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Economic and ethical thoughts on migration - Personal thoughts on Immigration to the USA [1]
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Date: 2023-05-12
Even the Florida governor made the front page of Honduras' La Prensa today.
Watching the news about the USA unfold here in Honduras (US Ambassador to Honduras Laura Dogu has been in the national news) and as an immigrant (who holds citizenship in both the USA and México), I wanted to share my thoughts about the economic benefits of immigration and asylum as well as the ethical principles at stake.
Immigration generally yields great benefits to receiver countries. Economically, many studies show that, over a generation, immigrants as a group typically pay more in taxation than they receive in social provision. Part of the reason for this lies in the capabilities of the individuals: the energies needed to migrate and to survive in the receiver country is extraordinary. Immigrants thus provide the host society with a vital injection of fresh talent and drive.
Immigration pays for itself. Immigrants could correct a growing demographic imbalance in the labor force offering hope that the workforce might still be able to pay for the social services. The costs they incur upon arrival — expenditure on their settlement, language-acquisition and preliminary social payments —represent a rational investment for any forward-looking state. Often, the circumstances they have fled include expensive health care and lack of access to labor and educational opportunities. We work hard to survive – because we have always had to! (I started work as a farm-hand at the age of eight, becoming a field-hand, picking green peppers, at eleven.) We also don’t want to be deported!
The difference between political and ‘economic’ refugees is often not very great. In extreme cases, fear of starvation can be just as acute as of oppression. A humanitarian crisis exists when human survival is at stake. Victims of suffering are entitled to sanctuary. The gun crisis in the USA is horrendous but there are parts of Central and South America where US-purchased weapons are in the hands of gangs who control parts of cities and rural areas. Many people are fleeing these areas for their own safety. Oddly, US policy discounts political refugees from countries that are not part of the US sphere of hegemony (Cuba, Nicaragua, Venezuela, etc.). I will repeat this: A humanitarian crisis exists when human survival is at stake. Victims of suffering are entitled to sanctuary.
Who gets to decide freedom of movement? Is it not a human right? The issue is bigger than a political border – it is the desire to close places: a nation, cities, communities, neighborhoods. Is there a case for the rights of communities to oppose what they do not want, including immigration? Self-interest is regularly cloaked in language designed to scare others (by threatening everything from increased taxes to losing jobs to public safety to the very existence of their heritage). Books (both non-fiction and fiction) have described these sinister activities in the past – and their impact on the nation. Many of these same books are now being removed from public schools and libraries around the USA.
An ethical argument. One finds it difficult to argue morality with irrational people. Morality to these people is not static but determined by social constructs built on illogical and irrational thinking despite reading holy books that advocate for humanity for all. Like many people here, the attempts to dehumanize migrants sickens me. Also, it is quite apparent that those opposed to any migration cannot make their argument without lying and fear-mongering. It is difficult, if not impossible, to argue with a closed mind – especially one infected with manufactured fear and cultivated hate. Facts do not matter. Laws do not matter. Human rights do not matter.
An ethical community. Wherever we choose to live, we all agree to abide by the laws of that community, state and nation. We don’t want criminals here either! (We also understand the judicial system that protects our rights and the rights of those around us.) When so motivated, we work to change these laws. Often times, it is those of us who have resettled who are most fiercely proud of our new community. We fiercely protect equality for all.
It rained horribly yesterday here in San Pedro Sula, Cortés, Honduras. Sunny days are ahead.
Moral people in this world have few more important duties than solidarity with the dispossessed seeking a home.
Special request: To those readers who have descended from immigrants who came through Ellis Island (or other immigration stations in the USA), please share your stories with those who oppose migration. Remind people about the facilities present at these places for health care. Remind people of the hard work your families did to survive. Remind people of the struggles to fit into a community — the insults and the restrictions. Remind people about the contributions made to the nation by immigrants and their descendants.
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https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/5/12/2168995/-Economic-and-ethical-thoughts-on-migration-Personal-thoughts-on-Immigration-to-the-USA
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