It is not possible to be calm
The subject of immigration always has enough moving parts to fill an entire shelf of books at my favorite café, aka Barnes & Noble. Nonetheless, in the current environment, attempting to persuade kangaroos to march in line is easier than writing a cogent, comprehensive, readable essay about immigration, the initial challenge being the selection of focus.
Should it be a factual demolishment of the immigrant falsehoods perpetuated by the terrible trio of Trump, Miller, and Homan (T3) or should the tack be a personal history piece, my interaction with and thoughts about immigration. I have chosen the latter, coupled with considerable commentary on the contemporary immigration situation.
(As a procedural confession, I remain addicted to reading, every day, the physical versions of the “New York Times” and the “Wall Street Journal.” I could cite articles for some of the information to follow; if this were a scholarly treatise, I would do so. I note as well that T3 provides so much “writing material” on a daily basis that this essay is sure to be missing points of interest which feed the inability to remain calm in the face of the T3 onslaught.
Some Personal History
For three decades, I have been involved with the issue of immigration, in part because our WKBJ Foundation has assisted many Hispanic young people to pursue their educational aspirations. We only cared about documentation because of its financial and practical ramifications, nothing else. Early on, I made the admittedly glib statement that “we are all immigrants. I just came earlier.”
Our MADE in Dover program (late 1990’s) once devoted an entire issue of its MIDtropolis News publication to the many components of immigration. Students came to the office and did their research and writing on the same day, an uplifting experience. Later (c.2010), we initiated Project 2050; at the time, 2050 was the projected year (it is now 2043) when this country would become one of multiple minorities, probably a first such circumstance in history and an immensely laudable accomplishment. The demographic story was quite clear, based on solid math, including birth rates for different ethnicities. It was not a function of future immigration patterns.
When Hispanic young people were made aware of this demographic expectation, I always followed with, “the only question is whether power will transfer peacefully.” There was a logical hesitancy as to whether that would be the case, a fundamental political/cultural uncertainty having nothing inherently connected to whoever occupied the White House.
As a relevant sidenote to the issue of power, over the years, when students indicated that their parents believed all government agencies shared information, I said, “not the IRS. Besides, filing a tax return is a small statement of wanting to be in this country, so please do it.” Now, years later from my messaging, the parents may be proven right.
During the above period, as an Opinion Shaper columnist for the “Daily Record” newspaper, I frequently wrote about immigration. On one occasion, I sarcastically noted that affluent people could easily rectify the situation if they checked the credentials of every landscaper, restaurant employee, childcare staffer, household cleaner, and construction person they employed and refused to do business with them if they did not have papers. But of course that would never happen, the collective “we” want people who meet our needs, when we want them, irrespective of legal status at that moment in time.
My understanding of immigration dynamics has been buttressed by travel to multiple countries in Central and South America, sometimes staying in normal houses (excluding razor wire) with people I know and sometimes in a hotel where those seeking financial help were at the corner traffic light, juggling a soccer ball or holding a baby in their arms.
In addition, I have spent significant time in Texas. While some on the left regard that state as an outlying planet of wrongheadedness, local viewpoints on immigration can be appropriately more nuanced, historically influenced, and realistic than many of the thoughts put forth by those who pontificate from comfortable locations far from the border.
I know people who have taken the “scenic route” to get to the USA; that is, they walked in. One is now a judge. Two people of my acquaintance years back received deportation orders on the same day. One immediately returned to his home country. One got married to a woman whose beauty and personality took second place to her legality.
Remaining on the subject of travel for a minute, overstayed tourist visas have always been a relatively quiet source of non-documentation, at least until T3 wanted to seize upon any transgression to fill a deportation quota. The valid observation that some immigrants want to become fully legal primarily because it makes it easier to go back and forth to their former home country is not important in the total picture. They are still contributors to the American economy when here.
Students who invest time and money to come to the USA for their education should be treasured, not given the third degree over every line item on their visa application or social media post. Check the resumes of those leading companies where engineering expertise is the sine qua non. How many were immigrants, became educated here, and started pathbreaking businesses.
As a final, current thought on travel, for those who have thought about going to Nicaragua, it has received a Level 4 warning from the State Department. This means do not travel there because of arbitrary enforcement of laws, risk of wrongful detention, and limited healthcare. The USA itself clearly clicks on the first two criteria and, without stretching it too much, the third as well.
