“Now more than ever, we’re short of workers. Uh, we have a population that is not reproducing on its own with the same level that it used to. The only way that we’re gonna have a great future in America is if we welcome and embrace immigrants -- the DREAMers and all of them. ‘Cause our ultimate goal is to help the DREAMers, but get a path to citizenship for all 11 million or however many undocumented there are here.” Chuck Schumer (D-Powerful New Evidence)

New York Chuck is at it again. Stringing short, pithy statements together as though they are related, and not telling the truth. Let’s look at the facts. And while you’re at it, take a look at this excellent history and analysis of these issues by Arthur R. Anderson Andrew R. Arthur, Resident Fellow for Law and Policy at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Chuck says we’re short of workers. Well, from certain perspectives, maybe. Biden did mandate the potentially deadly mRNA shots for the military at the same time that the Pentagon went totally woke. Then they got rid of those who didn’t play along. Inevitably, the parents of the American citizen population that normally fills out the military’s ranks withheld them, as they should. Now we are woefully understaffed.

But does Schumer truly believe that criminals using false personal identification, with limited English language skills, who are potentially uneducated, and having no loyalty to a country that elevates the rule of law will be effective as part of our community of warfighters? Democrat-sponsored bill H.R. 9052 would allow DREAMers into the military. These are people with no legal status under ordered, but deferred, departure from the United States. Effectively they would be mercenaries.

Image: Chuck Schumer (edited). YouTube screen grab.

How about finding among illegal aliens the nurses, medical technicians, pharmacists, and school counselors that we seem to need? How many of them does he think are paying the cartel thousands of dollars to be abused as they are forced to smuggle drugs in their long walk to enter the United States? I bet none.

Or how about skilled tradespeople and manufacturing workers?  In this country, they have lived and worked with workplace safety rules, construction codes, and material handling requirements that are completely absent in many parts of the developing world. How many OSHA inspections does Chucky think American businesses are willing to fail?

Does Schumer think illegal aliens will provide agricultural workers? Sorry, sir, most of these folks come from urban areas, so they’re not going to go to the fields. In any case, giving them asylum will release potential agricultural employers from the requirements to provide housing, reasonably-priced meals, transportation, and all the time and onerous paperwork to get the workers in the first place. Besides, perhaps the quarter million techies just laid off could move to the (central) valley and learn to pick fruit.

Here’s what we can do: Have the businesses work with and subsidize local school districts and trade schools to train up the workers they need out of our own people. If we need more immigrants, let’s stay within the parameters of existing law and increase number of legal relatives and worker immigrants. That’s easily done under the purview of Congress. There are millions patiently waiting their turn.

Re the population not reproducing, welcome to the world, Senator. Imagine tossing a ball up in the air. The ball slows then stops just as it hits its peak, then begins to fall. 8 billion seems to be our peak as reproduction rates have been declining globally for decades. Effective life extension (better health and death control) has kept the numbers growing, until now (something I wrote about previously).

Our next step is facing the truth. We must prioritize the critical activities our country requires as the population ages and numbers declines. It’s imperative to significantly shrink the size and cost of government. Just because something sounds like a good idea, doesn’t mean the taxpayer has to fund it. People must be more self-sufficient. Marketplace economics will take care of the rest.

We must embrace migrants. Check. Legally, we take in a million immigrants, plus additional refugees and asylees every year. The United States today has 4.25% of the world’s population, and about 20% of all international migrants. I think we’ve done our part.

What about the DREAMers? There are 650,000 DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) program participants. Maybe another 2 million might qualify. Obama had Congress, and they did nothing. Biden has Congress for a few more weeks. H.R. 9261 was introduced on November 3. It will remove the illegal presence ineligibility for immigration from those who have been in the United States continuously since they were 10 years old. That’s not a path to citizenship; it just removes a stone from any future path.

My solution is to build a path to a green card, but not citizenship, ever, for these former child smugglees. I would impose these requirements:

(1) DREAMers must acquire a passport in their real name, with their real date and place of birth, from the country of their real citizenship.

(2) They must admit to all the false identities, including social security numbers, they ever used, or that were used on their behalf, for education, work, law enforcement, government benefits, and medical care, including social security numbers. That way, correct records can be developed, and anyone cheated out of benefits by those who stole their identity can be made whole.

(3) If they have had no other criminal activity for 10 years let them apply for provisional legal permanent residency. Committing a crime would lose it for them. Citizenship, and all the benefits that accompany it, would not be available to them but would be to their children born in the United States. See more here and here.

Eleven million illegals—Nope. DHS’s website stops counting illegal aliens in the United States as of 2018 when we had 11.4 million. No need to wonder why. I’d guess we’re up to around 17 million at a minimum now. Schumer wants to grant asylum to 17 million criminals.

From the day that status is granted, they will be eligible for international travel documentation (essentially a new identity if they have not provided true information on who they really are), to work, to petition to be joined by a spouse and minor children, and to apply for permanent residency within a year, then for citizenship after another five years. They can receive refugee resettlement cash, medical assistance, employment preparation, job placement, and language training from HHS. They are eligible for need-based government assistance such as welfare, Medicaid, SSI disability, and food stamps. How many more billions does Senator Schumer want to add to the cost of government, plus 40% overhead for managing these programs?

There’s a simple solution: Follow the law. Defend the border. Deny entry to anyone without verifiable identification. Exercise good sense discretion and deny obviously fraudulent applications for asylum. Deport the illegals as fast as DHS can manage it. We’d be far better off adding 87,000 enforcement agents to ICE than to the IRS. Maybe the 118th Congress can shift that funding line between agencies.

Anony Mee is the nom de blog of a retired public servant.