A friend and I had a chat last night, wherein we both head-scratchingly wondered why the Administration was repealing Title 42 enforcement at the southern border.
I agree with your views on immigration. At my Walmart store here in Nebraska we have many immigrants working there. Our associate culture is very diverse and I love it. And they're good workers too.
What's happening at the border however is sickening. I keep hearing the phrase "humane immigration" from the left, but that's not what's happening down there. It's almost as if the Democrats want our country overrun to the point of no return. Let in as many people as they can, with untold numbers getting in without claiming "asylum", so that no one can make them leave. What the end goal is is anyone's guess. But I do think at least part of it is to be the least like trump and undo as much of his agenda and policies as possible
The "asylum" argument is troubling to me, given that we're not talking about places like Mariupol. If poverty and violence are legit excuses to claim asylum, then basically all of Central America, the entirety of Venezuela, and any nation that has drug cartels could just relocate to the US.
As I wrote, I'm all in favor of robust immigration - the nation's got a LOT of room in it, and a larger working population will be of great benefit, both domestically and globally. But, we are excluding countless people who'd make the nation better while just ignoring border control.
Yes, absolutely. Somewhere along the line our asylum laws broke down. I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, but I'm pretty sure the majority of the people coming to our border don't qualify for asylum as our laws are written. And don't get me started on "sanctuary cities". If only our elected leaders could put aside their partisan differences and fix our immigration system. Help the people, like the Ukrainians or Afghans who helped us in the war, who truly are in need of asylum
President “Art-of-the-Deal” should have down with the Mexican president (and maybe Biden still could):
“I know you need to dump some of your poor people on us or else your pot will boil over into a revolution. But if we were to take in your huddled masses, what can you do for us? You have oil. We can always use oil. Especially if it’s cheap. Like free. So, here’s the price of admission for every legal immigrant you want to send our way (or retroactively legalize): a gift card for 500 barrels of Mexican oil.”
Or to put it another way, illegal immigrants are willing to spend thousands of dollars to be smuggled into this country by "coyotes" – who often leave them stranded in the desert. Why not collect that money from immigrants in exchange for legal entry? And use that money to defray the costs of any public burdens created by the immigrants.
The big caveat to immigration - and since this isn't really a piece on immigration per se, I didn't cover it - is that we cannot create moral hazard. That is - we cannot simply put anyone who comes in on the dole. Even the staunchest open-border libertarians will tell you that - and they're going to be opposed to public welfare anyway.
Democrats, and some Chamber of Commerce-type Republicans, like to say "our immigration system is broken". That's a bald-faced lie. Our immigration "system" is exactly what the American people voted for, under the constitution, through their elected representatives and as enshrined in US Code - "the laws". Refusing to enforce those laws is the only thing broken.
More than 1 million immigrants legally enter the US each year, following the velvet ropes, through the turnstile, presenting required paperwork and being registered. That is what our system of laws currently permits and in my opinion, that is plenty. If one advocates it should be more or there should be no limit, then advocate for that with your elected representatives. If one can't win this argument, then one must learn to live within the framework "most of us voted for".
But to leave the border open and unaccountable - no velvet ropes, no turnstiles, no paperwork, no registration - just walk in and disappear...I think we all (here) agree that is wrong and is no fault of the "system". Blaming the "system" for illegal entry is no different than blaming the "system" for an explosion of armed robberies and murders after banning the police from your streets.
The fact is, Chamber of Commerce type Republicans (and many who contribute to the Democrats) LOVE the tidal wave of illegal immigration because it subsidizes low wages for unskilled labor in lieu of capital investment that would improve worker productivity. Why invest in kiosks and automation when I can alternatively just pay a poor immigrant to do the labor manually? I could lease a backhoe to dig this ditch, or just cruise the Home Depot parking lot at 6 am and get a truckload of cheap labor.
Economic innovation stagnates when it is underwritten by cheap, unskilled labor - and middle class wages stagnate (as evidenced since 1974) when immigrant wages pull the bottom quintile of earnings downward, thus exerting a similar pull on all the quintiles above. Our children - American citizens - enter a workforce where they are competing for wages that are artificially deflated by this corruption. It has real effects.
