Immigration solution

Many believe the chaos at our southern border is about law and order. It is that, but it’s mainly about the belief that immigrants are an economic burden. They may be, somewhat, but we also need immigrants to fill jobs and pay taxes, and especially to keep our Social Security fund solvent. (Look it up.)

To allay the money fear, real, imagined or (mainly) exaggerated, we should charge immigrants, going back a few years, a modest, graduated “immigration tax.” Problem solved. You’re welcome. LOL.

My main outlandish proposal is to someday, post-Trump cult, when we become more civilized, create an “American Confederation” (AC) for the Western Hemisphere similar to the European Union.

(Pause to vent over outlandishness.)

Jeanine Cummins’ research for her “extraordinary” (Stephen King) novel “American Dirt” about immigrants who ride on top of train cars—La Bestia—for 2,500-plus miles to El Norté revealed that most everyone south of our border resents our appropriation of the word “America.” She has a photo of a statement in Spanish painted on a border wall as her computer monitor screensaver: “On this side, too, there are dreams.”

The AC would be dedicated to the proposition that all Americans have each other’s back. Democratic, free enterprise and rule-of-law “best practices” would be required of members. Communists and dictators need not apply. The AC would help stimulate weak economies, thus reducing migration, and help manage problems such as narcotics trafficking and, in our case, demand.

The AC might have a leveling effect of transferring some wealth, but it would benefit the rich in many ways. The possible short-term transfer of wealth is why we will need to be more civilized (less money-loving and more people-loving) to do such an outlandish thing.

HOWELL MEDDERS Fayetteville