Immigration Is Good

It would be nice if there were more people in positions of authority and influence who were willing to make a full-throated case that immigration is, in fact, a good thing. Instead, the immigration discourse always seems to occur along a spectrum where one extreme screams that all immigration is bad (limited exceptions apply, wink wink) and the other extreme says, you know, the folks over there have some valid concerns so let's try to meet them halfway.

How different could the conversation be if the pro-immigration folks started from a rhetorical position that said: You know what, immigration is really an unalloyed great thing. America is what it is because of immigration. Our economy is the envy of the world because of immigration. You and I are here because of immigration. So let's stop messing around and create an immigration system that actually works based on the obvious truth that immigration is a great thing.

Is that likely to occur? In the near term, nope. But that should be the goal, and we should keep pushing ourselves and our leaders in that direction.

To that end, here's an organization you can support: Community Refugee & Immigration Services (CRIS). Based in Columbus, Ohio, CRIS has been helping the refugee and immigrant communities in Central Ohio for more than 30 years. They provide resettlement, legal, employment, and health and welfare services, and various other types of assistance. As for as I can tell, they have been whipsawed quite a bit by the Trump administration's immigration crackdown and funding cuts. The work is noble, the needs are great, and the resources are hard to come by. Consider helping them.