Does former president Donald Trump ever go to Queens, the nation of his youth? If he did, he would in all probability be horrified. In response to the census, Queens is probably the most racially and ethnically numerous county within the continental United States; it’s exhausting to think about a nationality or tradition that’s not represented there. Immigrants make up practically half of the borough’s inhabitants and greater than half of its workforce.
And I believe that is unbelievable. Once I stroll round Jackson Heights, for instance, I see the essence of America correctly, a magnet for folks world wide in search of freedom and alternative—folks like my very own grandparents.
And no, Queens isn’t an city hellscape. It will not be leafy and inexperienced, nevertheless it has much less critical crime per capita. per capita than the remainder of New York Metropolis, and New York, though nobody will consider it, is among the most secure locations in America. It is also comparatively wholesome, with a life expectancy about three years greater than within the US as an entire.
However Trump has declared that migrants are “poisoning the blood in our nation” — a phrase that, to steal from the late, nice Molly Ivins, would possibly sound higher within the unique German. Look, I do know there is a debate about whether or not the MAGA motion totally meets the traditional standards for fascism, however can we at the least agree that its language is more and more fascist-adjacent?
And so are its insurance policies.
On Saturday, The New York Occasions reported that Trump, if returned to workplace, intends to pursue a drastic anti-immigration coverage — scouring the nation for immigrants residing within the nation illegally and constructing enormous camps to, um, focus them earlier than they’re deported by the thousands and thousands. . Suspected members of drug cartels and gangs can be deported with out due course of. Suspected by whom, on what foundation? Good query.
For those who suppose none of this could concern you since you’re an American citizen, know that Trump gave a speech on Veterans Day during which he promised to “exterminate” the “radical-left thugs,” he says — in echo the likes of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini – attacking America “like vermin.” Who counts as “radical left”? Properly, at the moment’s Republicans — not simply Trump — have a really expansive definition. In any case, they routinely accuse President Joe Biden of being a Marxist.
Given all this anti-democratic rhetoric, it appears nearly crude to level out {that a} Trump warfare on immigrants would even be an financial catastrophe. However it could.
Apparently that is not what the Trumpists suppose. The Occasions article quotes Stephen Miller, who led anti-immigrant operations when Trump was within the White Home, as arguing that mass deportations will likely be “celebrated by American staff, who will now be supplied greater wages with higher advantages to fill these jobs.”
Only a few economists would agree.
To the extent that there’s something past uncooked xenophobia behind Trump’s hostility to overseas staff, it appears to be the notion that America has a restricted variety of jobs to supply and that immigrants are taking these jobs away from the native-born. In actuality, nonetheless, the variety of jobs, and thus the expansion of the economic system, is restricted by the accessible labor power fairly than the opposite manner round.
And the contribution of immigrants to America’s long-term progress is astounding. Since 2007, in line with the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the US labor power has elevated by 14.6 million. Of those extra staff, 7.8 million – greater than half – had been born overseas.
Oh, and if these immigrants are taking away American jobs, how can unemployment be close to a 50-year low? In actual fact, we desperately want these staff, partially as a result of they’ll assist us deal with the wants of an getting older inhabitants.
Now, you would possibly fear that less-educated immigrants will push wages down and enhance earnings inequality. However the backside line from many years of analysis on this subject is that this does not appear to be occurring. Even much less educated immigrants deliver completely different expertise and make completely different job selections than their native-born counterparts, in order that they find yourself being enhances to, not substitutes for, native staff.
And let’s not overlook that Trump officers tried to chop off the provision of expert overseas labor to the U.S. tech sector, apparently within the perception that this is able to reserve good jobs for Individuals—when in actuality it could merely undermine our technological benefit.
None of that is to disclaim that sudden surges of migrants can place a burden on native communities and that we want insurance policies to mitigate these impacts. However that may be very completely different from a sweeping rejection of immigration that’s as American as apple pie, to not point out pizza and bagels — meals introduced by former immigrants that had been as soon as the goal of as a lot prejudice and hatred because the immigrants of At this time.
America does not must be made nice once more, as a result of it is already nice. However when you needed to destroy that greatness, the 2 most vital stuff you would do can be to reject its dedication to freedom and shut its doorways to folks in search of a greater life. Sadly, if Trump returns to workplace, he appears decided to do each of these items.
