Communiqué
Immigration Passions Run High as Trump Administration Addresses Issues
< < Back toPassions can run high with immigration issues. Some Americans embrace immigration and immigrants as being the backbone of the United States. While with others, immigration is seen as problematic and even frightening and a threat to America.
Although often we, as Americans, see immigration issues as simplistic black and white issues, but instead, according to Dr. Andrew Selee, we need to take a broader view to immigration and its complexities. We, as a country, need to work on how we can improve our immigration instead of concentrating on how to limit our immigration policies, he says.
Dr. Selee is the Executive Vice President of the Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington. On August 1 he will become the President of the Migration Policy Institute, a global policy and research think tank– also in Washington DC.
Dr. Selee’s expertise is in immigration with a special emphasis on Mexico and the inter-relationships between Mexico and the United States.
Under the Trump Administration enforcement against undocumented residents already is up 37 percent. Selee says this emphasis on enforcement and building a wall appeals only to about 20 to 25 percent of the American public
During this period of hyper enforcement, Dr. Selee notes some positive aspects of immigration. About one-third of all new businesses in America are started by immigrants. He also notes that legal immigrants bring to America a higher degree of academic attainment than the average American has.
Dr. Selee also says that since 2007, immigration from Mexico to the United States is in decline because the Mexican population is getting older and the country’s economy is getting better. Instead, Mexico is facing immigration issues with the influx of people to Mexico from Central America.
Dr. Selee notes that the Asia immigration population in America is the most rapidly expanding group with an influx of people from India and China.
He discusses the fact that Congress has not been able to adequately address immigration because any proposed plan gets snagged in the details.
He also notes that drugs do not come into this country from Mexico through illegal border crossings. Instead, they come in hidden in vehicles through legitimate points of entry. New technology is needed to detect and stop this and not a wall, according to Selee.