Immigration and Refugees

Migration, immigration, and refugees are challenging issues around the world for various reasons. Due to climate disruption, which increases the incidence of drought, floods, and extreme weather, there are many areas where people can no longer survive on subsistence farming, or are unable to find work. In addition to environmental catastrophes, many leave their homelands due to persecution, violent conflicts, and poverty, hoping for safety and sustenance for themselves and their families . . . hoping for a better life.

Large populations around the world have been forced into refugee camps, the main reasons being persecution (political, racial, or religious), violent conflicts, war, hunger, and climate disruption. Due to violent conflict, 70.8 million people worldwide have been displaced . . . families with children that will suffer. For many decades, the US was a leader in refugee resettlement, but when Trump took office the numbers dropped, with 2020 estimating a cap of 18,000 refugees, certainly a very small number when you consider that during the past nineteen years since 9/11, a minimum of 37 million people have been displaced in wars the US has launched or participated in.³⁶ In addition to the wars referred to in that report, there is evidence that decades of US military intervention in Central America has led to the migrant crisis we are experiencing here today. The majority of refugees and immigrants coming from Central America are from the same countries in which the US has intervened.³⁷ Our government needs to acknowledge our responsibility in the creation and escalation of the refugee crisis. Until we can begin to cooperatively work together to end wars and help those displaced by war, persecution, and hunger, we will see more and more people in refugee camps. As the recently deceased Congressman John Lewis said, “War is not the answer. War is obsolete. It cannot be used as a tool of our foreign policy. It’s barbaric. Somehow people must come to that point and say I ain’t gonna study war no more.” When our planet’s future is on the line, we are still waging wars, and countries around the world are spending huge amounts of money supporting the military.

Today in Yemen, which has suffered terribly from a US-backed war, people already starving and desperate are now also facing the COVID-19 virus.³⁸ Until countries can come together to address war as a global problem and work toward global peace, people will continue to suffer.

The very deep pain experienced by mothers, fathers, and their innocent children born into desperate circumstances would seem to me to be a natural deterrent to making more babies. No one wants to see their children suffer. Wouldn’t a parent want to have the ability to choose whether or not to bring a child into a world of conflict? What if in our support for refugees, information and access to birth control were included?

In addition to the migration of refugees, many people across the globe are migrating to homes other than their place of birth. The United States has more immigrants than any other country in the world. More than 40 million people living in the US were born in another country.³⁹ The US is the third largest population in the world (after China and India) and immigration is the second largest contributor to the country’s growth in numbers, with almost every other country in the world represented. Immigrants and their children born here account for 75% of annual population growth, which amounts to an additional 2.25 million people each year. Foreign-born Americans and their descendants have been the main driver of population growth, with an increase from 194 million in 1965 to 324 million today. Not simply the numbers of immigrants, but their above average fertility contribute to population growth.

To improve the odds of saving the other species that are daily disappearing, as well as the environment and ecosystems that are needed to sustain and support all life on Earth, we need to stabilize the human population. The key to population stability is to reduce growth to the level of “replacement,” where births and deaths are balanced, something that was achieved by our native-born population in the US in the 70s, but because of the high rate of international immigration, the numbers have not leveled off.

Common sense tells me that reasonable limits on immigration, and discouraging immigrant families from the expectation of a large family would be sensible. According to Pew Research Center projections, immigrants will make up a record 18% of the U.S. population by 2065. Immigrants and their children will then represent 36% of U.S. population. Those projections also indicate the the nation is projected to grow to 441 million people by 2065, and 88% of the increase is linked to future immigrants and their descendants.⁴⁰ Of course, the problem is a global dilemma, and will require much more than any one country’s attempt to reduce population growth or immigration. Immigration issues are increasing worldwide. The demographic of this country is changing, along with that of many other countries, as peoples are displaced. I realize that our government policies, military interventions, and abuses of corporate power are the source of much of the economic, political, and social disruption that contributes to the poverty, war, and desperation that motivates many people to uproot themselves in the hopes of finding a better life. We must acknowledge our part and then take measures to help restore the communities that have been affected by our country’s interference. What is happening now in this country is definitely not working, especially evident with the COVID-19 crisis, which is detrimentally affecting those who are held in detention facilities and agricultural workers, as we see here in California, many of whom are immigrants and many are undocumented. We desperately need to find some fair solutions. The inhumane practices of child separation at our border, mass deportations and detentions, and oppression of immigrants by ICE has to change. The issue of sterilization of detainees without consent that has recently come to light must be condemned.⁴¹ People need to be kept safe and treated justly. People that are already here should have an avenue to citizenship, “dreamers” should have the security to know they will not be thrown out of the only country they know as their home, but there needs to be reform with reasonable and humane restrictions going forward.

