Dear Editor,
Yes, we need a comprehensive, fair, bipartisan immigration policy, but we need to stop demonizing people who come here for a better life.
Unless you are a descendant of a native American tribe, we are all immigrants. One of the oldest lies is to falsely smear immigrants as criminals. Immigrants, regardless of citizenship status, are 60% less likely to be incarcerated for crimes than US-born citizens. Data shows that there is not a “migrant crime wave.” Large drug shipments come into our country at many ports of entry, not floated on people’s backs across the Rio Grande. The majority of those arrested for fentanyl distribution are US citizens.
Some claim immigrants are a drain on the economy and on resources; however, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates new immigrants will add $7 trillion dollars to America’s economy over the next decade. The libertarian Cato Institute found that immigrants pay $1.38 in taxes for every dollar of benefits they receive. We will need new workers as our country ages and the birth rate declines.
Immigrants are not taking away jobs that Americans want. While the US enjoys record-low unemployment, they are doing some of the most dangerous, low-paying, and essential jobs in the country. In Georgia, who works in our chicken processing plants, picks our crops, keeps our lawns neat, and roofs our homes? Who works for low wages and does the jobs that keep our businesses afloat, jobs that we “natives” resist doing?
Foreigners illegally “streaming” unchecked over the border? NO ONE wants that. I’m sorry to say that Trump instructed the Republicans in Congress to kill the bipartisan immigration bill last spring that would have helped with the problem. Now, he can rant and incite fear in his crowd and blame others.
Know better. Be better. Vote better.
V. Johnson, B. Gilkison Greensboro