Illegal, tidal wave immigration is not needed in 21st century America - we're not busting sod in the midwest or struggling to man steel factories in Pennsylvania or desperate to staff a million man army to fight the Kaiser. We can be choosy and THAT is the system we voted for and enacted in law.
I don't know if you believe I'm arguing for "tidal wave" immigration here - I'm not. But, it's not as simple as "we don't need low skill immigrants." The reality is that, yes, we do. Some jobs only warrant low wages and low skills, as in "the world needs ditch diggers, too."
I ran a restaurant for two decades. Dishwashing is a low-skill job, that few native born cared to do (though we'd hire anyone who was documented and wanted the job). When the government started forcing the wage up by law, that had the effect of crowding out the least-skilled, as people who would take the job at a higher wage displaced the least-skilled. That meant those least-skilled would not have the chance to work, to learn on the job (and I cannot count the number of dishwashers we hired who learned to cook or to bus tables, and thus move up the food chain - has to be well into the hundreds).
Today, a friend is doing low-skill work at his business, in preparation for the summer season (it's a business operates summer months only). Sweeping, basic cleanup, repairs, etc... all because he can't find *anyone* to work at the wage he can afford to pay.
The real corruption of the system stems from government-induced factors. Minimum wage laws, employment barriers, mandates as to a basket full of benefits, etc.
Some jobs cannot be automated away. No technology will clear, load, and unload plates, glassware, and flatware from a dishwasher. No machine will bag groceries. Roombas are not going to replace janitors.
As I wrote the other day, we already have a slacker mindset amongst the working-aged. They aren't being forced onto their couches by immigrants - legal or illegal - and economic productivity is being harmed by the lack of labor. When people have the option of simply not working rather than taking the job of their choice at the wage of their choice, that's an inevitable outcome. As is inflation.
Again, the mess at the southern border is on the administration. But, it doesn't alter the notion that robust (and proper) immigration is good for the country.
I did a three part series on immigration Dec-Jan this year...you're gonna hate #2. Frankly it wasn't my best effort and I was just getting started in Substack land.
I agree with your views on immigration. At my Walmart store here in Nebraska we have many immigrants working there. Our associate culture is very diverse and I love it. And they're good workers too.
What's happening at the border however is sickening. I keep hearing the phrase "humane immigration" from the left, but that's not what's happening down there. It's almost as if the Democrats want our country overrun to the point of no return. Let in as many people as they can, with untold numbers getting in without claiming "asylum", so that no one can make them leave. What the end goal is is anyone's guess. But I do think at least part of it is to be the least like trump and undo as much of his agenda and policies as possible
The "asylum" argument is troubling to me, given that we're not talking about places like Mariupol. If poverty and violence are legit excuses to claim asylum, then basically all of Central America, the entirety of Venezuela, and any nation that has drug cartels could just relocate to the US.
As I wrote, I'm all in favor of robust immigration - the nation's got a LOT of room in it, and a larger working population will be of great benefit, both domestically and globally. But, we are excluding countless people who'd make the nation better while just ignoring border control.
Yes, absolutely. Somewhere along the line our asylum laws broke down. I'm not a lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, but I'm pretty sure the majority of the people coming to our border don't qualify for asylum as our laws are written. And don't get me started on "sanctuary cities". If only our elected leaders could put aside their partisan differences and fix our immigration system. Help the people, like the Ukrainians or Afghans who helped us in the war, who truly are in need of asylum
President “Art-of-the-Deal” should have down with the Mexican president (and maybe Biden still could):
“I know you need to dump some of your poor people on us or else your pot will boil over into a revolution. But if we were to take in your huddled masses, what can you do for us? You have oil. We can always use oil. Especially if it’s cheap. Like free. So, here’s the price of admission for every legal immigrant you want to send our way (or retroactively legalize): a gift card for 500 barrels of Mexican oil.”
Or to put it another way, illegal immigrants are willing to spend thousands of dollars to be smuggled into this country by "coyotes" – who often leave them stranded in the desert. Why not collect that money from immigrants in exchange for legal entry? And use that money to defray the costs of any public burdens created by the immigrants.
The big caveat to immigration - and since this isn't really a piece on immigration per se, I didn't cover it - is that we cannot create moral hazard. That is - we cannot simply put anyone who comes in on the dole. Even the staunchest open-border libertarians will tell you that - and they're going to be opposed to public welfare anyway.
