Immigration: A Look At How Trump & Biden Handled It

"We’re excited to share the first conversation in our WITHpod 2024: The Stakes series. For the first time since 1892, we have an election in which both candidates have presidential records, which provides a unique opportunity to cut through messaging and rhetoric and culture war flotsam and actually take a hard look at what each man has actually done as president. On The Stakes, WITHPod will choose specific areas of policy -- immigration, taxes, climate -- and talk to an expert about the two candidates' records on the topic. We’re starting with one of the highest salience and most complex policy areas: immigration. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, policy director at the American Immigration Council, joins to unpack immigration policies under Trump vs. Biden, border enforcement, the state of the asylum system and more."

I have posted previously about the fact that Immigration is not only good for the USA, but is needed (link). The above series of podcasts begins with the issue that polls show is the number one topic for Republicans. Click on the link below for the stated podcast:

The Stakes of Immigration

Conservatives: Get Over It, Immigration Is Good And Needed

"While immigration remains a hot-button political issue that focuses on illegal immigrants and asylum seekers, it is crucial to move the discussion to a serious analysis of the importance of immigration for the nation’s demographic and economic growth, and how broad policies such as comprehensive immigration reform can address our future needs. The new census projections should play a central role in those discussions."

Click on the link below for the details "THEY" don't want you to know (to borrow a phrase from the pseudoscientists):

New census projections show immigration is essential to the growth and vitality of a more diverse US population

US Immigration And Crime: Beware Of Republican Gaslighting

"Across a variety of studies that use different years of data that focus on different areas of the United States – with some exceptions, there’s some nuance there. I don’t want to deny the nuance – in general, on average, we do not find a connection between immigration and crime, as is so often claimed. The most common finding across all these different kinds of studies is that immigration to an area is either not associated with crime in that area, or is negatively associated with crime in that area. This means more immigration equals less crime. It’s rare to find studies that show crime following increases in immigration or with larger percentage of the population that are immigrants."

Click on the link below for more:

What EXPERTS Say About Immigration And Crime

The Monroe Doctrine, Immigration, And Republican Evil

"It is evident that the immigration debate is more about acquiring raw power than about immigration as demands from the Republican Party change along with whatever strategies they feel are most likely to get Republicans elected and in the age of Trump, that means the most draconian, harmful and, ultimately, pointless demands to date."

Click on the link below for how the Monroe Doctrine set the stage for the immigration problems the USA has today:

The Border Crisis is Manufactured (by Republicans)

A Look At US Immigration Reform

"The Biden administration has attempted to mitigate illegal immigration at the border by launching a system, called the CBP One app, for migrants to try and schedule appointments at ports of entry and announcing a new process for Venezuelans, Cubans, Haitians, and Nicaraguans to be temporarily paroled into the U.S."

Click on the link below for more:

Poll: Voters Believe Illegal Immigration Is Increasing, Support Comprehensive Immigration Reform

The Truth: Immigration Is A Net Positive

If one is deluded by conservatives, one probably is thinking that immigration is a great negative for workers and society at large. Click on the several links below for the reality:

Immigrants are vital to the US economy

Citizenship for Undocumented Immigrants Would Boost Economic Growth

Immigrants and the Economy

Immigrants Provide Huge Benefits to US Taxpayers

Ten Ways Immigrants Help Build and Strengthen Our Economy

Undocumented Immigrants

Positive impact of illegal immigration on the US economy

One Of The Worse Effects Of Anti-Science Thinking: The USA's Immigration Disaster

"Today, we take a look at the current state and deep context for why our immigration and asylum system is broken, and why our policies have made it worse rather than better, all while stoking anti-immigrant hatred."

Click on the link below for a podcast presenting the total failure of the USA Immigration Policy. And, no, it is not just Republican or conservative blindness, as the vast majority of all people are magical/antiscience thinkers:

Why Our Immigration and Asylum System is Broken

Photo by Fabian Fauth on Unsplash

Immigration: An Issue That Requires Bipartisan Action

"Republicans and Democrats differ over the most pressing priorities for the nation’s immigration system. Republicans place particular importance on border security and deportations of immigrants who are in the country illegally, while Democrats place greater importance on paths to legal status for those who entered the country illegally – especially those who entered as children, according to a new Pew Research Center survey.

