Idaho has been having some issues with immigration lately, my thoughts:
Immigration is a good thing. It would be un-American to discriminate against any person based on his religion, national origin, ethnic group, operating system preference, etc.. We should be welcoming to all people with good character who are willing to become Americans. That is, as Theodore Roosevelt said:
President Theodore Roosevelt
In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else, for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American, and nothing but an American…There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag… We have room for but one language here, and that is the English language… and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.
We should not abandon prudence when bringing in immigrants, but judge each person based on their character. There are those who are flying non-U.S. flags, committing crimes, breaking laws, disrespectful, not seeking employment, not trying to learn English, not willing to take up arms to defend America, these should not have entered U.S. soil in the first place.
I, for one, welcome immigrants from any birthplace who have good character and work diligently and are willing to take an oath to defend this country. But we, in the United States, are clearly lacking in our ability to judge incoming immigrants and refugees and need to address that first.
Once we’re able to distinguish between those with good intentions and those who have no business entering the U.S., we need a better plan to integrate them into society. The current plan doesn’t seem to be working out so well. Locating a bunch of refugees together into ghettos isn’t helpful–I don’t see how this will not result in another class of government dependent people and also resentment from Americans because of their lack of assimilation. Let them integrate into the rest of America and learn our language and culture, give them jobs.
