Joe Guzzardi’s column “Is the U.S. full? No, It’s overfull” sets out facts versus emotion on our current immigration issues. I’m sure someone will call him a nativist or worse, but his argument is simple: our resources are not unlimited. And his focus is on the sustainability of our natural
resources and not simply our financial resources. But both are being stretched.
Financially, total U.S. public debt has now exceeded $22 trillion. Yes trillion. Trump hasn’t helped, but the national debt nearly doubled under Obama from about $10 trillion to almost $20 trillion, though he did have to deal with the financial crisis.
Too many people just shrug this off, but experts have warned us that when interest rates normalize, which at some point they will, our debt service expense will surge, and other government expenditures — for services from U.S. Forest Service wildfire control to drug inspections by the Food and Drug Administration — will shrink.
We can be both humane and have rational immigration laws. Why won’t House Democrats propose a compromise bill to the Senate Republicans much like a group of rational Senate Republicans and Democrats did several years ago when they joined in a proposed bill? The House Democrats apparently don’t want to fix our immigration problems despite the fact that most people acknowledge our asylum system is broken and being abused.
Ask yourself why they won’t do anything in the face of the surge of immigrants at our southern border and the strain the surge is putting on government services and expenses.