"Still, there are some areas of overlap between Republicans and Democrats, and there are sizable ideological differences in immigration goals within each partisan coalition, with conservative Republicans and liberal Democrats expressing more intense views than others in their parties."

Click on the link below for the result of a recent Pew Research survey:

Republicans and Democrats have different top priorities for U.S. immigration policy

A Deep And Wide Look At US Immigration

"How has American immigration policy shifted over our national history? What can these changes show about how the U.S. defines 'us' and 'them'?

"Heather and Joanne discuss the politics and prejudices surrounding the two 1790s Naturalization Laws, the Immigration Act of 1924, the 1965 Hart-Celler Act, and the current Republican rhetoric about migrants at the Southern border."

Click on the link below for details:

Immigration: Defining "Us" and "Them"

Photo by Nitish Meena on Unsplash

Undocumented Immigrants

"On June 6, 2022, a caravan of over 6000 migrants, including many from Venezuela and Guatemala, embarked on a 1,270-mile journey from the southern tip of Mexico to the United States. News coverage of their journey has re-ignited fears about the types of immigrants entering the U.S. But Americans need not fear. In fact, our perceptions about undocumented immigrants are generally very wrong."

Click on the link below for a fact-based look at an easily misunderstood issue:

How We Are Wrong About Undocumented Immigrants

Immigration's History In The USA

"Once you begin to notice examples of how the past is still present, they become difficult to ignore. Trump enacted the most stringent border closure of his administration by citing the threat of disease, even though COVID‑19 outbreaks were far worse inside the United States than just outside its borders (in fact, Americans were actively deporting the virus abroad). His persistent blaming of the Chinese for outbreaks in the U.S. helped incite violence against Asian Americans that continues today, mirroring similar attacks from centuries past.

"In moving toward the more inclusive system that some elected officials now say they want, the country would be not returning to traditional American values, but establishing new ones." 

Click on the link below for a humbling expose of the hypocritical history of immigration in the USA.

U.S. Immigration Policy Has Always Been Exclusionary

An Objective Look At Illegal Immigration In The USA

"Apprehensions on the Southwest border peaked in 2000 at 1.64 million and have generally declined since, totaling 303,916 in 2017."

Illegal Immigration Statistics

UPDATE 2/5/2021:

The Trump administration was on the wrong track

Immigrant Economic Impact

Following are two links that give an objective look at immigrant economic impact on the USA.

Immigrants' impact on the U.S. economy in 7 charts

Trump Administration Rejects Study Showing Positive Impact of Refugees

Immigrant Assimulation

One of the major push-backs against immigration has historically been the claim that immigrants do not assimulate well. The following academic link looks at immigration from a US historical perspective.

What history tells us about assimilation of immigrants

Its summary? 

"Overall though, lessons from the Age of Mass Migration suggest that fears immigrants can’t fit into American society are misplaced. It would be a mistake to determine our nation’s immigration policy based on the belief that immigrants will remain foreigners, preserving their old ways of life and keeping themselves at arm’s length from the dominant culture. The evidence is clear that assimilation is real and measurable, that over time immigrant populations come to resemble natives, and that new generations form distinct identities as Americans."

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The Value Of Undocumented Immigrants

Among other points, the following article is excellent in presenting how most of us don't fully know the importance of the work that undocumented immigrants from south of the border provide to the USA.

The Hypocrisy Of Eating At Mexican Restaurants 

The Shame Of The Present USA Immigration Policy

 "Refugees enrich us economically, culturally and intellectually. They strengthen the fabric of our country. Eighty years ago, my father and grandparents found the shelter of freedom and democracy on these steady shores. Those are values we need to protect and extend to our global siblings who are suffering — whether they are Muslim or Christian or Jewish or no religion at all."

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/opinion/editorials/article210876149.html#storylink=cpy

The Trump administration is attacking a basic value of the USA. This article is a reminder of our past morality on this subject:

The U.S. faces crucial moment on refugees

"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore."

Immigration: Mexican Whoppers

The John Batchelor Show podcasts presents:

The truth about Mexican immigration.

Illegal Immigration and the Law of Unintended Consequences

"This is also a good example of the frequent disconnect between scientists and politicians. Politics lends itself to simple emotionally appealing answers, while reality does not. Following simplistic and emotionally motivated actions runs a high risk of unintended consequences, such as the 'backfire effect' described by Massey and Pren."

It is a good rule of thumb that everything is more complicated than you might originally think.