Every one of us Americans is descended from immigrants. Mankind evolved in Africa; whether your ancestors came over on the Mayflower, first class on the Concord-SST, crushed in the tween deck of a slave ship or hiking across the ice bridge from Siberia, you are the descendant of immigrants or you are one. If you are not Native American they could consider your ancestors illegal immigrants.
Frankly, the early illegal immigrants were rude guests. Initially they traded, integrated and even intermarried with the natives, but it was not long before they considered themselves the masters and did their utmost to displace their hosts. This peaked with the trail of tears forcing most of the Mississippi nations, Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, and Seminole to march, at gunpoint, west to Indian Territory, now known as Oklahoma. Although the Anglo-Americans considered them savages, they were mostly farmers who built log cabins. Their lifestyle was not too different from frontier settlers except they did not have iron or firearms. Some lived quite well. Our Yankee forebears were notorious for breaking treaties, and have not stopped. The violence was pretty much ended by the Second Battle of Wounded Knee in 1973. Reservation life keeps many in a Third World condition.
Complaints about immigrants fill the news, yet not only are they us, we need them and the need grows daily. Some immigrants have made themselves indispensable, like Albert Einstein, Andrew Grove, Sergei Brin and thousands of others who built industries, provided jobs and improved our lives. Millions of others contributed in minor ways. The Transcontinental Railroad was built mostly by Irish immigrant and Chinese indentured laborers who became another part of our national population.
Every modern nation is now facing a shrinking population. China is paying, bribing, women to have more babies, like Stalin and Mussolini. Culture has changed; modern women are no longer baby machines, they are having fewer children, or none. Tractors have displaced children on the farm. Pensions have replaced children as old age insurance. There will always be a demand for servants though; maybe that is the ethic behind the anti-abortion movement. Make more unloved babies, but don’t take care of them. Create native born cannon fodder or servants for the successful.
In many countries the birth rate is not even enough to sustain the current population. At the same time, there is a labor shortage. Not enough able-bodied adults to do the basic work that the middle class prefers to delegate to those less educated, eloquent or connected. Immigrants like many of our own ancestors risked everything to come here and accept work they are often overqualified for. Sure, some are a burden, but so are some native-born. In general, though they are less likely to engage in crime and more likely to take the risk of starting a business, whether it’s the neighborhood bodega or Google. The often pay into our taxes like Social Security with no hope of receiving benefits.
Immigrants come in many styles: illiterate to PhD, infant to geriatric, tiny to huge, athletic to disabled. In other words, just like the general population. Just like the general population, the majority can find a place to fit in. Most people no matter where they are from just want to live their life. Most of them are willing to do jobs we won’t, even though they may be overqualified, entry level jobs, often with no hope pf promotion.
Immigration, like abortion. has been turned into a political hobgoblin to be used for political purposes independent of its actual effect. Something to alarm the population in order to propose a solution, usually with a hidden agenda. Annually there are about new one million immigrants each year compared to about 3.5 million babies born in the U.S. Babies of course are all dependents for at least five to 15 years, while most immigrants are able bodied adults ready to work and pay taxes. Many immigrants volunteer for military duty. Many have special skills from picking strawberries to brain surgery. A million immigrants a year is not even enough to replace the premature fatalities from heart disease 696,000, cancer 602,000, accidents 200,000, strokes 160,000, and that’s just the top 4.
Ken Obenski is a forensic engineer, now safety and freedom advocate in South Kona. He writes a biweekly column for West Hawaii Today. Send feedback to obenskik@gmail.com