To The Reader’s Forum:

“These are the times that try men’s souls” wrote Thomas Paine during a rather dark time in the American revolution.

We are also enduring a dark period, with masked and armed men sweeping up people on America’s streets for little more than speaking a foreign tongue. I can’t help but wonder if my German and Irish ancestors would have swept up some 200 years ago if such policies had been in effect then.

Thousands have been deported under the Trump administration without hearings and often sent to countries where they have no ties. The overall figures include some 170 U.S. citizens who have been detained for days in squalid conditions, according to ProPublica. If our country experiences a negative outflow this or next year, it will be the first net outflow in nearly a century, writes The Atlantic’s Idrees Kahloon, who previously served as Washington bureau chief for The Economist. If net zero population growth occurs, Kahloon cautions, it will lower our nation’s economic growth and negatively impact out native-born population.

One only needs to look at the Bracero program, which allowed seasonal Mexican workers to enter our country to work on farms. It was phased out by the Kennedy and Johnson administrations a n d did not result in substantial raises for native workers. Rather, farmers resorted to mechanized solutions. Later studies showed less home building and higher house prices following immigration crackdowns, Kahloon notes. Fewer businesses start during such times, he adds.

The birth rates for American-born women is at 1.5 or well below the replacement rate of 2.1. Without immigration, the overall U.S. birth rate is destined to shrink, impacting the overall economy. And with fewer people working, the entire Social Security system will be at risk.

It is time to reflect long and hard on Ronald Reagan’s farewell speech in which he spoke eloquently of the importance of immigration and warned that “If we ever close the door to new Americans, our leadership in the world would soon be lost.”

Phil Zimmer

Jamestown