I believe we should provide asylum to refugees of war and famine, but we cannot realistically accommodate unlimited numbers of immigrants. Many immigrants wish to have large families, wish to bring more family members to this country, and wish to adopt the consumer-based culture that the US is known for. We have immense problems in our native population that have not been dealt with properly . . . homelessness, poverty, lack of health care, racial injustice, and vast economic inequities, all of which are currently exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. As it is a very complex issue, the issue of immigration needs deep scrutiny and will need the establishment of just policies and programs, not only here in the US, but globally, as migration has increasingly become a problem around the world. Estimates of undocumented immigrants here in the US range from 10.5–12 million people, while 77% of immigrants are here legally.⁴² Paths toward citizenship need to be developed concurrently with programs to help people remain in their countries of origin. The reasons for migration need to be addressed, not just migration itself.

Today immigration is a highly polarized issue and, since there is no simple answer, it will need skillful consideration. That said, it is hard for me to imagine being a mother who would ever want to bring a child into the world knowing that child will likely be faced with starvation, illness, or war. Wouldn’t it make sense to have the means to limit family size to ensure the likelihood that a child could be provided for, or to postpone having children until a stable living situation could be established? Wouldn’t a parent want to have the ability to choose whether or not to bring a child into a world of conflict or depravation?

The expectation of creating a family needs to be weighed in the light of the reality of the practical necessities and responsibilities that decision entails. I am not saying children cannot thrive in difficult and challenging life situations, but I am saying that children need to be welcomed, loved, and provided for, or parents should reconsider having children. At the very least, they should have the education and the means to choose their family size. Of course, this applies to all children the world over, not just those in desperate straits. The choice to have children is a serious one, a responsibility not to be taken lightly. Choosing when (or if) having a child is the right thing to do should indeed be a choice.

How is it that human beings feel they have the right to have as many children as they want? How is it that most cultures do not examine the responsibilities that come with parenting, or include education and training that would prepare someone to be a good parent? We could benefit in many ways by shifting our mindset from “I have rights” to “I have obligations,” an indigenous way of thinking pointed out to me by my brother . . . obligations to the Earth and to future generations. My apologies, I digress here. If there was a global program to educate people about the detrimental impact to the environment that large families pose, and if everyone worldwide had free access to birth control and reproductive education, it would be the single most effective means of saving the planet.

I know a major pro-immigration argument is that increased population stimulates our economy, bringing in some highly skilled persons, as well as providing workers for lower wage agricultural and service industries. I feel all jobs should provide a living wage and decent working conditions; I have personally held jobs as a hotel and motel maid working alongside mostly black women, and bunching broccoli in an open-air shed alongside mostly Latinx women, along with many years working as a housekeeper for various families. I think more of these kinds of jobs could be given to our native-born population (whatever ethnicity) if we did not have our own unspoken racial and economic class system.

We have an economic caste system that keeps all poor people oppressed and exploited, especially people of color. Gross domestic product (GDP) does rise when immigrants enter the workforce, but living standards do not. It benefits US employers as sales and profits grow and labor costs fall. Economists have acknowledged the role of mass immigration in exacerbating income inequality in the US because immigration and income equality are correlated. Nations with falling populations often enjoy higher living standards. States with above-average shares of immigrant population have above-average income disparities.

Another pro-immigration argument is that immigration is a foundational piece in the story of our country’s birth, and integral to the identity that has been adopted from the words on the Statue of Liberty welcoming the tired and the poor. But, of course, those tired and poor were generally thought to be white Europeans, since racism also accompanied our country’s birth, as well as its expansion into the western territories, where indigenous peoples were, in turn, oppressed by the Spanish, Mexican, and white settlers, and eventually the Spanish and Mexican settlers were oppressed by the white settlers . . . those who believed in the superiority and entitlement granted them by the color of their skin. Yes, most of us derive our family lineage from a mix of various other countries and ethnicities, but as a nation we remain woefully in denial of the government and religious supported genocide of native peoples that accompanied the immigration of peoples to this body of land we know as the US.

Immigration of “foreigners” (pretty much anyone) continues to this day, while the remaining native peoples continue to deal with a history of displacement, poverty, and racism. In 1776, the population of the US was 2.5 million, and today it is 330 million. That is a lot of bodies to feed, clothe, house, and generally sustain.

In today’s world, we no longer have the capacity or need to expand our population. I, myself, celebrate the diversity of culture that immigration offers, but I do not celebrate increasing the number of humans on the planet, and the burden doing so places on the fragile and already-threatened ecosystems that we humans are disrupting. I do think that wealthier countries need to come together to provide asylum for refugees, and to help disadvantaged and oppressed peoples around the world. Sometimes that will mean helping them find a better life in their country of origin. My point is simply that increasing the overall number of people needing sustenance only aggravates a problem that is already out of control. Certainly, there are no easy answers to this problem, but we need the intent to find creative solutions, to educate people and build awareness, to explore creative alternatives to what we have been doing, which has gotten us into this very real mess.