The current Trump policy of mass deportations will not make our country great. There are not enough native-born workers to meet the needs of our economy. The Trump deportation program is making the situation worse by removing productive foreign-born workers that are essential to our agricultural, construction, hospitality, healthcare, and high-tech industries. There are numerous examples of the mass deportation program having negative impacts across our economy. Farmers have reported that they cannot get enough workers as a result of ICE raids and the threats of ICE raids. Threatening and forcing Haitian immigrants from Springfield, Ohio is hurting the local businesses and the community they have worked to revive and support. The recent ICE raid at a Georgia battery factory that sent more than 300 workers, who were helping to start up the factory, back to South Korea is discouraging other companies to move factories to our country.
Fear and distortions should not drive our policies. President Trump and Republicans constantly talk about deporting illegal alien criminals – rapists, murderers, and drug dealers. However, facts about the ongoing program show a different picture. A recent published story on the Butler County jail, reported that only 8% of the immigrant detainees had a criminal record. Rather than getting criminals off the street, the deportation program is catching hardworking people trying to make a living or go to school. Rounding up people that do not look white in a Home Depot parking lot, or in a factory in rural Georgia, are not efficient ways of catching rapists, murderers, and drug dealers.
Even Republican politicians from our area acknowledge that we need change. The website of our US House Representative, Warren Davidson, states that “The USA truly is the land of opportunity. For America to continue as a desired destination, we need to fix our current dysfunctional immigration system. We need to secure our border, prioritize legal immigration, and reform the bureaucratic system of caps and quotas.” Butler County Sheriff Richard Jones has also proposed that Democrats and Republicans get to together and solve our immigration problem.
The mass deportation program is on the wrong side of history. It is similar to how we treated Native Americans when we moved west, African Americans before the Civil War, and Japanese-Americans during WWII. Those actions are now seen as morally wrong, inhumane, and driven by racial prejudice and fear. History will judge the current mass deportation system in the same manner.
We need government leadership and action. At the federal level, Representative Davidson should lead and work for comprehensive immigration reform to meet the challenges of our time. On the local level, Butler County Commissioners and Sheriff Jones should stop supporting and participating in a dysfunctional system that is detaining and deporting people who simply came here seeking a better life or were brought here as children.
Mass deportation under our dysfunctional system is damaging families, communities, and businesses. We should stop the mass deportation program and reform our dysfunctional immigration system so that we can continue to attract people from around the world for our continued growth and prosperity.
Tony Klimek is a retired engineer from West Chester, Ohio.
Credit: RON RICE
Credit: RON RICE
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