The Los Angeles Protests: ICE+++
Suffice it to say that I have heard a great many immigration stories; the underlying facts of today’s trials and tribulations are not fundamentally new to my ears. However, there are two big differences. First, those facts are accompanied by a generalized fear of T3 run amuck. Second, on-going immigration stupidity by T3 has become a trigger point for protests that have been magnified in scope by an outpouring of antagonism toward virtually everything Trump.
The protest turnout may have been bolstered by high unemployment for teenagers and a high chronic absenteeism rate in the underperforming public school system that pretends to educate a 75% Latino student body. Those high school graduation ceremonies which took place after the first protests were subdued, a particularly painful blow when those walking across the stage may have been the first in their family to do so, even though 58% of Hispanic noncitizens in Los Angeles have been in the USA for at least twenty years.
An additional influence of significant magnitude in the protests was the SEIU’s (Service Employees International Union) newfound love for immigrants as it seeks to boost its union membership. Its leader managed to get arrested, a favorite photo op of politicians since the camera was invented. And, still again, T3’s bully boys at ICE fed the narrative with strongarm tactics. (Will more troops be called out when Los Angeles is the site of several World Cup matches in 2026, and it hosts the Summer Olympics of 2028 as well. Lots of fun coming up or will it be total chaos.)
Being pro-immigration, including personally funding said belief, is not inconsistent with wanting the creation, at the federal level, of a sensible, sustainable immigration program. When was the last time you saw a comprehensive immigration proposal coming from the ranks of immigration advocates? “Defund ICE” is not exactly a plan; neither is “No Human is Illegal.” Nor does being pro-immigration mean acceptance of every tactic used by immigrant advocates.
For example, flying the flag of a different country at an immigration protest is basically a political gift to T3, especially the amoral, vindictive Steven Miller (what happened in his childhood!) as he continues to back the falsehood that the country is being invaded.
By flying their country of origin flags, they may raise doubts as to their allegiance, Perhaps they look at the USA as a big ATM, perpetually useful because economic conditions in many Central and South American countries are not sufficiently robust to provide employment commensurate with educational attainment for those without connections. And often the places of origin for immigrants are not safe as well, in important part because of the American addiction to drugs.
I would prefer having every protestor wave an American flag. It sends the message: “we are all Americans, regardless of the paperwork. Treat us like Americans.” Have signs encouraging the deportation of criminals. Polls have always shown that more than 75% of people want a path to legitimacy for undocumented Americans, while simultaneously getting rid of the bad guys.
Having made this observation about the protests, it is clear that the overboard nature of T3’s immigration activities has resonated; while 55% say Trump is the right person to handle immigration; the same percentage disagrees with how he is doing it. The average person is against raids of school, church, and hospital areas in particular. Activists have been incentivized by Miller’s cruelty to assist those going to immigration courts with legal guidance, information fliers, and moral support.
If you want to be even more alarmed, Miller, attached to Trump since 2016, has a staff of 30 and influence beyond immigration. He leads the charge of those who say, “f… the courts; keep pushing the legal envelope.” And SCOTUS has said, “yeah, it’s okay to deport immigrant criminals to any country where a transaction can be consummated.” A Miller moment for sure.
We should be in the immigrant detention business: cut corners on construction, food, and air conditioning and smirk all the way to the bank. The inmates at the Delaney facility in Newark, for example, have all been arrested for weapons possession and other crimes, so according to the T3 reading of our constitution, it means they have no rights.
Years back, when I was a member of a general partnership, the head man had a partner he used as a punching bag. After a while, I mentioned to the former that if this other fellow did not exist, he would have had to invent him. Today, the Democratic Party is so devoid of a program that if Trump did not exist, the left would have to invent him.
The saving grace for the Democratic Party is that Trump provides so much fodder for anger that the former’s weakness stays off the front page, except for that of the “New York Times,” which talks to itself a lot. Stop the presses: riding to the party’s rescue (?) in New York City is the newest iteration of Robin Hood, a socialist born in Uganda of Indian parents. Zohran Mamdani advocates draining the pockets of the wealthy to provide a list of free services to those with thin wallets.
Among other impacts, the political void in the Democratic Party (apologies to Mamdani and AOC) means that people not in favor of many things done by Trump have nowhere to go. Moreover, there is no cohort of level-headed Republicans acting to rescue the party label from what one Republican said was “the treachery, poor political judgement, and cowardice that characterizes its leadership.”
