"more Americans support increasing immigration than decreasing it"

WASHINGTON, DC — Immigration, a wit has said, is the sincerest form of flattery. This dispirited nation needs some of that, so President Joe Biden has wisely made immigration reform his initial legislative proposal.

George Will: Why can't conservatives understand that immigration is something that helps the country thrive.

To the Editor of the Southern Illinoisan:

https://thesouthern.com/opinion/letters/voice-of-the-reader-george-will-is-right/article_0aa962b6-ee61-55bd-8696-2cf73d1db5db.html

George Will is right

George Will’s spectacular column on Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2021, illustrates perfectly my conviction that thoughtful and considered conservatism can make a powerful contribution to the political discourse of this nation. In it, he intellectually dismantled the knee-jerk, 19th century nativism that has come to pass for "conservatism" today. He detailed with specific facts and figures that, due to declining birth rates, the current American economic system is unsustainable without a constant replenishment by incoming immigrants, and that, without this influx of new blood, the United States would not only be weaker, but would probably not exist at all.

For most of its history, the United States accepted pretty much anyone who could get here, without requiring much official paperwork at all. This has led to the creation of one of the most diverse societies ever to exist on the planet. One can debate what the best way is to integrate new arrivals into the culture, but one thing is beyond dispute. The United States is and always has been a country of immigrants, and to forget that fact, and to somehow inhibit the arrival of the "huddled masses yearning to breathe free," as the past couple of administrations have tried to do, is not just counterproductive but downright suicidal.

Gary K. Shepherd from Carbondale, IL