Thinking of Immigration as a Security Issue Means We Can’t See It as Economic Necessity

On Friday’s broadcast of MSNBC’s “The Last Word,” U.S. Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) said that he lumped immigration with border security because immigrants are considered security. , said that it cannot be considered an economic necessity. problem.

Moderator Ali Velshi said, “I have always been concerned, Congressman, that in this country, we have decided, coincidentally or otherwise, to treat immigration as a security threat rather than an economic issue.” We did this — immigration is under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security, and I understand why it was done after 9/11, but it seems like it was actually a mistake. Most other countries think of immigration as an economic imperative and border security as a separate issue. We’ve conflated the two together and now Americans don’t care. We think of it as a security issue, which makes it impossible to think of it as an economic imperative.”

Garcia replied: First, immigration is a net positive in this country. It’s always been that way. Immigrants, you know, if you look at the economy, immigrants make a huge contribution to our national economy and to the local economies of every state across the country. Immigrants are getting an education, from people coming back and getting graduate degrees, people from other countries contributing here, people going to college, going out. There’s everything from cement to people paving roads.our roads, our bridges, a lot [many] contribution. We know that the only way our economy works is through immigration, and in many cases it’s immigrant labor that many other people are unwilling to do. So this idea of ​​trying to somehow cut off immigration and bring them back to their values ​​is wrong. And Donald Trump is the leader of this rhetoric. And he persuaded a lot of Republicans who previously had a little more respect for immigrants and a little more understanding of their contributions. This is not the party of Ronald Reagan, nor the party of George Bush, nor the party of many others, at least those who understand their contributions. His reality is distorted, his statements are anti-immigrant, racist and xenophobic, and he and his campaign need to be stopped. ”