Where is it written that the United States MUST take in every Tom, Dick and Harry (or Harriett) that shows up at our door? What God uttered this Gospel? Why are waves of illegal Immigration something we all have to grin and bear? Is Immigration even still necessary? Just because people cry out “It’s who we are!” – what exactly does that mean? How do hundreds of thousands of penniless hard luck cases improve our lives here in the USA? Cui Bono?
We’re a Nation of Immigrants……Diversity is our Strength…..Bring Us Your Poor, Your Hungry….yada, yada, yada……
Why?
Do we need any more warm bodies? Do we need wobegone, penniless basket cases?
Is it time we grind off to those words on the Statute of Liberty:
Bring Us Your Poor, Your Hungry….?
How about changing it to: Bring Us Your PhD’s? Bring us your rugged, self-supporting alpha males and females, all packing hard assets and proven track-records of achievements in the arts, sciences, medicine and engineering…..
For everybody else, we can drape a big banner across Lady Liberty’s copper-clad boobs: Welcome to the United States – Enjoy Your Visit. The United States is suffocating under wave after wave of people we don’t want, can’t afford and can’t provide for anymore. People who are – admit it – burdensome. They are sucking the life out of us. And then reproducing and importing their parents.
Why can’t I be more Christian about this topic? I feel for poor people, especially for poor immigrants. My father was foreign-born. But our Immigration policy is seriously dysfunctional and dragging us all down with it.
What drove the previous century’s clarion call for immigrants – continental expansion, booming economic cycles, military enlistments, unlimited resources, dynamic capitalism – is over. The USA is all grown up. We don’t need the droves of humanity we once did.
What they are smacking us in the face with is America’s so-called “Tradition of Openness”…. a fantasy like that shop-worn, disengenuous bromide “We are a Nation of Immigrants…” Thousands of Native Americans take issue with that nonsense. They are our “Indigenous Americans”. North America was teeming with human beings before white Europeans got here. And then the white Europeans brought in the black Africans. American Indians were first in time and first in right.
Even the liberal Washington Post reports (The Case Against Immigration by Roy Beck, 1996) that since 1970 more than 30 million foreign citizens AND their relations and decendants have been added to the United States. That is the equivalent of the present ENTIRE polulation of Central America. One million per year were added since 1990 and more than one million per year since 2000 is our new reality.
If you look at real numbers, since the founding of our nation in 1776 through 1965 immigration averaged about 250,000 per year. This was an unprecedented shift in world population, made possible by the United States having vast open lands and an industrializing economy that was the envy of the world. Legal immigration has virtually quadrupuled since WWII because the US Congress has allowed it to. We’ve been drowning in a self-inflicted immigrant flood engineered by a parasitic, predatory political class who seeks only to perpetuate their sinecures of influence and power.
And Republicans have blood on their hands, too. They take full advantage of the new census maps and gerrymandering – redistricting their way to election victories beyond their wildest dreams. It isn’t only Democrats that gleefully surf the wave of immigrant invasion. Democrats may open the gates for these hopeless souls to enter the USA so their votes can be harvested, but Republicans flat-out rape them thereafter. It’s an equal opportunity food-fest.
Old-money white men are some of the biggest offenders. Flush fat dudes golfing at exclusive clubs, wearing absurd looking pants and Rolexes. Not far are their clorox-blonde, makeup-caked, diamond dripping wives sucking down martinis by the bucketfulls back at the club house.
Legions of staid, solid Republican business men and women reap obscene benefits from low-wage immigrant labor. Land developers, real estate managers, mortgage brokerages – anybody who profits from population growth loves mucho immigration. Nannies, gardeners, housekeepers, roofers, construction workers and laborers of every kind are the grease that keeps our economy purring along.
Even high-tech industries use special VISA exceptions and exemptions to lure into our country scientifically skilled immigrants to work – at lower wages – than comparably educated and skilled Americans in computer research and development labs and tech support facilities.
Entire industries once fully operational and profitable in the 1970s and 1980s are gone. Closed. Relocated to China. Trends of rising US wages have been reversed. Poverty has increased. Middle class income disparities are re-calibrating what “Middle Class” even means. Entire US neighborhoods have been transformed – against the wishes of “native” inhabitants.
If “Diversity is our Strength” people in cities throughout the United States are wondering why their towns are a crime-ridden dystopias of gang violence, ethnic tension and spray-painted, narcotics-fueled rage.
