Does America even believe anymore in the saying on the Statue of Liberty’s plaque: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free?” Maybe in a political sense they do, but if it’s economic freedom they’re seeking, many Americans are fine with telling potential migrants to keep yearning.
This became explicitly clear at last month’s presidential debates between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump. It’ll be quite some time before anyone forgets Trump’s demonization of Haitian immigrants in Springfield, OH by saying, “They’re eating the dogs. They’re eating the cats. They’re eating the pets of the people that live there,” despite this being debunked in the days prior to the debate – and by the moderators at the debate itself.
If you thought immigration was a key issue in the 2016 and 2020 elections, think again. Donald Trump and the Republican Party have made immigration the absolute critical issue in 2024. This cycle, however, there’s a very important difference. In the earlier cycles, the focus was on keeping out those crossing over our southern border. This time they threaten mass deportation of those who entered the nation illegally, and dehumanizing them in the process. Trump points to the failure of Democrats, specifically Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, as the reason we stand to “lose” our nation to “illegals”.
Interestingly, what parts of the nation lead in this kind of anti-immigrant sentiment? It seems to be the small city, small town and rural parts of the Midwest. Places just like Springfield, OH. Yes, the ones that have been most ravaged by the loss of people, after suffering the loss of jobs and employers.
Why are these communities the ones seemingly most fearful of immigration? I don’t know. But I do know they’re the ones that stand to gain the most from effective immigration reform. I made the point in a piece last month that manufacturing decline in Rust Belt communities resulted in much more than lost jobs, lost economies and lost residents. It also resulted in the loss of networks, the social infrastructure, which is crucial to community restoration.
Read the rest of this piece at The Corner Side Yard.
Pete Saunders is a writer and researcher whose work focuses on urbanism and public policy. Pete has been the editor/publisher of the Corner Side Yard, an urbanist blog, since 2012. Pete is also an urban affairs contributor to Forbes Magazine's online platform. Pete's writings have been published widely in traditional and internet media outlets, including the feature article in the December 2018 issue of Planning Magazine. Pete has more than twenty years' experience in planning, economic development, and community development, with stops in the public, private and non-profit sectors. He lives in Chicago.
Photo: National Archives (NARA) photo by Susana Raab.
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