Episode 68: Repairing the Immigration System

Immigration is not a problem without solutions, but a challenge requiring courage, honesty, and political will to address. Our broken immigration systems exploit the vulnerable while benefiting the powerful, yet we have the capacity to create humane policies that recognize the dignity and contributions of immigrants.

• Immigration benefits economies by filling labor shortages and creating businesses
• Mass migrations have root causes including war, climate change, and political unrest
• The claim that administrations only oppose illegal immigration is contradicted by harassment of legal immigrants
• Solutions exist, as demonstrated by programs like H-1B visas for skilled workers
• Immigrants contribute through taxes, housing, education, and cultural enrichment
• Political and corporate interests profit from maintaining broken immigration systems
• Immigration challenges are global issues affecting countries worldwide
• Humane reform requires seeing immigrants as people rather than statistics or threats

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#immigration

#immigrants

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Above the Noise
• 1:46 Dispelling Immigration Fallacies
• 4:20 Root Causes of Mass Migration
• 9:50 Solutions for a Broken System
• 13:50 Immigration Strengthens Communities
• 18:20 Call for Compassionate Policy Reform
• 22:20 Support the Podcast

Transcript

Grantley Martelly: 0:09

Welcome to Above the Noise, a podcast at the intersection of faith, race and reconciliation, and I'm your host, grant Lee Martelly. This episode is response to an episode that I posted on episode 66 of this podcast and a LinkedIn article that I had posted to my LinkedIn site on the importance of immigration to the US economy. Now in that LinkedIn post I created a link to the article from the Center for Migration Studies and in the podcast episode I quoted extensively from the content. The article gave direct information on the benefits of immigration and, more specifically, data to support the economic and social and political benefits of immigration to the US economy, and I also reference my belief that this information and that these results can be seen similarly in other countries who are struggling with issues of immigration as well. Immigration benefits economies, it benefits people, it benefits us socially, economically, politically, and we're better off by having a diversity of people wherever we are.

Grantley Martelly: 1:33

Now I received responses to this posting, some of which I just want to address here. I want to address comments that centered around this misnomer that the policies and practices of the current administration, whether in the United States or in other countries, are not opposed to immigration, but only to illegal immigration. This sounds good, but it's a, first of all, a fallacy and secondly, in my opinion, a total fabrication. We've now seen hundreds, if not thousands, of examples of legal immigrants who have been targeted for deportation or harassment and intimidation. We have seen businesses of legal immigrants and some citizens vandalized, and even just recently began to hear more reports of family separations. Now as part of the current strategy, all over again.

Grantley Martelly: 2:26

If you follow the news around the world, beyond what the American media outlets may be giving you, or some of your local outlets who are just hyper-focused on the local situation, you will see that these actions and policies are not unique to the United States. Other countries are flying under the radar with similar policies. Too many times we have our news and our newspapers just trying to give the whole world a summary in 90 seconds. You hear things like the world in 30 seconds, the world in 90 seconds. We cannot even cover our own issues in the 24-hour news cycle. How can we cover those of the world in the 90-second or two-minute episodes? We've got to find other sources for the information We've got to read. We've got to find other news outlets, credible news outlets, to see what's going on in the world. And immigration is not a problem that's unique to the United States. It is happening in many countries, whether you look to Europe, or to the Caribbean, or South or Central America or Asia. Immigration are issues that people are facing all over the world.

Grantley Martelly: 3:32

Blaming immigrants for the problem of a broken system is like blaming the victim for being assaulted. In fact, our system sometimes even does this. We blame the victims when they are assaulted. The immigration system is a broken system and the results we see are the direct results of that brokenness. The brokenness in the system can be repaired. However, it is one that shows a lack of courage, honesty, integrity and political will, not just of elected officials, but of entire nations, as we fail to hold each other accountable. Whether we're elected or unelected, whether we are clergy or laity, whether we are social or intellectual, whatever our position is, we fail to hold each other accountable to solve these issues, to treat people as our neighbors, to treat people right. Immigration problems are not problems that are insolvable. The challenges are solvable. They were created by human beings and they can be solved by human beings.

