by Karl B. Rodney
A country built by immigrants, where immigration was the center of the development of this country; where just about everyone, saving the Native Americans, are of immigrant and immigrant descent, and that immigration has been a fundamental component in the founding of this nation, the United States.
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Where waves of immigrants from around the world came to seek out new opportunities here and where the Statue of Liberty was constructed to welcome immigrants regardless of status, color or creed from around the world. Coming to seek economic advantages and opportunities and building a strong nation in the wake of the effort. Many fleeing oppression, economic disadvantage or dangerous circumstances come to America to be a part of a movement.
that was the foundation of a modern nation, a nation that is indeed, founded by immigrants. It is troubling to see the current crisis in the United States and a major cause for concern is the issue of immigration and its treatment of potential immigrants coming into the United States.
It is not that immigration has not shown itself over centuries and decades and in recent times as a significant contributor to the economic development of this country, and that this country benefits tremendously from immigrants and immigration. And that in fact, in its current situation, this country needs and can use immigrants, their energy, their determination, and their commitment to self-advancement and improvement, and their history of loyalty and support for this country.
As the years of past, the immigration policies of the United States have grown more and more restricted, as the immigrants, coming to the United States started to include people of color from the Western Hemisphere and Africa, and so these changes sometimes were systematically introduced and the discrimination or changes were solely generated by the color of the immigrant’s skin and, and what was once a welcoming mat for immigrants, what was ingrained in the development of this country and represented by the Statue of Liberty.
We have a crisis, a politically made crisis generated. by politicians, many of whom it is for selfish political advantages and a reflection of their own beliefs and history of racial discrimination. Unfortunately, we now see that the politicians often use immigration for their political grand standing, not focusing on any solution that would serve the country or to any principles of humanitarianism or even a nod to the history and contribution of immigrants, but only to their own political issues.
Issues that they have used to divide the country and depart from what could well be the wellbeing and continued growth of the nation. Many of the current immigrants that are making their way to the United States are fleeing for the same conditions that earlier immigrants did, fleeing dire condition in their own country, and want to pursue, in America, pursue opportunities for a better life, a better life that so many immigrants in the past have pursued and were allowed to be safe in migrating and could contribute to the continued growth of the nation.
Yes, we agree with Congressmember Clarke, and so many other members of Congress who are calling for a comprehensive immigration reform of the entire system.
To bring about practical and helpful solution to this immigration crisis that in fact would be helpful to the country’s economy and the country’s safety. This starts with the detangling of the many issues and regulations that have been imposed strictly for political maneuvering and reasoning and should now be examined for its real worth , in the country’s development and its own economic needs.
We are experiencing with the controversial Title 4 border policy, how it can restrict immigration and how it will use any and all political rational to deter legal immigration. Now that the use of Title 42 is to be expired there is the chaos that was predicted, a chaos that grew out of political actions that did not have any real immigration reasoning in instituting. In the first case, it was just part of the Trump administrations means of using the pandemic as a way of restricting immigration, that they opposed for political reasons.
We must urge, we urge our elected officials to stop political maneuvering and playing with people’s lives by taking on the issue of immigration. Issues that are in fact protected under international laws where refugees and asylum seekers must be protected and that everyone has the right to seek asylum from persecution in other countries. Protect refugees from being returned to countries where there is risk of harm to them, to protect migrants families that are in danger and migrants deserve and rightfully owed protection from deportation detention.
Since the origin of modern times, these conditions have been met and respected, and we now must condemn all the actions, political and otherwise, that would depart from not only the international norms and laws, but also the tradition and legal and historical underpinning of the United States. That immigration is a part of what America is and what every day America needs.
To be very honest about it our economic dependence on immigrant labor has created better lives in this country, build better lives for immigrant and increase the number of citizens that are working, paying taxes to United States and creating a better America.
We all must decide and must truly work to uphold the ideals of America as a place of safety and refuge for immigrants and refugees. We have not been living up to that aspiration or history in the recent past, but we must continue relentless pressure on elected officials to make America a beacon of freedom and a place where people can have a good chance for making their best lives, to achieve what is known as the American Dream, but what is in fact a dream of humanity, the broader problem and this immigration issue is manmade by the politicians and can be solved by politicians. We must press Congress and the people of the United States, that they must have a meaningful way of having orderly immigration and immigration that leads to a better lives for people and for the country.