Democrats, and some Chamber of Commerce-type Republicans, like to say "our immigration system is broken". That's a bald-faced lie. Our immigration "system" is exactly what the American people voted for, under the constitution, through their elected representatives and as enshrined in US Code - "the laws". Refusing to enforce those laws is the only thing broken.
More than 1 million immigrants legally enter the US each year, following the velvet ropes, through the turnstile, presenting required paperwork and being registered. That is what our system of laws currently permits and in my opinion, that is plenty. If one advocates it should be more or there should be no limit, then advocate for that with your elected representatives. If one can't win this argument, then one must learn to live within the framework "most of us voted for".
But to leave the border open and unaccountable - no velvet ropes, no turnstiles, no paperwork, no registration - just walk in and disappear...I think we all (here) agree that is wrong and is no fault of the "system". Blaming the "system" for illegal entry is no different than blaming the "system" for an explosion of armed robberies and murders after banning the police from your streets.
The fact is, Chamber of Commerce type Republicans (and many who contribute to the Democrats) LOVE the tidal wave of illegal immigration because it subsidizes low wages for unskilled labor in lieu of capital investment that would improve worker productivity. Why invest in kiosks and automation when I can alternatively just pay a poor immigrant to do the labor manually? I could lease a backhoe to dig this ditch, or just cruise the Home Depot parking lot at 6 am and get a truckload of cheap labor.
Economic innovation stagnates when it is underwritten by cheap, unskilled labor - and middle class wages stagnate (as evidenced since 1974) when immigrant wages pull the bottom quintile of earnings downward, thus exerting a similar pull on all the quintiles above. Our children - American citizens - enter a workforce where they are competing for wages that are artificially deflated by this corruption. It has real effects.
Illegal, tidal wave immigration is not needed in 21st century America - we're not busting sod in the midwest or struggling to man steel factories in Pennsylvania or desperate to staff a million man army to fight the Kaiser. We can be choosy and THAT is the system we voted for and enacted in law.
I don't know if you believe I'm arguing for "tidal wave" immigration here - I'm not. But, it's not as simple as "we don't need low skill immigrants." The reality is that, yes, we do. Some jobs only warrant low wages and low skills, as in "the world needs ditch diggers, too."
I ran a restaurant for two decades. Dishwashing is a low-skill job, that few native born cared to do (though we'd hire anyone who was documented and wanted the job). When the government started forcing the wage up by law, that had the effect of crowding out the least-skilled, as people who would take the job at a higher wage displaced the least-skilled. That meant those least-skilled would not have the chance to work, to learn on the job (and I cannot count the number of dishwashers we hired who learned to cook or to bus tables, and thus move up the food chain - has to be well into the hundreds).
Today, a friend is doing low-skill work at his business, in preparation for the summer season (it's a business operates summer months only). Sweeping, basic cleanup, repairs, etc... all because he can't find *anyone* to work at the wage he can afford to pay.
The real corruption of the system stems from government-induced factors. Minimum wage laws, employment barriers, mandates as to a basket full of benefits, etc.
Some jobs cannot be automated away. No technology will clear, load, and unload plates, glassware, and flatware from a dishwasher. No machine will bag groceries. Roombas are not going to replace janitors.
As I wrote the other day, we already have a slacker mindset amongst the working-aged. They aren't being forced onto their couches by immigrants - legal or illegal - and economic productivity is being harmed by the lack of labor. When people have the option of simply not working rather than taking the job of their choice at the wage of their choice, that's an inevitable outcome. As is inflation.
Again, the mess at the southern border is on the administration. But, it doesn't alter the notion that robust (and proper) immigration is good for the country.
I did a three part series on immigration Dec-Jan this year...you're gonna hate #2. Frankly it wasn't my best effort and I was just getting started in Substack land.
https://jeffmockensturm.substack.com/p/why-open-borders-matter?s=w
https://jeffmockensturm.substack.com/p/american-immigrations-modern-axis?s=w
https://jeffmockensturm.substack.com/p/immigration-part-3-the-threat-in?s=w
Will check it out. "Hate" would be a strong word - I can disagree without going sky-scream :).