Today, May 11, should be a celebratory day as President Joe Biden marks the end of the national health emergency related to the coronavirus pandemic while we remember the ones we lost.
Instead, we will see images from our Southern border dominating the day as Title 42—put in place by President Donald Trump and continued by President Joe Biden—to stem the wave of immigrants coming across the border comes to an end. President Biden even conceded the Southern border will be “chaotic” for a period of time.
The worst part of this—those in power knew this day was coming and instead of finding a solution, they continued to talk around the issue and never with each other to solve the problem.
Broken Washington is the cause of this. And the cause of inaction will begin to be felt by everyone soon—for example, immigrants bused to New York City by Southern governors are set to live just over the Bergen County border as they await a decision on their immigration status.
Rockland and Orange County officials said they were informed by New York City Mayor Eric Adams’ office on May 5 that the city was placing up to 340 single male new immigrants in hotels in their municipalities. The Adams Administration has said the relocation is part of a plan to make room for a swell of immigrants expected to come to the city after Title 42 ends.
New York City has reported that at least 60,000 new immigrants have come there since last year. Those numbers include those sent by Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX), who spitefully has bused asylum seekers to New York City and other places with Democrats in power, saying that his state shouldn’t have to bear the brunt of what he’s called President Biden’s inaction on immigration policy.
This is all because of the failure of Congress to come with solutions—and this includes President Biden. And both remain dug in as Republicans are insisting for a wall that will not hold anyone out versus Democrats that have been too slow to recognize the majority of Americans want our laws to be enforced.
For many reasons, our immigration system is broken. Sen. Bob Menendez is correct that “the United States’ approach to addressing our hemisphere’s migration and refugee challenges has been painfully shortsighted. We have relied too heavily on punitive border measures rather than providing additional legal pathways for migrants and marshalling the financial resources needed to address the drivers of migration.”
We see lawmakers come together on a whole set of issues to come up with a solution but when was the last time leaders of both parties sought legislation with their counterparts. Even the plan Menendez recently put out would have been better served if he was able to have a Republican Senator to sign on.
Immigration is just the latest issue that lawmakers and those that make a financial profit from them look at as more of an issue to exploit then solve. It joins a growing list such as our gun laws, federal debt, education and global warming that are met with taunts and name calling rather than exchange of ideas of how to solve the problems that a majority of Americans want.
It’s the extremists of each party winning the argument by fighting for purity instead of commonsense solutions both sides can live with.
To that end, the starting point on immigration should be to remember that all of us except for a very small minority came here from somewhere else with the same desire that those attempting to cross the Southern border today: a want for a better life.
We should be welcoming of that with the understanding there are rules immigrants have to abide by to enter our country and allocating the resources to ensure it happens at a greater pace.
Unfortunately, a broken Washington is satisfied with the status quo. And that will increasingly have an impact on the rest of us, including residents of North Jersey.
The fact is that we need workers. There is a huge shortage, and employers can’t find American-born staff to fill these jobs, including less skilled positions, which migrants could readily fill. Part of the quality of life issues we’re experiencing today is caused by staff shortages, resulting from inhumane and economically unwise policies of trying to keep out immigrants. Instead of finding the means to keep them out, we should be welcoming them with open arms, just as we did 100+ years ago when waves of immigrants fled from persecution and poverty in Eastern Europe, and elsewhere. What ever happened to the values embodied in Emma Lazarus’ words, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” Is the reason we’re behaving with such insularity the mere fact that most of these migrants have brown skin?
But Contraire; This is what those special interests Lobbied for’n in the 1st place!! They’re looking at a huge Cheap supply of Cheap Laborer’s to draw as needed from this inexhaustible labor pool, which they can select & treat them at will.. Unfortunately, these poor people are being used like Peon’s as pawns in a corporates chess game played with human lives!! SEE; It’s all about MONEY & GREED; As per the American-Ways!!//
The U.S., aka Corporates, have created a huge Homeless tent-city population!! BUT; ‘THEY’ deemed these Homeless as Undesirables to serve their purposes as Cheap Laborer’s!! ‘THEY’ Can Create & Destroy as “They” choose & need!! OH; And where are all these JOB’S?? SEE; No-Job’s means, No-Spending.. No-Spending means, No-Taxes coming in to feed the Gov’t, states, municipality’s & other necessity’s.. So-Simple, but “They” still don’t get it!! Again Corporates are playing Dominoes with People’s Lives, the Economy, the Country’s Welfare & Security!!//