I don’t care if the men in yellow vests who recently paved my street are undocumented immigrants; they did a great job and did it in Baltimore’s heat and humidity. I don’t care if the bartender who handed me a Guinness the other day speaks English with a South Asian accent; he poured the draft perfectly and served it with a smile. I don’t care what his immigration status is.
Nor that of the women cooking meals in the restaurant’s kitchen. I assume, as many Americans do, that the nation benefits from the immigrants in our midst. That includes an estimated 11 million who, over decades, entered the country the hard way, through an unauthorized border crossing, often because they were desperate.
I could cite numerous economists who say what should be obvious to anyone who pays attention: Immigrants, documented or not, make our society work; they are part of the reason it grows and thrives. Many have made for benefits they will never receive. Forty years ago this summer, when President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, ran for reelection, he said: “I believe in the idea of amnesty for those who have put down roots and lived here, even though sometime back they may have entered illegally.
” His pulled 2.7 million people out of the shadows and gave them an opportunity to become citizens. Now, as Republican Donald Trump runs a third time for president, he proposes the absolute opposite.
He has made a centerpiece of his campaign. Never mind that it will require a massive round.