The Immigration Enigma

It’s a fact that the United States is an immigrant nation. Unless you are related by blood to native Americans, your roots are traceable to immigrant ancestry. Then there’s the – “We got here first, and sorry, but we don’t want anyone else to be here” – phenomenon.

Part of this ‘We’re here but others need to go away’ attitude was often further tainted with racial and ethnic bias in our history. Such distrust and discrimination over time has included the Irish, Italians, Chinese, Latinos, Japanese, African, and Catholics. Bottom line: The overarching issue in this immigrant country of ours has been one of acculturation, and that process has at times been shameful and ugly.

Yet one of America’s greatest strengths is the fact that we are a blended melting pot, and the diversity that is a part of the American experience strengthens the vigor and sinews of our very being as a nation.

One of the biggest problems facing Russia and China is that their populations are shrinking at alarming rates, and that means a deficiency of up-and-coming laborers, fewer working folks to support the pensions of aging populations, and a lack of vigor and innovation that comes with a youthful surge in the economy.

In the U.S. we have a declining birth rate as well, but not as serious as China and Russia, whose spiraling demographics also suffer from the number of people fleeing these countries. More importantly for the U.S., however, is our tradition of feeding our immigration tradition. We will continue to need agricultural workers, manufacturing workers, immigrant scientists, immigrant medical workers, immigrant tech entrepreneurs, and writ-large, young workers to support our parents and grandparents after they retire, hopefully with dignity. That’s our nation’s secret “economic sauce.”

Then there’s the “enigma.”

With military coup d’états in North and Central Africa, Middle Eastern refugees from Syria and Iraq, asylum seekers from the “Northern Triangle Countries” of El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala and migrants from Venezuela and China, people are on the move, putting pressure on nations that would normally be open to receiving “your huddled masses yearning to be free.” But numbers can overwhelm.

There are three things that stand out to me as part of the puzzle or enigma of how first, to accommodate those seeking asylum and the promise of the American Dream, and to manage the flow in ways that are at once humane but still well-ordered and regulated.

The second is culture. In one respect, the American experience with these waves of migrants is different from the European experience. America is and has always been the “Great American Melting Pot,” a diverse collection of people from a variety of different ethnic backgrounds, religious backgrounds, cultural backgrounds and languages, who learned to acculturate to the American blend. Generally speaking, modern Europe was never the same in these regards. Most European nations are culturally and ethnically unique, although Christianity is largely pervasive in one form or another throughout Europe.

The third is evidenced in the populist surge in some parts of Europe. Bertrand Benoit of the Wall Street Journal puts this issue front and center. “Antiestablishment populism is on the rise in Europe, fueled not only by migration and economic and security fears, but by a deeper trend: eroding confidence in government’s ability to overcome those challenges.”

Cultural uniqueness is problematic when African and Middle Eastern migrants, especially those with different languages and different religious affiliations, appear as waves on European shores. The cultural shock is further traumatizing when masses of migrants overwhelm public welfare systems like healthcare, and other services being paid for by resident taxpayers. These cultural and governing issues are complex, and so are possible solutions.

How to be reasonable, humane, empathetic, and responsible as a nation while protecting the cultural heritage, financial, and welfare systems in these receiving nations is the essence of the enigma.

Great historical figures have waxed movingly about America, the land of liberty.

President John F. Kennedy: “Everywhere immigrants have enriched and strengthened the fabric of American life.”

President George Washington: “The bosom of America is open not only to the opulent and respected stranger but the oppressed and persecuted of all nations and religions, whom we shall welcome.”

President Ronald Reagan: “You can go to live in France, but you can’t become a Frenchman. You can go to live in Germany or Italy but you can’t become a German or an Italian. (same said of Turkey, Japan, Greece or China). But, anyone, from any corner of the world, can come to live in the United States and become an American.”

President Barack Obama: “A child on the other side of the border is no less worthy of love and compassion than my own child.”

All the foregoing sentiments reflect the values that America has for centuries stood for and exhibited to the rest of the world. Yet they were all, with the exception of President Obama, reflections of the previous century before the mass refugee migrations caused by climate change and authoritarian regimes triggered the swarming of Europe and America.

What to do? There are clearly two tactical and strategic paths in solving for this enigma.

First, and tactically, there’s the need for border policies and disincentives that control and curb illegal crossings. In addition, these controls need to include clear procedures for practical and timely paths for legal immigration into the U.S. This requires the appropriate funding of border agents, orderly pathways for asylum seekers, necessary facilities and timely and unimpeded immigration court hearings.

We had the makings of such an approach in a popular bipartisan immigration bill this year, strenuously supported by senate minority leader Mitch McConnell. Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska said of the bill, “Members need to remember how big this moment is for the border and for Ukraine and put their own politics aside.” Yet the bill failed as the presumptive Republican presidential nominee told party senators to reject the bill as it would take the wind out of their sails for the party on the immigration issue.

Second, and more strategically, “First World” countries need to help struggling nations solve the problems that cause their citizens to leave and migrate elsewhere. This can be difficult as climate change seems nearly inexorable, and dictators don’t usually care as long as they retain power and wealth.

As we work to solve this enigma, we must never forget, as former President Jimmy Carter reminds us, “We have become not a melting pot but a beautiful mosaic. Different people, different beliefs, different yearnings, different hopes, different dreams.”

Bill Sims is a Hillsboro resident, retired president of the Denver Council on Foreign Relations, an author and runs a small farm in Berrysville with his wife. He is a former educator, executive and foundation president.