Immigration Policy Needs Updating

A Nation of Immigrants———————————————–

A commentary

By J. F. Kelly, Jr.

America is a nation of immigrants for good reason. It needed them. It began as a small nation of thinly-populated British colonies. As it expanded westward to the Pacific on lands largely taken from Native Americans, purchased from France and won in wars with Spain and Mexico, it needed immigrants to populate these vast lands, clear the forests for farms, build villages, cities, roads, bridges, dams and other infrastructure.

 

And they came, some fleeing hunger, joblessness or prisons and some just in search of adventure and opportunity. They came mostly from Europe, but some from Asia, especially to build the railroads. Some came against their will from Africa and the Caribbean, victims of a cruel slave trade. My ancestors came from Ireland, mostly by sea, booking passage in steerage. One had the misfortunate to book passage on the Titanic. They were not warmly embraced at first. They would dilute the culture, it was feared. Catholics would pledge allegiance first to the Pope. Ethnic stereotypes proliferated. The Irish, it was said, were prone to fighting and drinking. “Irish need not apply” appeared on many help wanted signs.

 

They were, for the most part, eager to assimilate and blend in, adopting the ways of their new country, but adding some of their own customs and traditions to enrich what would become a unique American culture. The nation needed them for their labor, not necessarily because it intended to remain forever a refuge for all the world’s huddled masses. No nation has the capacity for that and still provide sufficiently for the needs of its own citizens.

 

Today, our needs are quite different. Technology has greatly reduced the need for raw labor. We still need entrepreneurs to create businesses and provide jobs and there will always be a need for those with advanced technical skills, especially those who come to study at our universities. In short, America needs an immigration policy that puts the nation’s needs today first, not necessarily those of the huddled masses.

 

Donald Trump ran for president on a promise to, among other things, enforce our immigration laws and put an end to illegal immigration which has simply been out of control for years. At first, he promised, unwisely, to deport all those here illegally. He won anyway. When elected, he softened that promise and said he would treat people humanely, focusing on those who have committed serious crimes while here, especially drug dealers and gang bangers. That he is attempting to do this, while novel behavior for a politician, should surprise no one because he is not a politician, but rather a businessman who intends to keep the promises he made to the voters.

 

TV and print media have been full of images of frightened children and sobbing mothers fearing deportation while posing for the cameras. One of them was Guadalupe Garcia, a Mexican woman who lived illegally in the U.S. for 22 years and has two U.S.-born children. The Mexican government cited her deportation in condemning Trump’s policy. But Ms. Garcia is a felon, convicted of identity theft, a serious crime which can ruin the life of the victim and deserves serious prison time, not just deportation. While I don’t favor rounding up and deporting those who have not committed serious crimes, those that have deserve to be deported.

 

Liberals still have their underwear in a knot over Mr. Trump’s executive order temporarily banning immigrants from seven predominantly Muslim countries, claiming it discriminates against Muslims. Never mind that the order didn’t apply to dozens of other predominantly Muslim nations. While implementation of the order was badly botched, inconveniencing hundreds of green card holders, the choice of the seven nations was perfectly logical. Iran is the world’s leading exporter of international terrorism whose rulers routinely chant “Death to America”. Syria and Yemen are in the midst of civil wars and have a large ISIL presence. So does Iraq. Sudan just finished a civil war that split the country in two. Libya is in chaos. Somalia has no functioning government at all and is largely controlled by pirates. What do they all have in common? They are unable to properly screen those coming to our country.

 

America, like any other sovereign nation, has an obligation to its citizens to determine who may enter and stay in their country, especially when terrorism is an existential threat. As a recent email that went viral put it, even Heaven has a gate and they do extreme vetting to determine who gets in.

(This column also appeared in The San Diego Union-Tribune.)

February 25, 2017

 

 

When Did Nationalism go Out of Style

In Defense of Nationalism——————————————–

                A commentary

                By J. F. Kelly, Jr.

There’s something to be said for nationalism. My American Heritage dictionary defines it as devotion to the interests or culture of a particular nation. Sounds like a good thing. Since when did it become unfashionable in some quarters, notably some college campuses and liberal think tanks? Granted, when carried to extremes, it can lead to evil. We fought such evil in WW II and helped save Europe from Nazism. Still, it was our strong sense of nationalism and patriotism that enabled us to win.

 

Donald Trump ran for the presidency on a platform of making America great again by, among other things, restoring our broken southern border, exercising stricter control over who enters our country and why and, in general, putting America first in the conduct of foreign policy and trade. This is the essence of nationalism and it’s not a bad thing.

 

Personally, I opposed his candidacy and declined to vote for him because I felt that he was not qualified for the world’s most powerful office, either by experience or temperament. In a series of commentaries, I wrote that the GOP should dump Trump, that he was, at times, crude and insulting to women and those he disagreed with, and that he was impulsive and clumsy with language. I said that he didn’t deserve your vote (and neither did Hillary Clinton). I wrote that Republicans were blowing a golden opportunity to defeat a flawed candidate and gain control of the White House, both houses of congress and to appoint conservatives to the Supreme Court.

 

But Mr. Trump prevailed over all the party favorites throughout an ugly campaign. He prevailed again in the general election against all odds, winning the popular vote in three-fifths of the states over a candidate heavily favored by the media and all the polls.

 

While campaigning, Mr. Trump made many promises, some radical. He would build a wall and make Mexico pay for it. Mexico will never pay for it. Why should they? He would suspend the entry of Syrian refugees and some from other nations that posed a threat of terrorism, including those that lacked a stable government, until a better screening process could be established. He would end Obamacare and replace it with something better. He would appoint justices who would follow the constitution and not their own political preferences. He would re-negotiate trade deals that were unfavorable to America.

 

In his very first weeks, as promised, he started to fulfill his promises and made it clear that he intended to fulfill them all. Imagine that: a politician that who actually does what he promises. What a concept! So unheard of is this that liberals and the media just can’t get over it and remain in denial. But they have no one to blame but themselves. They nominated or supported a deeply flawed candidate who showed little regard for the security of classified material and who deserved the blame for the Benghazi fiasco and cover-up. They blew their chance also and now they’re stuck with (gasp!) Trump.

 

But instead of honoring the American tradition of rallying around a new elected leader, at least for a while, and honoring the results of a fair election, they are behaving like the losing party in a third world nation, determined to oppose his every move. This leads to nowhere. Democratic senators shamefully boycotted committee hearings on cabinet nominees. Exactly what will these delays accomplish beside leaving critical cabinet posts unfilled and denying the president mature advisers that could perhaps temper his impulsiveness? They will attempt to “Bork” his nominee to the Supreme Court, the eminently-qualified Judge Neil Gorsuch. In the end, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will probably just follow Harry Reid’s precedent and change the rules to permit a simple majority to advance the nomination.

 

Donald Trump was not my choice but he was fairly elected and he is president of all of us, even those that find the time to parade around carrying signs that say “Not my president”. He wants to make America great again. I don’t agree with all his methods, but I’m for restoring some of the greatness the nation has lost over the past eight years. So did enough Americans to elect him. They will not be pleased if Democrats don’t start acting more like the loyal oppositions and deal with the hand they’ve been dealt with by the voters.

February4, 2017