By Lynn Kellogg
Ronald Reagan, during a debate with George H.W. Bush in 1980, made the following statement on immigration.
“Rather than putting up a fence, why don’t we work out some recognition of our mutual problems, make possible for them to come here legally with a work permit, and then while they’re working and earning here, they can pay taxes here, and when they want to go back, they can go back, and they can cross and open the border both ways?” What a concept! While specific policy and practice have a history of controversy, we’ve acknowledged our immigrant heritage and the importance of continued immigration to the maintenance of our workforce and economics of the country, including their contribution to the tax base.
The entirety of the debate is viewable on Time’s YouTube channel.
New American Economy, a bipartisan research and advocacy organization, reported our dependency on foreign-born immigrants as a percentage of the workforce in 2021 across all industries as 17 percent. In construction it was 25 percent; lodging and food service, 21 percent; transportation and warehousing 21 percent.
All are increasing. Dear to my career are direct care workers. These folks provide hands-on care in hospitals, home health agencies, nursing homes, for PACE and Area Agency on Aging (AAA), and are often hired privately. The percentage of immigrants in the direct care workforce is a whopping 28 percent. In home-based care, the percentage is over 30 percent. We are dependent on their good work.
We can learn from history. During the coronavirus pandemic, immigration ground to a halt for 18 months. The result was calculated by experts at the University of California at Davis as an estimated shortage of 2 million immigrants, contributing directly to workforce shortages and higher prices.
The U.S. offers green cards to people moving to the country permanently for certain jobs. Many are issued to people already living in the states on temporary visas, as well as people overseas. Following the pandemic there was a doubling of the number of green cards offered to shore up the workforce. Policies supported our need for workers.
No one wants criminals coming here. But the criminalization of innocent people, particularly without due process, has gone too far. Delays for renewals or new entry applications may take months or years. Sponsoring a foreign relative if you’re a citizen or a green card holder may take one-three years. Such waits were protected.
Current policies have ended deportation protections for many (regardless of criminal record), suspending student visas, ending pathways to citizenship for those who immigrated as children, ending U.S. citizenship for immigrant children born in the U.S., and invoking the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to summarily deport people without due process.
In California a temporary restraining order, recently upheld by the courts, has an unclear future in preventing officials from detaining people solely on “apparent race or ethnicity,” speaking Spanish or accented English or being at locations such as a “bus stop, car wash, tow yard, day laborer pick up site, agricultural site, etc.”
The backlash of these policies and actions is undercutting a needed workforce, worsening labor shortages across many industries and a putting contrary stain on the values of this beloved country.
Last summer, a bipartisan bill to increase funding for courts and staff to improve our immigration processing was stalled and not passed. Now, it seems we spend our money on military-style raids, terrifying innocent people, detention camps, and tax supported deportation flights without due process.
Public opinion is rapidly shifting against deportation without due process. Per a recent Gallup Poll, about two-thirds of Republicans say immigration is good, up from 39 percent a year ago, and independents moved from two-thirds to 80 percent support. Democratic support was and remains high. Today, nearly 8 in 10 Americans, 79 percent, say immigration is a good for the country.
We all just want to live. We are interdependent, need each other and must recognize the immigration base of our society. Our policies and actions need to reflect these values. It’s time to speak out, join the discussion.
Lynn Kellogg is former CEO of Region IV Area Agency on Aging in Southwest Michigan. Questions on age or independence services? Call the Info-Line for Aging & Disability at 800-654-2810 or visit areaagencyonaging.org. The Generations column appears each weekend in The Herald-Palladium.