While some Americans focused on Tuesday night’s Democratic debate – during which immigration, along with numerous other issues, was not discussed at any length – Dr. Jill Biden’s remarks in Boone, Iowa, are no less noteworthy.
On Tuesday, the wife of Joe Biden, former vice president and current Democratic frontrunner , spoke to a group of approximately 20 senior citizens and 12 journalists at the Ericson Public Library in Boone, a town of a little over 12,000 inhabitants in central Iowa.
When asked about her husband’s “attitude” towards “immigrants and refugees,” Dr. Biden called for a “responsible path towards citizenship for those immigrants trying to get into the United States of America, and that we should let in the asylum seekers.” She also suggested that migrants could help repopulate communities that “people are leaving … for one reason or another” with the assistance of corporate investment to create new jobs.
She also failed to differentiate between legal immigrants and illegal migrants.
The idea of a “path towards citizenship” for migrants “trying to get into the” U.S. is also hardly “responsible.” After all, amnesty would only spur further mass illegal immigration, particularly in the absence of a border wall/fence – which Jill Biden’s husband opposes.
The same applies for allowing in all foreign nationals claiming asylum. We know that many simply say the magic word “asylum” to get into the country, which is not to argue that all asylum claims are frivolous (but quite a few certainly are). And if we open the gates, we are begging for even more asylum abuse than is already occurring.
Last but not least, there is Dr. Biden’s call for repopulating rural and small-town communities in places like Iowa with migrants. Admittedly, this is a key pro-open-borders talking point: mass immigration will (supposedly) save us from demographic decline.
Here is the problem: small towns like Boone, Iowa, are poorly equipped to absorb large influxes of migrants in terms of housing, education, and jobs. For instance, many migrants have little to no command of the English language, and providing their children with LEP/ESL instruction in small schools with limited resources would be quite costly. Since many migrants also have very little education and few skills, bringing large numbers to economically depressed small towns and villages would amount to piling poverty upon poverty. Low-skilled migrants would also inevitably compete with lower-skilled “left behind” natives for jobs.
Crime rates may also increase in rural communities. After all, illegal aliens commit crimes at a much higher rate than American citizens or legal immigrants. The murder of 20-year-old Mollie Tibbetts by an illegal alien farm worker in July 2018 – which occurred in Brooklyn, Iowa, approximately 95 miles east of Boone – is no doubt still fresh in the memories of many Iowans.
Finally, there is little evidence that the local inhabitants desire a large influx of migrants and the accompanying changes and disruptions that it inevitably entails. The only groups that would cheer such a development would be pro-mass-immigration activists and Big Agriculture, which is always hungry for more cheap foreign labor.
Dr. Biden seems to believe that the government and U.S. corporations stepping up to invest in depressed rural communities would help counterbalance the above-mentioned problems. The question is: why are we waiting for large numbers of migrants to settle in economically depressed areas before we assist and invest in those communities? (Also, why didn’t Joe Biden do anything to spur investment and job creation, thereby preventing depopulation and the need to import more immigrants, in communities like Boone during his eight years as Vice President?) Shouldn’t Americans who have been “left behind” be a greater priority for the U.S. government than foreign nationals?