For the historically inclined, there is a question to be contemplated: which was worse: Watergate or Bidengate, the coverup of the latter’s cognitive decline that led to Trump’s return to power. The same diligent analyst might re-examine the McCain-Kennedy immigration bill. As I recall, the two criticisms of it were: it was complicated and it was bipartisan (a negative? Yipes!)
Returning to the current political front, everything immigration in T’s Big (1000 pages, which guarantees reduced readership), Beautiful (not so much) Bill smacks of venal overreach. Complete information will not be found in this essay.
The battle about immigration has reached the point where buried is the unequivocal economic rationale for immigration; without “importing people,” the country will not grow as previously. Illegal immigrants are less than 5% of the workforce overall, but a multiple of that level in construction, landscaping, farming, and meatpacking. After the first wave of huge protests, he briefly eased deportation pressures in the farming, eatery, and hospitality areas. Was it because of the protests on the street or was it that businesses who voted for him were in his ear.
The non-profit Institute for Justice (I am a long-time supporter), is fighting one of the little publicized absurdities of T3’s approach to immigration: a requirement that businesses in stipulated border locations fill out paperwork for every transaction of $200 or more. Heretofore the threshold was $10,000. The ostensible logic for the change was the battle against money laundering. In practice, those who Maytag money can go elsewhere, whereas damage to a small entrepreneur can be fatal: time not spent with customers but wasted on filling out forms.
Overall observations about Trump at the polls
At the margin, Trump should be losing support. A very partial list of items in no order includes:
- the “big beautiful bill,” now law, has enough irritating parts relevant to most people, with particular pain to immigrants, that it might breathe life into the moribund Democratic Party
- judges are saying no more frequently, although the SCOTUS decision on the use of injunctions is a win for T3.
- his pardoning of the January 6 criminals was not appreciated
- his view on birthright citizenship is a distraction en route to becoming a nightmare
- his confusion over who started the war in the Ukraine has been baffling to most
- his use of the military in domestic disturbances is a terrible optic
- his immigration policy is adversely affecting Silicon Valley (where he has many supporters)
- there is a well-founded fear that healthcare insurance changes will overlap with immigration policies and hurt innocent citizens as well
- the FBI recently has shifted some agents from, not to, immigration duties, a sign of a certain level of independence that could be quietly interpreted as anti-T3.
- the adverse impact on the economy is evident when Hispanic shoppers stay home because they are fearful of raids
- the quality of his cabinet selections is below a passing grade
- closing aid programs with negative repercussions, like life or death, is not a winner
- deleting words and names not in accordance with his twisted rendition of America’s history has to have produced significant voter remorse given his surprising strength among minorities in the recent election.
- more specifically, to say many Hispanics who voted for him would not do so now is not a brilliant insight.
- whether one favored DOGE/Musk or not, it has been a procedural nightmare. Instead of a skillful scalpel, a chainsaw was used, producing a massacre instead of useful change.
- is there a line-up of former staunch allies cheering Trump on, individual “wins” aside?
- denaturalization – to quote John McEnroe, “you cannot be serious!”
- with all due respect to the above list and the poignant plight of immigrants in particular, most people are most impacted by the prices of everyday goods at the supermarket. They are still rising, contrary to T’s promise.
What this all means in the mid-term elections is less clear than the list of negatives. People need an alternative, a party with a platform that is devoid of identity politics, that is respectful of those who differ about lifestyles and of those who have no diplomas hanging on their walls.
Epilogue
On several occasions in the first half of 2025, I managed an Emergency Relief Fund (ERF) in Hackettstown, a small community where those from other countries are providing the overall growth. The application was simple: name, address, phone number. The words “legal, immigration, and documentation” were never spoken. I did ask for the name of their former country, how long they had been here, what job they had, and did they have children.
As an offshoot of this effort (a lengthier description is on my blog, an essay entitled “In my Shoes,”) my intention is to create a documentary entitled “The Ecuadorian Exodus.” Applicants for whom Ecuador has been their home country were surprisingly greater in number than those from any of the other eight countries represented. Moreover, the Ecuadorians have been in Hackettstown less time, a data point consistent with the comparatively recent rise in transnational drug trafficking and associated corruption in that country.
The documentary will be a welcome to Hackettstown Ecuadorians and an encouragement to them to stay, to find employment, get their children educated, and raise their families.
Inevitably, the documentary itself will shed additional light on the many facets of immigration, providing personal testimony far richer than that in any essay.
Peace,