Lets Honestly Discuss Immigration

President Trump has instituted a ban on immigrants from certain countries for 90 days while the issue of vetting (approving) them is discussed and a new criteria is established. The media basically calls for open borders while Trump calls for limited immigration. What is the approach we should take?

The first question is simple, should we allow unrestricted movement between countries? I think most would say no. Should we allow criminals from other countries to come here? I think most would say no; but, we have before. We allowed unvetted people from Cuba to come here, think the movie "Scarface".

Let me ask the question another way. Should we allow any immigration? Well, many immigrants come here on educational visas to attend college. Should we allow that? Should we allow immigration from countries that don't allow Americans to immigrate into their nations? Should it be reciprocal?

Working class people want to ban the poor from other countries coming here because it lowers wages and they take jobs that Americans will do that do not require an education. Tech companies want immigration by tech workers from India and China in order to lower wages in those industries. Is that good for Americans? Many Christians want immigration from Muslim dominated countries for their Christians who they see as persecuted. Which persecutions matter, what about allowing in gays from countries where they are persecuted?

America and Australia are nations of immigrants. Australia was a nation of convicts, should they now be a nation that allows convicts from other countries in? I have heard and read many times that Trump wants to ban 1.3 billion Muslims from coming here, should we allow 1.3 billion people to come here. Do we need to increase our population that much?

Lets get back to the simple questions, how many people should be allowed to come here a year? The problem is not really who should be allowed to move here, the question is how many. Should we concern ourselves with the impact on society of immigration? Cultural society? These are all valid questions; but, I don't have the answers and from what I can tell neither does anybody else.

I disagree with Trump very strongly about Mexican immigration. I agree that we have the right as a nation to determine who comes here, the same as any other nation; but, the vast majority of Mexican immigrants, legal and illegal, are a net positive on the country. The truth is that Mexican immigrants fit in quite well with the existing Mexican populations and they are willing to turn in criminals.

This post is not about the answers, it is about the questions. You cannot vet a person's soul, it is not for man to do. You can however limit numbers, that is achievable. We currently have around 330 million people in the United States, we could afford to take in 500,000 people a year without seriously challenging our society. The same cannot be said for Scandinavian countries which only have a couple of million people living there to begin with. If we don't address the question of how many we can never honestly address the question of who.