More than an Election Year Problem

America has an immigration problem. Ask 100 people what that problem is, and you’d get 100 different answers. For decades, “solving the immigration crisis” has been a top priority for both Democrats and Republicans and yet here we are in 2024, still trying to figure out the solution.

The conversation is most heated in presidential election years when Republican rhetoric uses xenophobic language like “invasion,” and “anchor babies.” Suggesting to voters that anything less than shutting down our borders will result in immigrants kicking down their doors scares some voters to the polls on Election Day. While an effective tactic, it has resulted in strong anti-immigrant backlash which is often based more on skin color than documentation status.

There is a tendency among Democrats to point to that language as being the only problem, which is where my party has failed. We can’t ignore the fact that there is a real problem, if not a crisis, at our southern border. In the first 27 days of December 2023, U.S. Border Patrol agents took into custody a record 225,000 migrants who illegally crossed the southern border. By contrast, about 50,000 migrants made appointments to enter at official border crossings that same month, meaning just 22% of the migrants entering the country then did so legally.

Republican rhetoric has made it incredibly difficult to even discuss the problem, much less put policy into place. It is fundamentally un-American, as well – this country was founded as a nation of immigrants, and it is an abdication of our core values to lock the door behind us and say, “We’re full.” Simply pumping unlimited money into U.S. Border Patrol – or worse, putting razor wire at the border, which could lead to injury and death – is not the answer.

…it is an abdication of our core values to lock the door behind us and say, “We’re full.”

There are solutions, however, if we find the political will to enact them. There are approximately 11 million undocumented people living in the United States, including 400,000 in Georgia. While they are convenient punching bags in election years, they are rarely given credit for the fact that they contribute to our economy.

Undocumented immigrants make up almost 4% of Georgia’s workforce and about 50% of the nation’s farm labor workforce. That lack of documentation can let some employers exploit and abuse their workers, paying them far less than they deserve.

The truth is that most people who come to this country, no matter how they get here, are looking for a better life and are willing to work for it. We should be paving the pathway to citizenship, not putting up roadblocks. That is the two-part solution – making it easier for undocumented immigrants to earn their citizenship and increasing our capacity to gain documentation in the first place. We can keep violent criminals out of our country without penalizing the majority of immigrants who share our American dream.

One of the main drivers behind increased illegal immigration is the fact that migrating legally has become a torturous process in the last 30 years. For example, according to the Cato Institute, time spent waiting to apply for a green card (i.e., legal permanent residence) has doubled for applicants immigrating through the family-sponsored and employment-based quota categories – from an average of two years and 10 months to five years and eight months. There are many people waiting to enter and re-enter the U.S. legally, but the wait is very long.

How can we expect a parent who wants a better life for their children to wait almost six years rather than take their chances outside of the process? Ultimately, the immigration crisis is not the fault of anyone outside the country, but a failure of policy at the top from both parties.

In a historic election year like this one, the kneejerk reaction will no doubt be to enact harsher measures to keep people out, in an attempt to neutralize conservative talking points. The truth is that Democrats will never be able to neutralize them because so few of them are based in fact. Squash one lie and two more will pop up like a Hydra of disinformation.

What is lost in all of this is the fact that these are living, breathing human beings, many of them children. Immigration isn’t an abstract concept – it’s tens of millions of people’s lives that should be treated with dignity.

No matter one’s political alignment, humanity should be at the core of any decision that we make. Who are we if it isn’t?

Tharon Johnson can be seen Sunday mornings on The Georgia Gang on Fox 5 Atlanta and is the founder and CEO of Paramount Consulting Group.