purpose-of-immigration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2016\/09\/whats-the-purpose-of-immigration.html","title":{"rendered":"What’s the purpose of immigration?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File%3AEllis_island_1902.jpg;<\/p>\n

that is, in the year 2016, why do we allow strangers into our country?<\/p>\n

Is it in order to enrich our country and its citizens?<\/p>\n

Or is it as a form of charity, a work of mercy, \u201cwelcoming the stranger\u201d and providing a sort of foreign aid right here in our own country?<\/p>\n

I write this after having just read an article in the Tribune today, \u201cNo more nation of immigrants: Trump plan calls for a major, long-lasting cut in legal entries\u201d (viewable online at the LA Times<\/a>), in which the author seems truly surprised at Trump\u2019s proposals:<\/p>\n

If Trump is elected, the shift he advocates would greatly reduce immigration overall and move the U.S. from an immigration philosophy of allowing strivers from around the world to take advantage of American opportunities to one focused on bringing in people who already have money and job skills. . . .<\/p>\n

After four decades of high levels of immigration, Trump said, the country needs to \u201ccontrol future immigration\u201d to \u201censure assimilation.\u201d<\/p>\n

The model, he said, should be what the U.S. did after \u201cprevious immigration waves\u201d \u2014 a reference to the restrictionist legislation passed under President Calvin Coolidge in the 1920s that remained in place until 1965.<\/p>\n

The goal should be \u201cto keep immigration levels, measured by population share, within historic norms,\u201d he said. Groups that call for a return to \u201chistoric norms\u201d often point to the 1960s and 1970s, when the foreign-born share of the U.S. population fell to about one out of every 20 people, rather than one in eight as it is today.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019m not sure what to make of this reporting, which takes as it viewpoint that it\u2019s \u201cnatural\u201d and \u201cnormal\u201d to have unrestricted immigration, and that the period from 1920 to 1965 (the latter half of which coincided with the progressives\u2019 \u201cGolden Age\u201d of middle-class prosperity) was an aberration.<\/p>\n

And the subsequent reporting makes it clear that the reporter views Trump\u2019s position as \u201cnativist\u201d and wrong-headed, citing experts who say that we need immigrants to continue to grow our labor force and maintain a strong economy. \u00a0The article also\u00a0reports that prior proposals to bring in more skilled immigrants were always in the context of net increases in the number of immigrants, by maintaining the existing immigration of the unskilled as well.<\/p>\n

Now, I could speak at length of my skepticism of the idea that human beings are interchangeable, and that all we need, to keep our economy strong, are bodies, of whatever kind. \u00a0You cannot replace a retiring engineer or accountant or even tool and dye maker with a barely literate landscaper and keep the economy humming solely by inertia. \u00a0And culture is not interchangeable. \u00a0You cannot swap out an individual raised to value hard work, education and achievement, and to value the equal rights of women, and the importance of delaying parenthood \u2019til after marriage and the equal role of fathers in raising their children, for an individual without those values. \u00a0(Here\u2019s an old post on the subject: \u00a0\u201cKilling the goose that laid the golden egg, or, Culture Matters<\/a>,\u201d about the situation in Germany.)<\/p>\n

But let\u2019s focus on that first sentence of the quote: \u00a0the author seems to express an \u201coccupy\u201d sentiment in the context of immigration.\u00a0\u00a0Do you favor the 1% \u2014 those who have education and job skills? \u00a0That\u2019s bad. \u00a0Do you favor the 99% \u2014 the \u201cstrivers\u201d? \u00a0Good for you!<\/p>\n

Do we, as Americans, have a moral responsibility to give preference in admission into the U.S. those who are most needy? \u00a0Remember, Emma Lazarus wrote a poem; \u201cGive me your poor\u201d is not an article in the constitution. \u00a0For that matter, the Works of Mercy are a religious belief \u2014 and aren\u2019t we hearing repeatedly that the government shouldn\u2019t be implementing anyone\u2019s religion?<\/p>\n

But if we do agree, as a nation, that admitting into the U.S. unskilled individuals is a meritorious thing to do, either legally or de facto<\/em> via illegal immigration without enforcement, regardless of their cost to the public treasury, then how do we assess the right numbers of needy? \u00a0We could do a calculation: \u00a0X unskilled immigrants times Y cost per immigrant \u2014 but there is no consensus on the cost of increasing the proportion of unskilled workers in the country.<\/p>\n

And, of course, the situation a century, or a century and a half ago, when the country\u2019s cities teemed with poor, who eventually assimilated and became a part of the mainstream American economy and culture, isn\u2019t something we can import today \u2014 since cities teeming with the desperately poor are not something we\u2019re willing to shrug off today.<\/p>\n

Your thoughts as we head into the weekend?<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

image: \u00a0Arrivals at Ellis Island, from Wikimedia Commons.\u00a0https:\/\/commons.wikimedia.org\/wiki\/File%3AEllis_island_1902.jpg; See page for author [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

that is, in the year 2016, why do we allow strangers into our country? Is it in order to enrich our country and its citizens? Or is it as a form of charity, a work of mercy, \u201cwelcoming the stranger\u201d and providing a sort of foreign aid right here in our own country? I write […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":5277,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[463,46],"class_list":["post-5274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-illegal-immigration","tag-immigration"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat's the purpose of immigration?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"that is, in the year 2016, why do we allow strangers into our country? Is it in order to enrich our country and its citizens? 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