Many seem to be looking at this immigration thing as a zero-sum game. Either we have very welcoming open borders, keeping the previous system of “anyone can enter” and endlessly linger while waiting for adjudication. Or, we take the Stephen Miller model of rounding up everyone and throwing them all out.
For years, while Washington dilly-dallied over crafting a consistent immigration policy and funding the means to implement it, the government essentially winked while the monied interests created this semi-invisible labor force that operated to support the economy. In fact, as America has aged, these millions of undocumented aliens have taken up the demographic slack. And demographics is how we really should be viewing this issue.
Take China, where the attempted reversal of their disastrous one-child policy has been a complete flop. As their huge population also ages, they now have to think carefully about going to war, as so many families have just one son available to carry out the ingrained cultural imperative of supporting their dotage. And then there’s that most xenophobic of cultures, Japan. When we lived there in the early 70’s, the percentage of registered foreigners, and all foreigners were registered, was about .07%. Today, with the need to service and care for its aging population, that percentage has ballooned to 3.2%, with the government establishing programs to aggressively grow that number.
Going into the second edition of the Trump regime, America’s economy was the envy of the world. And one of the reasons was the demographic balance provided by that invisible labor force. These were people doing the essential jobs no one else wanted to do–in agriculture, elder care, landscaping, slaughterhouses. Additionally, our universities and research centers were attracting the best and the brightest from the rest of the planet, people who made significant contributions while they studied and who often stayed to continue their work. Top to bottom, it was immigrants who were giving us the advantage. Of course, in the span of one year, all of that’s been turned on its head.
So, rather than consider this as all in or all out, let’s take a breath. I’ve previously written that Joe Biden really screwed up by encouraging immigrants to swarm across our border. Trump has fixed that problem. And there’s no one I know who doesn’t approve of targeted apprehension and deportation of illegal aliens involved in serious crimes. But this Stephen Miller quota system, arbitrarily grabbing people in order to beat the deportation numbers of the Obama years, is throwing the baby of economic prosperity out with the bath water.
Common sense would dictate that, one, we get the borders secure. That’s done. Two, we grandfather those people already here, giving some a path to citizenship and others some special non-voting, non-citizen interim status. Both should be based on a process of legal review. Meantime, continue with targeted efforts to get rid of the bad actors. With that equilibrium in place, we can then craft and roll out an intelligent, pragmatic immigration policy for everything going forward; one that actually serves, rather than runs counter to, the interests of our society. Joe pandered to the extreme left. Trump is pandering to the extreme right. But, as yet, no one is seriously thinking about the very practical middle.
©2026, David B Bucher
SoEast 