Organized crime syndicates from Third World countries have infected American neighborhoods, driving crime rates and law enforcement costs through the roof in some municipalities. The sheer volume of immigrants acting out criminal and destructive behavior is a tax on us all. What about America’s cultural heritage? When do we say enough is enough? This isn’t about a homogenious America; multi-cultural immigration has skyrocketed beyond what American culture itself can absorb. Our own democratic ideals, morals, customs and archetypes are fading into oblivion.
What are the true costs and benefits of immigration?
It’s time we took our blinders off and start looking at what is really happening in front of us. When did this begin? Certainly, over thirty million people added to the USA over the last three decades from immigration (illegal and legal) qualifies as a major demographic upheaval. How did this happen? ANSWER: Congress and the US Presidents – both parties – rammed it down our throats. By strokes of their pens. Willing strokes.
Huge volumes of immigration were never anticipated under the Immigration Reform Legistlation of 1965. Research at that time seemed to portend only a slow but steady flow as result of Ted Kennedy’s signature brainstorm. At least that’s what they told us. For decades thereafter Congress stood idly by while immigration “flow” became an onslaught.
Finally, in 1993 numerous Senators and Congressmen started to push for major cutbacks (of 2/3rds to 3/4ths) in annual immigration. Political powerhouses like Republican Committee Chairman, Senator Alan Simpson of Wyoming and Representative Lamar Smith of Texas were on board. A bi-partisan Congressional Commission headed by Democrat Barbara Jordan added its endorsement. Even Bill Clinton stumped for the idea.
Then – completely out of left field – BOTH Democrats and Republicans folded their tents in the middle of the night and slithered away. Suddenly they started whining that immigrants enhance “Who we are as a Nation….” Like flipping a light switch, Immigration became the approved narrative. Then Corporate Media beat said narrative into everybody’s heads. “We need more immigration!”
There are (at least) four areas of American life this immigration onslaught has impacted:
a. Decendants of American slaves are being denied employment opportunities. Contemporary blacks are being short-changed by low cost undocumented labor.
b. Communities are being changed demographically forever in ways legacy residents never agreed to. Housing, schools, law enforcement, infrastructure, entitlements and welfare costs. Who pays? US Citizens pay, that’s who.
c. The American Middle Class is being eviscerated. The present generation of americans will not enjoy the same standard of living as their parents – not even close. Tax burdens of Americans are crippling them. Costs of child-rearing are escalating beyond average incomes. Healthcare is becoming a diluted, deductible top-heavy nightmare. It’s a cartoonish pantomime of medical restrictions and uncovered healthcare events. As you might expect, only Government workers are spared. No deductibles, soup-to-nuts coverages, eyecare, dental! Who can afford dental coverage unless you get it gratis from your Teacher’s Union or Public tax coffers? Ever see a cop’s benefits package?
Inequality of income is becoming noticeable and serious.
Unrestrained immigration depresses wages. Disparity of wages causes tension. Decling urban communities suffer worst. The biggest fatality of this sad process is Hope.... Young people are falling further behind. The aching reality of it all is this: tomorrow is never going be better than today. Let’s not deceive each other – our best years are not ahead of us. Even our memories of better years past are fading. What Politicians are sprinkling down our necks ain’t warm Summer rain.
Our environment is even being permanently altered to accomodate droves of people who need, literally, everything! Demands on water consumption, donated goods and services, criminal justice administration, schools….. this societal congestion is overwhelming many American communities.
Is it really that difficult to see how a never-ending supply of low cost, undocumented immigrant labor can drive down American wages?
Every economic metric – the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Bureau of Economic Research, Cornell University – has concluded that ever-increasing supplies of foreign workers (including undocumented, unlawful immigrants) undermines capital investment per worker. Further, it undermines technological improvements, which also drives actual wages lower.
The “American Dream” of higher wages, reduced poverty and a growing Middle Class that can live comfortably, educate their children and hope for a civilized retirement is dying. America’s “Middle Class” has become America’s “Working Poor”.
The everyday reality we face is one thing. Our political reality is quite another.
These days we’re being hoodwinked by self-interested, Orwellian misanthropes that govern us in Washington, DC. Whenever they want to blind the public so they can serve special interests (who grease them with envelopes full of cash), they pull out the big guns: Think Tanks!
Groups of paid “scholars” and “experts” that issue reports to justify any political platform DC Beltway lobbyists and influencers can dream up. War is good! Up is actually down! Disease is good for humanity! Deficits don’t matter and – in reality – enhance our economy! Diversity is our strength! Lowering college entrance standards actually raises the quality of applicants!
