EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the second in a three part series. See below for link to Part 1.
(Photo caption – Immigrants to the United States greet the Statue of Liberty as they arrive in the early 1900’s.)
By Vic Affolter
Trump and his adherents are wrong on all aspects of immigration. The nonpartisan Center for Migration Studies (CMS) affirms that “Immigrants significantly bolster the US economy. They fuel economic growth, drive innovation. and provide over $500 billion in annual tax revenue.” The CMS reports that the estimated 14 million undocumented immigrants residing in the U.S. paid $96.7 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenue in 2022 (most recent year available), while largely ineligible for the major public benefits and social safety-net programs these taxes fund, including Social Security and health insurance through Medicare and Medicaid. They pay substantially more in taxes than they receive in benefits.
Undocumented immigrants further contribute to the U.S. economy by filling critical labor shortages in key industries, including agriculture, construction, hospitality, and medical care. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service: “An estimated 40% to 45% of hired farmworkers in the United States are undocumented immigrants.” What would happen to our economy if they were deported? Ask the many individuals and businesses that employ them in farming, construction, groceries, restaurants, medical care, and other essential services. Without them the cost of food and other goods and services would be adversely affected as much or more than Trump’s beloved tariffs and his “war of choice” with Iran that violates his “no new wars” campaign pledge — unless it becomes another “forever war.”
On September 24 the Kansas Livestock Association, Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association, and Texas Cattle Feeders Association released a statement warning that ICE activity is endangering their animals and operations, and has a “massive chilling effect” on “the legal, documented, skilled workers that put beef on the table and keep the cattle supply chain moving.” While visiting a prominent Tillamook County dairy I saw a list of its employees — 16 of 18 were Mexican names. It’s very likely that at least some are undocumented. What happens to our dairies when ICE invades our community?
The New York Times reported on June 6, that federal officials rejected the demand by New Jersey’s governor, Mikie Sherrill, to inspect Delany Hall, a Newark 1,000 bed, private for-profit immigrant detention facility where detainees were on strike over inhuman conditions, including rotten food and inadequate medical care. Federal officials told her she should be grateful that ICE was removing killers, rapists and other criminals — “the worst of the worst” from her state, parroting Trump and Miller. The Times reported they had obtained internal federal data indicating that “People with criminal convictions account for just a fraction of the detainees at the Newark center . . . that of the 591 people held at Delany Hall, 76 —about 13 percent — had criminal convictions … none of them of major crime such as murder or rape.” This contradiction mirrors reports from other detention centers.
Trump and his servile enablers encourage immigrants to self-deport and discourage others from wanting to migrate here by treating them worse in “detention warehouses” than what compelled them to leave their native country; thereby closing the door with consequences that President Reagan feared in his final presidential address. This is compounded by ICE’s often violent infringement of the First Amendment rights of those who peacefully protest the mistreatment of immigrants, with Trump, Miller, and Vance calling protesters “domestic terrorists.”
Trump’s Border Czar Tom Holman has become a public face of mass immigrant deportations. NPR reported that Holman proclaimed at the May 6, Border Security Conference in Phoenix that “If you think last years’s historic number (more than 500,000 deportations) is good, wait till next year and we have 10,000 more agents on the border. You ain’t seen s**t yet.” We have seen Holman’s excremental expletive, and can anticipate him doing everything he can to achieve Trump’s and Miller’s objectives that remain acquiesced in by congressional Republicans. Their beat down goes on and on, with Republicans in Congress passing an ICE funding $70 billion bill on June 5, in addition to the $170 billion already allocated in Trump’s “Big ‘beautiful’ Bill” last year, with more spending to come.
According to The Guardian, “ICE arrests hit record levels of 50,000 in July as an expanded agent force … seized undocumented immigrants at convenience stores, gas stations, and busy intersections, and expanding their crackdown to suburbs and rural areas.” Then they expanded it to 51,000 in August, with more than half having no record of prior arrest. The rush to infiltrate our streets with so many more ICE and border Patrol agents has resulted in undermining three fundamental aspects of law enforcement: recruitment, training, and accountability.
On July 13, ICE agent David Brouillette executed 25-year old immigrant Duran Guerro, in Biddeford, Maine by shooting him four times through the windshield of his car in front of his house on his way to work. He was widely described as a devoted father and hard worker, who was in our country legally. He had no guns or drugs in his car, and was not accused of weaponizing his vehicle. Nor was he the person sought by ICE. His three-year-old daughter is left with the memory of seeing her father assassinated by a wrongly recruited and poorly trained ICE agent.
AP News reported on July 17, that relatives of Brouillette describe him as being “mentally ill, violent, dangerous, and a domestic abuser.” Two of his former wives have restraining orders. One shared a voice mail with the AP from last winter in which Brouillette told her that “someone should slit her throat.” The AP report concluded that “Brouillette’s troubling past further challenges how thoroughly (ICE) has vetted recruits as it went on a hiring spree to carry out President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.” The rush to hire more agents has also led to training that falls short of normal law enforcement standards. The Maine killing of an immigrant is just one example of many incidents of the consequences of deficient ICE recruiting and training.
The American Immigration Council reports that accountability for ICE agents “is severely limited, with rare criminal charges offset by broad legal protections, reduced external oversight, and administrative policies shielding personnel from civil and state liabilities.” Democrats in Congress introduced the Ice Accountability Act in February in the Senate (S 3891) and March in the House (H.R. 8154) to create an independent legislative-branch watchdog over ICE with subpoena and on-the-ground monitoring powers. As of the midterm election that legislation remains stuck in committee. It should emerge in January with Democrat’s assuming control of Congress. Trump still has a veto that would require at least four Republicans to overturn a Senate majority vote. That could happen in some cases.
The Democrat’s resounding Nov 3, midterm defeat of Trump’s servile Republican supporters gives me hope; but Trump’s replacement of Susie Wiles with Stephen Miller as his chief of staff does not bode well for his administration having a more humane approach to immigration. Trump appears to be focusing on his vanity projects — his legacy — during the last two years of his presidency, enabling Miller to assume the role of president in many other respects.
*PART 1 – https://www.tillamookcountypioneer.net/on-immigration-series-the-new-colossus-and-regan-to-trump-and-miller-et-al-part-1-of-3/
To be continued with religion’s response and what’s to be done.
