Deportations could trade one problem for others

By Alonzo Weston

The shingle on our nation’s door partly reads “Give me your tired, your poor …”

Today, flip the sign over and it reads “Sorry, we’re closed.”

Where once we ostensibly welcomed immigrants to our shores, we now work hard to close our borders.

President-elect Donald Trump has said one of his first missions in office is to deport the roughly 11 million illegal immigrants in our country. In fact, at a rally in Aurora, Colorado, he pledged to “deport them so rapidly” and “rescue Aurora and every town that has been invaded and conquered.”

Yet immigration researchers, lawyers and economists have warned of huge constitutional, humanitarian and economic problems that would ensue if Trump holds true to his promises. They say that apprehending and deporting just one million immigrants could cost taxpayers about $20 million.

Trump pledged to deport millions in 2016 as well, but only about 325,660 people were sent home during his fiscal years in office.

“They’re taking our jobs,” cries a mass chorus of supporters of this cause.

The folks who cry the loudest are probably the ones who won’t do the work immigrants do. That is why many of our farms and factories look like a United Nations workforce. Immigrants from several countries are doing jobs many are too lazy to do or feel are beneath them.

From 1901 to 1910, nearly nine million foreigners came to the United States. And yes, they too were not always welcomed with open arms. Take the Chinese, for example, who were excluded by an 1882 act. In following years, Congress worked to close the doors even more to persons deemed illiterate, criminal, alcoholic, anarchist or insane.

That familiar refrain uttered by Trump today is aimed at the 13.8% of our nation’s foreign-born residents, some of whom account for 22.6% of our entrepreneurs and 15.6% of our nurses.

Trump also pledged to deploy the National Guard to identify and detain illegal immigrants. That act itself is illegal since the law prohibits the use of federal troops for civilian law enforcement unless authorized by Congress.

Mass deportation could not only reduce jobs for citizens but impact family members who are citizens as well. According to Pew Research, about 4.4 million U.S.-born children live with an undocumented parent.

Children whose parents are deported “often leave school, they end up with trauma, mental health challenges, behavioral problems,” said one San Diego researcher.

So if you think food prices are high now and restaurant service is bad, wait and see what happens if the mass deportation plan comes to fruition.

We as Americans have to search for a more viable solution to our overcrowding and population issues.