Our Congress loves scholarship. Especially when it pays them. On defense issues Congress’ scholars of choice are The Rand Corp., guaranteed to stoke our hopelessly bloated military-industrial complex. But who does Congress consult for domestic issues? There’s really only one Big Kahuna.
The reigning domestic issues “Think Tank” whores are the Cato Institute.
Democrats and Republicans alike rattle their door whenever they need an Alice in Wonderland obfuscation to shore-up a politically-crooked playbook. Whenever Dems or Republicans go in the tank and stump for legislation that is clearly against all logic and benefit to the United States of America (especially on immigration) they lean on their ally: Cato!
And – the best is yet to come. Who is the Cato Institute? A couple of burned-out academic hustlers bankrolled by the Koch Brothers Foundation!
The bllionaire Koch Brothers own the joint – and make damn sure their money finances “authoritative” foundation reports (called “Studies”) to justify their pet projects. Like low wage, cheap labor to undermine unions. Or further erosion of the american middle class. Environmental regulations? Sooooo yesterday. Waste pits aren’t nearly as bad as they’ve been made out to be. Especially for oil derrick effluent rich in heavy metals and radioactive signatures. You name the scam, Cato Institute has probably published one of their brainstorm “Studies” on it. Just like a Tijuana hooker, they’re always ready. (My apologies to Tijuana hookers…)
Read a few articles about what it’s like to work for the Koch Brothers and you’ll learn their management style is akin to feudal indentured servitude. When they’re not crushing other businesses into the dirt and screwing employees out of wages, they’re buying politicians to cover up their sins. The Koch Brothers are prototypical, scorched-earth capitalist Sons of Bitches. And their Institute is an ethically-unteathered whore-a-thon. And what does the prestigious Cato Institute say about Immigration?
In May, 2018, a Cato Institute Magnum Opus brief by a minion named Alex Nowrasteh layed it all out. Cato’s fourteen conclusions are astounding and incredulous to anyone with an IQ above room temperature.
The Cato Insitute Immigration Study, 2018 – Fourteen Conclusions.
1. The October, 1980 Mariel Boatlift – wherein 125,000 Cuban refugees and prison inmates sought asylum in Florida actually improved wages of lower-skilled Miami residents! That’s right – increasing Miami’s labor market by 7% in 42 days was a blessing to the ecomony. The “displacement effect” of the Mariel Boatlift refugees was “small”. Native high school dropouts and even High school graduate Miami residents experienced a “rapid” recovery of wages – to such a degree that everyone lived happily ever after. Of course, no mention of the explosion of drug and criminal activity following the Mariel Boatlift event is factored into Cato’s conclusions. (Have you seen the movie Scarface with Al Pacino?) And only “official” employment statistics were considered, ie. “on the books” jobs. MORAL: If you want your city’s economy to sing a happy song – import a boatload of criminals from a communist country…..125,000 will do just fine.
2. Unlawful immigrants are – actually – less likely to take advantage of welfare benefits than native-born Americans. Indeed, Cato concludes that “if poor, native-born Americans used Medicaid at the same rate and consumed the same value of benefits as poor, illegal immigrants the program would be 42% smaller”.
3. We should thank unlawful immigrants! Because they make such large net contributions to Medicare and Social Security – the largest programs of the US welfare state – the USA makes money on ’em! Their ages, ineligibility and “greater likelihood they’ll retire in some other country” all militates to US making a killing off their asses. Cato actually declares that “far from draining the welfare state, (unlawful) immigrants have given the entitlement programs (Medicare and Social Security) new life – a “few more years of economic sustenance before its eventual bankruptcy”.
4. Immigrants don’t (as they are accused) consume more in government benefits than they generate in tax revenue. Cato quotes the National Academy of Sciences (“a massive literature study” not identified with any further specificity) in concluding that immigrants who are high-school dropouts have a net-negative fiscal impact on “government coffers” if they arrive before age 25. “Most educated” immigrants have a negative effect if they arrive after age 64. Cato concludes – a fait accompli – that Americans with a low level of education impose a larger burden on our society than immigrants with the same education level. Why? Who knows. They don’t explain.
The facts, Cato maintains, are simple: poor immigrants don’t much exacerbate the welfare deficit. Their “higher immigrant fertility” and “long-run productivity” generates beaucoup tax revenue. They give an “imediate fiscal boost” to the US ecomony because they work before they have all those kids…..working and paying taxes before consuming thousands of dollars in public education costs and welfare benefits. Because, Cato claims (referencing no authority whatsoever), between 50% and 75% of illegal immigrants pay federal taxes – they’re a net gain to the system!
