Here are the key points.
First, there was a big, big bump in immigration under Biden.
Second, that big, big bump noticeable downward pressure on wages for all types of unskilled workers in the United States. See my previous post.
Third, Trump thinks the resulting anger among Latino and other voters was what put him over the top in the 2024 election—and, for once, Trump is almost surely right.
Fourth, lots of people like me were reluctant to crack down on undocumented immigrants. After all, didn’t Rabbi Jesus teach us to welcome the stranger? And didn’t Exodus and Leviticus in the Hebrew Scriptures teach us the very same thing?
Conclusion?
It’s a win-win situation!
Opening the floodgates to undocumented immigrants is the right and moral thing to do!
And we economically comfortable folks get to benefit from cheap labor.
Like I said, a win-win.
And if unskilled working class people here in the United States see their wages depressed, well then, they had just better reread what Jesus said in Matthew 25, learn to share, and not be so picky about what wages they receive. If they have to choose between paying the rent and buying groceries, that’s just the burden they have to bear in order to do the right thing and welcome the stranger.
Oh Wait! That Sounds Like Hypocrisy!
It sounds like prosperous progressives are using purported morality as a cover for economic oppression of the working class.
Maybe we should all cover ourselves in sackcloth and ashes, rend our garments, and spend the next six months in profound contemplation of our own wickedness.
No! No! No! No! No!
Listen up, folks. Here’s the takeaway message.
We are in a political crisis. Trump and his enablers have leveraged concern over immigration to get the electorate to vote for a proto-fascist regime.
If your house is on fire, you put out the damn fire before you start to think deeply about what caused the fire.
Contemplating our own alleged hypocrisy at length is a luxury we can no longer afford.
Establishing a fine moral balance between the worth of a poor person in Guatemala versus a not quite so poor person here in the United States is, likewise, something that we cannot afford to do.
What we MUST do—well in advance of the 2026 election—is to work with the Latino community to develop a politically acceptable solution.
More posts on this issue to follow soon.
Posted by Ron Davis, Dec. 16, 2024
Facing MAGA 