Trump immigration policies hurt Florida
Anyone whowondered whether President Donald Trumpwould craft an immigration policy that showed a decent regard for compassion, common sense, practicality and facts can stopwondering.
The answer is no, he’s not going to be constrained by any of those virtues. The harsh approach his administration announced Tuesday is bad for America, and will hit Florida particularly hard.
Florida agriculture, construction and tourism depend on immigrants, legal and illegal, and the state still depends on those industries. Those immigrants spend their wages locally, which is a boon tomany other small businesses.
Not all immigrants are living paycheck to paycheck. Manywork skilled jobs and have become what the financial news service Bloomberg describes as “a pillar of growth in home buying.” In key markets likeMiami, itwarns, Trump’s policies could drive immigrants away and “threaten to crack a foundation of the American economy: the residential real estate market.”
Florida politicians who acknowledge howimportant immigration is to this state have, in the past, offered solutions that do not involve mass round-ups and deportations. Rather, they’ve sought a path to legal residency. FormerGov. Jeb Bushwas a leader in that area. Sowas former Sen. Mel Martinez. And sowas Sen. Marco Rubio, until political ambition led him to disown his own proposals.
Perhaps you think Trump’s approach was validated since Bush and Rubio sought the presidency last year and lost.
Not at all. As reported by The Hill newspaper, ElectionDay exit polls showed 70 percent of voters believed illegal immigrants should be given a path to legal residency, while only 25 percentwanted all illegal immigrants deported.
Such public opinion reflects larger practicalities. Many illegal immigrants are the parents of children who are American citizens. Do you break up such families?
In any case, itwould be impossible to deport all or even most illegal immigrants. And there is no practical reason to try. Americans by and large do notwant the jobs filled by illegal immigrants— one reason why Trump himself this season sought permission to hire more than 60 foreignworkers to staff his club atMar-aLago.
And although Trump has pandered to the fear that illegal immigrants are responsible for an American crimewave, that scare tactic does not squarewith the facts. As TheNew York Times reports, “research shows lower levels of crime among immigrants than among native-born Americans.”
While previous policies focused on deporting serious criminals, the Department ofHomeland Security nowsays it will seek to deport illegal immigrants for more minor offenses. The new rules also make it easier to skip some due-process steps during the deportation process. And the Trump administration is seeking to further absorb local lawenforcement officers into the anti-immigration effort.
One tentative bright spot: The administration did not signal plans to seek out and deport “Dreamers” who arrived here as children accompanying parents who entered illegally.
We strongly support deporting serious criminals. But if reducing crime is the goal, Trump’s policies threaten to do the opposite. Broad and vague guidelines that allow deportations for minor offenses will make immigrants who are the victims of crime even more reluctant to contact police for help, since doing so could result in the victim’s arrest and expulsion.
While the Trump administration insists it is not planning to carry out mass deportations, its plans to hire 10,000 new immigration agents and 5,000 new Border Patrol agents tell a different story.
What isn’t part of the story— yet— is where the administration plans to get the billions of dollars necessary to hire all those agents, build a network of new detention centers and pay to build that stillpromisedwall along the border withMexico.
Trump is going to an awful lot of expense to please his core supporters. Given his poor approval ratings, the president obviously is desperate for their approval. But there is no reason to spend that money. There is no reason to further isolate and demonize immigrants. Florida and the nation need immigration policies that are practical, compassionate and based on facts.
Instead, we’re getting policies based on Trump’s campaign promises. Which meanswe’re getting chaos and fear.