5. Immigrants level Economic Inequality in America. They are an instrument of God’s own Justice. They rectify – like an avenging Angel’s hand – wealth inequities in the price of real estate in America’s cities. Indeed, fully one-third of real estate price increases in American cities are because of the salutary effects of large-scale (unlawful) immigration. No hard data here – just incongruous conclusions.
6. Unlawful immigrants blend into our USA perfectly! Cato quotes a September 2015 National Academy of Science “Study” entitled “The Integration of Immigrants into American Society” and concludes that immigrants assimilate into US culture and society better than ever before! While the report concedes “Assimilation is never perfect” – it nevertheless says all is “going very well”. Breathe easy.
7. Immigrants are NOT a source of crime! Are illegal immigrants more likely to become criminals than natives or legal immigrants? Absolutely not!
Cato states flat out: illegal immigration is not correlated with increases in violent crime rates. Of course – Cato posits a caveat: crime statistics and data collected by government agencies does not break down arrests and convictions by specific immigration ethnic origin or incarceration – so it is next to impossible to clarify any crime vs. immigration nexus. In the absence of all concrete data, Cato concludes: there’s no demonstrable correlation between illegal immigration and crime! (No mention of MS13 or other gang phenomena are discussed nor is the drug trade generally).
8. Illegal immigration (Cato declares) is not correlated with terrorist attacks. The risk of foreign-born terrorism on US soil is is 1 in 3.6 million! Only one radicalized terrorist enters the United States (according to 2016 data) per every 29 million visas! Let not your heart be troubled.
9. The USA allows a greater number of immigrants inside its borders than any other country. Our Immigration philosophy is welcoming. It is our tradition. Our “Conception of Liberty”. But then factor in arbitrary quotas that are set by US Presidents and Congress…..
Cato preaches to us that America’s Immigration Laws have been poorly enforced and that the net costs of enforcing said laws now will exceed any benefits. America must “liberalize” our Immigration laws to make them conform to our “generous” national nature. Cato says that “admitting our laws have failed” and moving on is our best option – that granting amnesty for all law breakers is the best course. Why? Because Cato says so.
10. Blocking illegal immigration will not preserve US Sovereignty. Allowing unrestricted immigration is not a “surrender” of our status as a nation. Cato instructs us: a government maintains its sovereignty by “excluding the military of other nations” NOT by protecting its borders! Our immigration laws only exist to restrict illegal foreign workers from selling their labor to American purchasers…..Immigration is an economic equation – not a domestic security issue! “Sovereignty” has nothing to do with allowing the “free flow of non-violent, healthy foreign nationals” into the USA!
The Cato Institute amplifies their specious argument by blithely stating that from 1700-1875 The United States had virtually no enforced immigration policy whatsoever BUT that did not stop our country from fighting the War of 1812, the Mexican-American War or the Civil War. Cato declares: “We do not have to choose between free immigration and US National Sovereignty”. Another jiggy conclusion bereft of factual evidence.
11. Republicans don’t like Immigration because immigrants don’t vote Republican! Cato smugly responds to this argument as follows: Hispanic and immigrant voters in California “in the early to mid-1990s did turn the state blue (Democrat) BUT that was a reaction to California’s Republicans declaring political war on them”. Texas Hispanics are much more Republican than Hispanics in California…….it’s all about how they are treated! Cato declares that “locking people out of the United States because they might disproportionately vote for one of the two major parties” is NOT a “legitimate use of goverment power”.
Now, clearly, billionaires like the Koch brothers – financing a report in favor of shepherding unrestricted immigration into the USA workplace – wants to convince their fellow “Republicans” that such a program is no threat to them. What is breathtaking is how vacuous and insubstantial their arguments are. Positing undefined “treatment” of illegal immigrants in only two states as the genesis of a country-wide societal crisis is weak beer indeed. This is little more than whitewash. No racist pun intended.
12. Cato: Empirical evidence does NOT support the biased concept that immigrants “bring with them their bad cultures, ideas and other factors that undermine and destroy” political and economic institutions in the United States. There is no evidence “that immigrants from poorer countries weaken the growth potential of the countries they immigrate to”. Quoting an anonymous “Academic Paper” , Cato Institute concludes that their “research” shows that American states “with greater immigrant populations in 1990 had less economic freedom in 2011 than those with fewer immigrants – but the difference was small”. The overall national growth in the US for the same period “more than outweighed the small decrease in economic freedom in states with more immigrants”.
