{"id":5824,"date":"2017-01-10T21:12:57","date_gmt":"2017-01-11T03:12:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=5824"},"modified":"2017-01-11T09:47:38","modified_gmt":"2017-01-11T15:47:38","slug":"working-backwards-immigration-cupich-gripe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2017\/01\/working-backwards-immigration-cupich-gripe.html","title":{"rendered":"Working backwards on immigration, and a Cupich gripe"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"<\/p>\n

Today Cardinal Cupich had a piece in the op-ed section in the Chicago Tribune, titled \u201cIt\u2019s immigrants who have made America great<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of this is boilerplate: \u00a0the so-called Dreamers were brought here through no fault of their own, and will make great contributions to this country, and it would be unjust for the government to deport them. \u00a0As is now increasingly the case, Cupich deploys the rhetoric that they are already \u201cAmericans\u201d in spirit, if not legally so. \u00a0(Bernie Sanders even went so far as to label them as \u201cundocumented Americans\u201d on his website, as just another hyphenated group.)<\/p>\n

Like all Americans, DACA enrollees want to contribute to our society. They strive as much as any American to be teachers, doctors, lawyers, firefighters, police officers, architects, computer scientists, engineers, members of the armed forces \u2014 and, yes, elected officials. But most of all they want to be Americans, officially. They want to help to build up the common good of the country they know, the nation they call home.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, mostly this rhetoric is just, well, rhetoric. \u00a0Are immigrants, and illegal immigrants specifically, somehow morally superior to the rest of us? \u00a0Do they carry within them a special desire to serve others, greater than that of the rest of us? \u00a0Is the potential of a young illegal immigrant any greater than that of the average native-born American? \u00a0If so, that does not mean there\u2019s something special about immigrants, but says that there\u2019s something seriously troubling about our own society, which we had better fix. \u00a0But the reality is that this is cherry-picking the most talented of these kids and young adults, and ignoring the rest. \u00a0(And don\u2019t get me started<\/a> on the throwaway lines about diversity being our strength. . . )<\/p>\n

Cupich takes this a step further, though:<\/p>\n

To remove DACA protections would put hundreds of thousands of young people at risk of deportation, cutting short their dreams of a better future. But that won\u2019t be the only consequence of forcing these aspiring Americans out. Deport them, and we deport their potential to make our nation stronger. Deport them, and we deport our future builders of bridges, teachers of children, savers of lives.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now, look, I get it: \u00a0the U.S. government, for years upon years, made the choice not to enforce our immigration laws. \u00a0Politicians proclaimed that illegal immigrants were welcome here, and treated the lack of legislation offering amnesty as more of a technicality, something that was on its way anyway. \u00a0The American people might not have wanted this, but businesses were happy to be able to hire cheap workers, and left-wing politicians considered illegal immigrants a part of their constituency, so this became the status quo, and, as a result, it would genuinely be unjust to deport these individuals \u2014 at least those of them who have been in this country long enough to have integrated here, learning English, becoming a part of a wider community, and so on.<\/p>\n

But to say that they are somehow better? \u00a0To suggest that without them we cannot build bridges, teach our children, save lives? \u00a0I just don\u2019t think that Cupich is persuading anyone here.<\/p>\n

(Oh, yes, I know, I\u2019m just arguing against a strawman, Cupich doesn\u2019t directly say that immigrants, and illegal immigrants, are better people than native-born Americans, but he implies it. \u00a0If they are bridge-builders, and child-teachers, and life-savers in proportions equal to those of native-born Americans, what would be the benefit?)<\/p>\n

It all gets to a bigger question, though: \u00a0how much should our country grow? \u00a0How many newcomers can we reasonably take in each year? \u00a0How much can we spend in terms of all the services needed \u2014 foreign language instruction, other sorts of integration assistance, and social welfare benefits for unskilled workers? \u00a0What proportion of newcomers is healthy, before we can no longer assimilate and integrate them? \u00a0And how much growth from year to year is desirable in terms of the overall population, its impact on the environment, the economy, etc.? \u00a0\u2014 Recall that the U.S. has a fertility rate that\u2019s roughly at replacement level; it\u2019s dipped below this over the past couple years but it\u2019s generally believed to be temporary; this means that what we\u2019re really talking about here is population growth that\u2019s being driving entirely by immigration, and the fertility patterns of the new arrivals. \u00a0According to Pew<\/a>, the population is projected to grow from 324 to 441 million by 2065 (and, no, I haven\u2019t dug into their assumptions and methodology). \u00a0Is this too much, or too little, growth?<\/p>\n

If this is too little, then the solution to illegal immigration is simple: \u00a0throw open the borders. \u00a0If this is too much, then we need to have a genuine discussion about what this number should be, then work backwards to\u00a0what steps should be taken to get there.<\/p>\n

And, in the end, what\u2019s the purpose of allowing people to immigrate here? \u00a0Is it to enhance our country? \u00a0If that\u2019s the case, then surely we should be more selective. \u00a0Is it to provide opportunities, as a form of humanitarian aid<\/a>? \u00a0Then maybe we let in the poorest. \u00a0But when do we stop, short of waiting for that equilibrium when the U.S. is no more wealthy and no less densely populated than any other country?<\/p>\n

As a reminder, the issue at hand isn\u2019t (entirely) a matter of illegal immigration. \u00a0We could solve that issue instantaneously by simply providing green cards for everyone who wants one \u2014 but we don\u2019t, and we won\u2019t, because we know that there are limits. \u00a0And once we have set those limits, we can\u2019t say of illegal workers, \u201cthey should just have come legally\u201d because a worker with no skills and no education and no family connections simply can\u2019t<\/em> come legally. \u00a0Except for the green card lottery, here is no line for them to get into.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not prescribing a right answer. \u00a0But I am saying that we need to have this discussion.<\/p>\n

Image from wikimedia commons.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today Cardinal Cupich had a piece in the op-ed section in the Chicago Tribune, titled \u201cIt\u2019s immigrants who have made America great.\u201d Most of this is boilerplate: \u00a0the so-called Dreamers were brought here through no fault of their own, and will make great contributions to this country, and it would be unjust for the government […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":1382,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[69,139,463,46],"class_list":["post-5824","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-archbishop-cupich","tag-illegal-immigrants","tag-illegal-immigration","tag-immigration"],"yoast_head":"\nWorking backwards on immigration, and a Cupich gripe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Today Cardinal Cupich had a piece in the op-ed section in the Chicago Tribune, titled "It's immigrants who have made America great." 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