The second Trump Administration has hit the ground running when it comes to fulfilling its campaign promise to deport millions of illegal aliens currently residing in America. As they promised, they are starting with the most violent and dangerous illegals among us. The administration gives every indication of equipping itself, however, to forcibly deport millions of people who have come to America illegally.
As for now, the majority of the American public supports the deportation program that is currently being implemented.
Additionally, the Trump Administration’s vigorous deportation actions coupled with much more vigorous policy enforcement at the border will assuredly stem the massive flow of incoming illegals to a mere shadow of the large influx during the Biden Administration.
It remains to be seen how the public will react as the number of deported climbs dramatically.
Given native-born birth rates, at some point, it will become apparent to at least a majority of Americans that some degree of legal, regulated immigration must be accepted in order for the economy to grow and prosper.
Looking at the role that immigration has played in American history, it seems that legal, regulated immigration would not cause significant disruption.
At present, however, a majority of Americans have been increasingly uncomfortable with the rapidly rising number of undocumented newcomers taking up residence in their country. Once the current problems have been resolved, America should implement an orderly, legal system of immigration.
After all, we are a nation of immigrants. We should have a good deal of room for people who are willing to embrace our values and beliefs to come to America (as summarized in The Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution).
Unless they are Native Americans, all Americans are descended from immigrants or else they are immigrants themselves.
The pivotal question is do these prospective immigrants want to come to America, embrace our value system (as summarized in our Founding Documents), and become proficient in the English language? This does not mean they must renounce their heritage from their native country.
After all, we have millions of Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans, Polish-Americans, Mexican-Americans, and Japanese-Americans who are loyal and patriotic Americans and are also proud of the national heritage of their country of origin.
Early in the 20th century during a previous surge in immigration, President Theodore Roosevelt had asserted that America had plenty of room for people who were hyphenated Americans (for example, Irish-Americans) as long as the emphasis was always focused on the “American” part of that description.
America has benefited greatly from the earlier wave of immigration. Our culture is much richer linguistically, gastronomically, musically, and economically from the contributions of these various ethnicities than would have been the case otherwise.
Unfortunately, America’s immigration system has been broken in multiple ways since at least the Eisenhower Administration in the 1950s.
The American people have been frustrated by the brokenness of the immigration system which has led to between 15 to 20 million undocumented immigrants who have not been vetted, screened, or approved.
It should be acknowledged that unfortunately, there have been powerful forces at both ends of the political spectrum that have pushed the tidal wave of illegal immigrants. From the right, you have groups that are quite pleased with the cheap labor (under minimum wage) produced by mass migration (experts estimate that such mass immigration depresses wages at least 10% at the bottom of the wage scale). On the left, you have those who either do not believe in national borders or those who see millions of illegal immigrants as future liberal voters.
The American people need to reject these extremes and insist that their Senators and Congressmen build a coalition of the center-right and the center-left and pass meaningful, lasting immigration reform.
It must be noted that the question of immigration is crucial to America’s (and by consequence the world’s) future. America is in a life-and-death competition with Communist China for world leadership for the remainder of the 21st century. Will America (committed to universal human rights) or Communist China (totalitarian to its core) lead the world? The battleground will be the research for AI and other high-tech research concerning the next generation of weaponry.
In that struggle, the battle will be determined by which nations can attract the most cerebral brain power (wherever it originated) to do its research within its borders. It is in all humanity’s very best interest that America win the contest for brain power with China.
Finally, a recent column in the Wall Street Journal, “Merit and the Case for Immigration,” highlights both the benefits of immigration and the absolutely critical role played by parents and family in producing young people who produce at their highest potential.
Former Senator Phil Gramm and former University of Chicago Economics Professor Robert Topei share their experiences with the Finus Welch Foundation and its goal of granting four-year college scholarships to both the University of Texas at Austin and Texas A&M. The scholarships are intended for “promising students from Texas families of modest means.” The average score of the scholarship recipients last year on the SAT was 1450 or the 96th percentile.
After the scholarship recipients are selected, the Foundation tabulates background information. They discovered that 62% of the 2024 recipients had both parents being foreign born (3 times the national average) and another “9% had one foreign-born parent, while only 29% had both parents born in the U.S.”
Research from the Institute for Family Studies confirms that migrant households “are more likely to have both natural parents in the household.” In spite of far more often attending underperforming schools and more incidence of poverty, these immigrant students outperformed their native-born contemporaries.
Gramm and Topei save their most startling finding for last:
“But perhaps the most significant finding is that 91% of all immigrant parents nationwide expected their children to graduate from college, and 59% expected them to pursue graduate or professional degrees.”
As we embrace the right kind of immigration reform where we control who comes to America and who doesn’t, we need to make certain that adults and children alike (immigrant and native-born) are taught our founding principles and our founding documents.
Gramm and Topei have underscored the critical importance of intact families in raising maximum-accomplishing students. To the extent we abandon the ideal of natural-born parents raising their children in intact households, we diminish the prospect of children, natural born or immigrant, from reaching their God-given potential.
Do we have eyes to see and ears to hear, or are we going to continue to ignore the overwhelming evidence that no-fault divorce is harmful to children?
Quoting what Pericles said to the Athenians 2500 years ago, Gramm and Topei applied it to America today. “Where the prize is highest, there, too, will you find the best and the bravest!”
Let us resolve to minimize the impediments for those who wish to come to America as we seek to attract “the best and the bravest.”
Editor's Note: As a part of its commitment to fostering conversation within the Southern Baptist Convention, the Baptist Review may publish editorials that espouse viewpoints that are not necessarily shared by the TBR team or other contributors. We welcome submissions for responses and rebuttals to any editorials as we seek to host meaningful conversations about the present and future of our convention.
This column originally appeared in The Christian Post.
Richard Land
Richard Land served as the President of the Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention and currently serves as the Executive Editor of The Christian Post and president emeritus of Southern Evangelical Seminary. He was appointed to serve on the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom by President George W. Bush in 2001 and was subsequently reappointed to three additional terms of service through 2012. He holds a B.A. from Princeton University, a Th.M. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, and a Ph.D. from Oxford University.