Cato here lays on us “The Doctrine of First Effective Settlement”: It is very hard to upend established political and economic institutions through immigration. Why? Because immigrants “change to fit the existing order instead of vice versa”. Only a “rapid inundation” of immigrants can upend institutions in most places – and the Mariel Boatlift in Florida in 1980 (previously discussed) didn’t upend anything! It’s all a big misunderstanding….
We are assured in Cato’s scholarly missive that “Immigrant Self-Selection” is the key; immigrants who come to the United States have “very similar policy opinions” and “broadly share” our patriotic belief in American “Exceptionalism”.
Even Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels – Cato’s scholars assure us – thought “the prospects of a working-class revolution in the United States” were next to nil because of the “varied immigrant origins of the workers divided by a high degree of ethnic, sectarian and racial diversity”. According to Karl Marx, then, we should thank our illegal immigration for keeping us Communist-Revolution-Proof. The US is safe from the Reds because of our porous borders….Wow. I didn’t see that one coming.
13. Even the Cato Institute, however, has to admit “the flow of skilled workers from low-productivity countries to high-productivity nations increases the incomes of people in the destination countries”. But when the US loses educated people, it’s called “Brain Drain”. When the US gains skilled workers it’s called “Skill Flow”. It’s all about the terminology – get it?
14. Finally, Kochs’ Cato Institute Magnum Opus on Immigration offers up this flourish: “Economic development should be about increasing the incomes of people and not the amount of economic activity in specific geographical regions. Immigration and emigration do just that.” Of course, to an American the phraseology should read: Economic development should be about increasing the incomes of United States Citizens and only the amount of economic activity within the specific geography of our country’s borders.
Cato’s authoritative “Study” concludes with the observation that free flowing people across our borders are an economic and envronmental blessing, not a curse. Concerns about overcrowding, publicly provided goods and services like schools, roads and welfare benefits are overblown. “Private businesses do not complain about crowding as they boost their profits by expanding to meet demand or charging higher prices.”
Cato’s Solution?
Rich people rejoice. Privatizing government functions is the answer – more capitalism by wealthy foundatons financed by (you get it) Billionaires like Koch! “Reforming and removing local land-use laws that prevent development” is another answer. “Changing how we all live would go a long way to alleviating any concerns about overcrowding”……. Land developers – like Koch – can save us all when our cities and countrysides become Hoovervilles of illegal immigrants. Unleash the Billionaires and they’ll fix everything…..
That’s it. Congress’ much-vaunted, much-quoted Cato Institute “Study” of Immigration in the United States. A scholarly masterpiece. Blue and Red Congressional shills justify their “Immigration Policy” by oblique references to “The Cato Institute” as if its 2018 Study is a lost segment of Christ’s Sermon on the Mount. This is the vacuous quality of “empirical evidence” our Congress relies on. Politicians – from both parties – truly lack any semblance of a moral compass.
Another “Think Tank” – the Center for Immigraton Studies – also publishes opinions about Immigration Policy and seems a bit more rational. To their credit they, at least, admit that “times have changed” and the American public’s opinions about illegal immigrants in their midst have also changed – and not for the better. The Center for Immigration Studies advocates “lower” immigration but “a warmer reception for the ones that are admitted”. “Warmer reception” is hardly scientific and empirical – but that’s their gameplan.
Bottom line: Congress has swallowed this pseudo-academic filth hook, line and sinker. The Beltway insiders who control Immigration Policy in America clearly love thousands of hopeless, unskilled, sick and destitute illegals streaming through our Southern borders. Their “Decision” has already been made – for me and you.
Todays Billionaires – one percent of the US population who control ninety-five percent of the wealth in the United States – are pressing self-serving, propaganda-grade “Studies” masquerading as authoritative scholarship into the hands of their Washington, DC lobbyists and bending our Congress to their will. They want illegal, unrestrained immigration. It’s happening. The despicable Koch brothers alone have hundreds of lobbyists and allies in Congress. And Congress eats it all up with a golden spoon. What about our other Overlords? They’re all on board.
The asshat money club – Gates, Koch, Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, Sergei Brin, Schmit, et. als. – and their corporate edifices Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Koch Industries, etc. – have all decided that the United States shall continue to accept an unchallenged, unrestricted flow of illegal immigrants. Poor, desperate and ready to suck the life out of the rest of us.
The time has come for an Immigration Moratorium. Then – once we take stock of our situation – we can commence a new targeted, needs-based immigration policy. Something that helps the United States for a change – not rapacious clowns like the Koch Brothers and their ilk.
Copyright, 2021, Jon Croft.
