Earlier this year, President Donald Trump signed a proclamation establishing “National Angel Family Day.”
Those familiar with conservative media will recognise the term “Angel Family” as associated with grieving family members who have lost a relative due to crimes allegedly committed by undocumented immigrants. Though the loss of a family member, regardless of circumstance, is tragic, these particular instances are highlighted based on the notion that the homicide would never have occurred if the “illegal alien” had not been here in the first place. With this in mind, each tragic death is ultimately the responsibility of whichever government administration allowed the illegal entry.
It would be difficult to argue that there was not a surge in illegal immigration during the previous (Biden) administration. The actual figures were just a percentage of those reported by President Trump yet nevertheless high by comparison to other annual totals. Despite this, homicide rates in the United States are as low as they have been since the FBI began collecting data in the 1930s. Increased immigration happening at the same time our country is experiencing significant drops in violent crime is consistent with what research has indicated: people that come from other countries to live in the United States, regardless of legal status, are less likely to be arrested for committing crimes than native-born Americans. This is not an indication that one group is more virtuous than the other, but the much more likely explanation is that committing crimes increases the chance of contact with law enforcement officers, which in turn increases the odds of being deported.
The same is true for voting. Even with encouragement, only about 60% of American citizens eligible to vote participate in national elections. Why would non-citizens jeopardize their ability to stay in this country by casting a ballot? The answer is: They wouldn’t, and don’t. It is clear that, except in rare occasions, undocumented immigrants in the United States are not going around murdering people or voting in elections.
What are they doing? First of all, many have been here for years. Even when adding in the numbers arriving in the past decade, the average is about 15 years. Of that group, those of working age (16 to 64) are doing just that: working. At least 90% of undocumented immigrants are employed. The highest concentration of labor is in areas such as construction, agriculture, manufacturing and food service. There are those who complain that these individuals displace native-born workers. Few who grumble about this have interviewed for a job picking cantaloupe. Rather than hurting the job market, undocumented immigrants keep many industries afloat. One example is the dairy industry in nearby Vermont. It is believed that roughly 50% of the milk in that state is produced by a workforce that is undocumented.
People who immigrated illegally do utilize public services, including education and medical. However, due to legal status, much of what citizens can expect (including things like SNAP benefits, unemployment benefits, Social Security, and Medicare) remains unavailable. Despite these limitations on what can be accessed, undocumented Americans pay at least $90 billion in taxes each year. In its present form, unauthorized immigration is a financial burden for local governments and, overall, an economic break-even situation when state and federal coffers are concerned. With current birth rates, our United States population numbers are unsustainable without immigration.
High estimates put the number of undocumented people in the United States at about 14 million to 16 million. The most humane and economically productive way to reduce these numbers is to provide a fair immigration policy (including secure borders) with an accelerated path allowing people who have been here for years to become citizens regardless of how they arrived. Imagine drastically reducing the number of undocumented people in the country in just a few years. Picture doing so without separating families or employing the present ICE tactics that debase us as a nation.
For those who reject out of hand the notion of amnesty, please don’t forget our country has a history of forgiving transgressions far greater than illegally crossing our border. For example, after the Slaveholders Rebellion (the original and more accurately descriptive term for what would be renamed the Civil War), most of the rank-and-file Confederate troops were allowed to return home despite their murderous treachery. Vietnam War draft evaders were given unconditional pardons. Much more recently, look at the unsavory humans pardoned by our current president for their crimes on Jan. 6, 2021. These include individuals convicted in our courts of seditious conspiracy, assault on law enforcement officers, drug trafficking, obstruction of justice and various white-collar crimes.
Maybe we are not the exclusive club we imagine ourselves to be after all.
Edward Dowd lives in Greenfield.