Grantley Martelly: 4:42

I'm an immigrant and my wife is an immigrant. We have many friends who are immigrants, and my wife has worked in immigrant resettlement for many years, I have never met a person who wants to be an undocumented person or to be called an illegal immigrant. Sure, there are bad apples in each batch and there are people who come with the intent of doing harm, but those are very few and far between and, to be honest, there are people who are citizens of this country and of every country who are also intent of doing harm and not doing good. Immigrants are simply people who are looking for ways to better themselves and their families, and the system is broken and it can be fixed. However, we must admit that there is money to be made in keeping the system broken. There are political careers that can be made in keeping the broken system in place. Rounding up people and holding them in cells and detention, incarcerating them or flying plane loads of people to foreign countries are money-making machines of some of the companies and some of the people and some foreign governments who want to see a broken immigration system, because there's lots of money to be made in human suffering and in causing people to suffer and in taking advantage of the poor and those who cannot protect themselves, and unfortunately, many of these governments and political leaders benefit from political contributions from these companies and these individuals who are making millions of dollars in spreading human harm and condoning these immigration systems that are dehumanizing and are not really fixing the problem.

Grantley Martelly: 6:29

The system can be fixed and we are the ones who can make sure it gets fixed. We have jobs that need to be filled and we have people who want to do the work and we can create systems to solve that challenge. We have schools that need to be filled and we have families who want their children to be educated. We can create solutions to solve that problem. Right here in our city, where we live, and in our community where we live, we're hearing the schools that are scheduled to be closed down because there are not enough children to fill the schools, so they can't hire enough teachers or get enough supplies, because the schools are funded by how many children are going to be attending the school or are attending the school. So we have problems that are being created by this lack of fixing this immigration system that are having a ripple effect in our economy and a ripple effect in our communities, and we can face this challenge and we can solve these problems. The economies of many countries are slowing down, including this country. Whether we want to admit it or not, costs are rising. We lack enough affordable housing. Our hospitality industry is experiencing severe shortage of help. Immigration is one solution to these problems, and the system is broken and it can be fixed. So let us not continue to blame people for the manifestations of the broken system that we have the power to fix, but we lack the will and the honesty to address.

Grantley Martelly: 8:04

Mass migrations of people do not just happen. There are reasons why, and when we choose to ignore these reasons whether they're inconvenient truths or the legacy of institutional systems these problems will eventually end up at our borders. It is like people who go camping and they start a campfire and they pick up their phones and they call it in and say, hey, we want to report a forest fire without mentioning that they had a part in it, without mentioning that the forest fire was started by them. And when they get interviewed or when they get spoken to, they say well, we just want to report it because we don't want houses to get damaged, we don't want people to get harmed, we want to make sure that authorities know that they can address it. But some of these problems that we are facing, our representatives, our history, our current systems, our current institutions have a part in causing these problems.

Grantley Martelly: 8:59

War displaces people. Political unrest displaces people. Drug cartels displaces people. Racine change displaces people. Human trafficking displaces people. Forced labor to produce products for Western countries displaces people. Tribal violence and ethnic cleansing displaces people. Hunger and famine displaces people. Burning food that was slated to feed poor nations because it was too inconvenient to give the food to them under some of the practices that we just saw implemented in this country, displaces people. Help address these problems.

Grantley Martelly: 9:41

Around the world, mass migrations will continue to happen. People move not because they want to leave their country, their families or their homeland. They move because they want to live, and they want to live free from fear and harm. We can be thorough in vetting applicants and, at the same time, reduce the burden on those who want to migrate. We can do both at the same time. We have an example in the AS1 visa program, because large companies need indentured servants to fill their positions and they have prevailed on the government to create a pathway to profit and for politicians to benefit from this profit. The AS1B visa program is a non-immigrant visa program that allows United States employers to temporarily employ foreign workers in specific occupations. These occupations generally require a bachelor's degree or higher in a specific field directly related to a job, many of them in technology and technology-related jobs. It's employee-supported. It allows for a maximum of six years in the country, with possible extensions, and sometimes at least to get in a green card out of the process. So we have one example of a solution that's not perfect, but it's one solution that shows that we can address the problem when the need is there, when the desire is there, when the ethics is there, when the integrity is there. Too many times we only solve problems when it benefits the powerful among us or when it has a strategic benefit to keep certain people that we do not consider to be within the right class from becoming part of our community. We can match people with need and create pathways to tie immigration to those needs.

