Immigration Reform that Actually makes Sense
“A nation without borders is not a nation” — Thomas Jefferson.
Most folks who know me are aware that I’m a moderate Democrat. A “Blue Dog” who wants more unions, more consumer and environmental protections, more protection for those less fortunate and victimized by systemic injustices. But I also value personal initiative, a competent, efficient government and a private sector not hamstrung in it’s ability to deliver wealth and a good living for the vast majority of Americans. I also value respect and compromise, both within the parties as well as between them.
This is why I am so concerned with the state of immigration reform within the Democratic party.
The Dems are clearly the party of the future. Any reasonable person disputing that is living in denial or hysteria. The Overton Window is moving to the left and conservatives and moderates are being dragged with it, kicking and screaming.
But what happens when the window moves too fast? When the ascendant powers within the Dems get completely out-of-touch with American views, wants and dreams? I would argue that immigration is the exemplar case of this.
I’m a Democratic officer (PCO). My goal is to elect more Democrats, in each election, from President Biden (thank God!) down to the lowliest Water Commissioner. It cannot escape my observation that the only way to do that, in “purple” competitive regions, is to convince moderates and independents (terms henceforth used interchangeably) to vote for Dems. So how do we convince “the moderate middle” to vote for the obvious “good guys”? Maybe by not taking their jobs away and giving them to non-citizens?
To quote a 2018 survey amongst independents, “Independent voters clearly associate positions on immigration policy with Democrats and Republicans, more so than any other topic…For the independent voters who said security was their most important voting issue, 52 percent singled out border security as most important, compared with 33 percent who said terrorism and 12 percent who said foreign policy. And on national security issues, independents heavily favor Republicans over Democrats, 45 percent to 22 percent.”
In my short 45 years I have spoken to many Democrats and have heard over and over (quietly)that the party’s de facto open borders approach is underhanded cheating to create more Democratic voters. This from Democrats! Imagine what Trumpers would say.
Why is it the Democratic party opposes reasonable border control? Prominent Dems are now calling for open borders, essentially merging the US economy with Latin America’s. Dem party leaders have rapidly moved from a balanced approach (the so-called “Grand Bargain” of a secure border for Repubs in exchange for a path to citizenship and guest worker program for Dems) to de facto open borders. Why?
I’ll finish my essay with a personal story. A friend of mine, John, moved to Washington from southern California. In addition to his native English, John speaks passable Spanish, but the fact that he was the only non-native Spanish speaker on his construction crew was not why he left. The reality was that most of his fellow workers were undocumented “illegal” workers who recently left Latin America (mainly Honduras, John said) yet possessed impressive fake IDs to be able to work for 1/3 the wage John was used to receiving.
Should we Dems be surprised that someone like John voted for Trump? John married a Venezuelan woman. He is a registered Democrat. At least, he was until we took his job away by allowing a flood of non-citizens in. Where’s the fairness in that?
I hope this essay helps my fellow Democrats understand why our party has lost enormous credibility amongst the working class, who used to be the vast majority of our membership. How to get them back?? Well, maybe let’s not send their jobs to China or hand them to anyone willing to hop the border.
I hope my fellow Dems deeply consider this heartfelt plea to improve border security in order to gather more moderates to our side, win more elections and make progress on our essential goals.
