Immigration reform is essential to improve the American human condition

Waves of immigrants are common in history:

Echo opinions reflect on the reality about American immigration published in The Roanoke Times, in Virginia: 

James Rosen wrote about how lawmakers play partisan politics that are intended to confuse you. Democrats and Republicans regularly warned of a "border crisis" during the previous guy's Donald Trump administration, although for different reasons. Trump used the bully pulpit to amplify the shrill cry. His core campaign all to "build the wall!" withered in the hot desert sun after he became president. 

Former Trump adviser, the right wing extremist Steve Bannon, faces charges of running a "We Build the Wall" crowdfunding scam to enrich himself and associates. The 11 million or 12 million figures, often reported as the number of undocumented workers in the United States, is just a guess.

No one knows, partly because the businesses that employ "illegal aliens" help to shield them, because of their willingness to do manual jobs for low wages.  The notion of a "border crisis" is almost as old as our nation. What it really means is ethnic prejudice and fear of foreigners.

Immigrants arriving at Ellis Island, New York, on May 27, 1920.

In “Waves of immigrants are common in history”, the author James Rosen reminds us about some of the many migrations to the U.S. borders, throughout history.

He referred to the Irish migration starting in 1845, by those that could afford to leave Ireland during the potato famine. Some of their sons served in the Union armies during the Civil War. The Chinese immigrants of the 1850s, arrived in California fleeing turmoil at home and hoping for a find of gold. These folks provided much of the labor for the most dangerous jobs during construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. The U.S. has been the beneficiary of many more migrations.

Nevertheless, there are differences in the “border crisis” of the 21st century and earlier times. We now have deadly fentanyl flowing across our borders — much more deadly than any powdered opium carried by Asians of the past.

We now have deadly drug cartels inflicting our cities with more dangerous results than any opium den of long ago.

This is beyond politics and late-night TV hosts laughing about old white guys alarmed by the “browning of America.” It does not matter if whites of European ancestry are a minority here in the last half of this century. 

But, it does matter that we leave our grandchildren a civilized society, just as the “greatest generation” left us a prosperous culture after winning World War II.

Border security should unite all concerned Americans of every race and political opinion.  “The test of a moral society is the kind of world it leaves for the children.” - D. Bonhoeffer. (German theologian and anti-Nazi activist, died April 9, 1945, in Flossenbürg concentration camp, Germany.)

J.H. Woolwine, in Salem, Virginia