Grantley Martelly: 11:30

It is a fallacy that immigrants take jobs from law-abiding citizens. It is a fallacy whether it's in this country or other countries. First of all, not all citizens are law-abiding. However, we are blessed in many ways that there are more than enough jobs to supply both immigrants and citizens who want to work and still have jobs left over. That's why we measure the employment rate and the unemployment rate, because we know that there are jobs that need to be filled and we need people to fill it. There is opportunity there. There are people in this country who want to work, who were born here, who want to work. I don't buy the other side of that fallacy either, that people who were born in this country don't want to work and they don't want to do hard labor. That's not true. There are many people who were born here who do hard labor every day. But it's also a fallacy to assume that immigrants are only coming to do hard labor, only coming to do certain types of work.

Grantley Martelly: 12:26

Immigrants come in every class and every education, with every skill level. Who can do phenomenal things, have phenomenal skills that we can benefit from. We can have law and order and we can have legal immigration at the same time, because immigrants bring skills, they bring knowledge, they bring capabilities that can serve across multiple sectors. They pay taxes, they pay rent, they buy vehicles, they buy homes, they patronize businesses and community events. Their children go to schools. We have community events, we have cultural. We have things that we are learning from each other. We can learn in many ways many types of activities. We diversify our community and we diversify our members. We learn from each other and we become stronger. Immigrants create businesses that create jobs for other people. This is no different from those who were born right here. We are no different. We're just all people wanting to have a better life.

Grantley Martelly: 13:28

Our immigration systems are broken and they can be fixed, so let us not blame innocent people for the brokenness. If we can put people in outer space, if we can explore distant planets, if we can build autonomous vehicles, we can do heart and lung transplants, we can harness energy from the sun, we can fix our broken immigration system. The problem is not the immigrants, whether their status is legal or undocumented. It is not the children of the immigrants. It is not a Democrat, a Republican, a moderate, a conservative or a liberal problem. It is a broken system, one that exploits the poor and the vulnerable and takes advantage of those who can't defend themselves.

Grantley Martelly: 14:17

It is time that we shift our mindset. It is a system that rewards the powerful. It is a system that was built to take advantage of others for the economical and social benefit of other people. It is time to stop the shenanigans, time to admit that it is broken and let us employ the minds of honest and reasonable thinkers and practitioners who are free of political ideology, who see people as people rather than numbers on a balance sheet or enemies in the wings waiting to pounce on us, and let's challenge them to come up with viable solutions, just as we did to put people on the moon. It is not complicated, but it will take as much work as it took to put man on the moon. It is time to start re-victimizing the victim and addressing the underlying issues.

Grantley Martelly: 15:12

To say that we only want legal immigration is to assume that we are better than others and that they enjoy being exploited and dehumanized, whether it's in this country or anywhere else on the planet. Nobody wants to be called illegal or undocumented. People just want to be people. They just want want to live lives, to live in harmony, to live joy, to pursue happiness, to see their family thrive, and that is what immigration is all about. That is what living in community is all about. A country without borders is no country at all, but a country without compassion and honesty and mercy is worse off than no country at all.

Grantley Martelly: 15:53

So thank you for your time and I hope this honesty and mercy is worse off than no country at all. So thank you for your time and I hope this helps us to get further down the road on this issue of immigration and realize that, as long as it has been with us and we've been talking about it, there are solutions and it's up to you and I people of faith, people without faith, people of every color, people of every race, people of every denomination, people of however you classify yourself every language, tongue, tribe or nation. We have policies and procedures that treat people honestly and ethically and equally and with justice, and realize that we are all immigrants, no matter where we are, no matter where we were born. We're just on this planet for a short period of time and then we're gone. So if we're immigrants to this earth, let's also help others live lives peacefully and joyfully together in harmony. All people want to be people who are accepted.

Grantley Martelly: 17:02

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