Immigration needed

The issue at the border can only be addressed by Congress. The existing laws need to be modified to address today’s challenges. Pressures at the southern border will only grow as the effects of climate change, political unrest, violence, and poverty impact those to the south.

America is a country genuinely built on immigration and will continue to need immigration—organized and controlled immigration—to grow and prosper.

The birth rate in the USA no longer meets the economy’s needs.

Birth rates have fallen by 23 percent since the Great Recession of 2007.

Today, the average American woman has about 1.6 children, down from three in 1950 and significantly below the “replacement rate” of 2.1 children needed to sustain a stable population.

I can proudly tell stories of recent immigrant families that have impacted America and myself through their hard labor and spirit of achievement, especially for desiring the best for their families.

Some groups use immigration challenges to divide, enrich themselves, cast blame, gain power, and promote falsehoods. If you look back on our own ugly history as a country, you find this has been done repeatedly.

Humanitarian modifications coupled with more resources to control and protect our southern border are needed, not to shut the border down but to bring a reasonable, safe, organized approach to allowing entrance into our country by needed immigration.

Compromise is not an ugly word or process. We all do it every day. Ask yourself, those who are unwilling to compromise even on the most significant issues, who are they really serving?

JIM LEWIS Lincoln