Open Borders is national suicide

Open Borders would be suicide for America. It would sink our lifeboat.

Just so we are on the same page, Open Borders means people can enter a country and settle there without government restriction.

That means as many people who want to come, could.

And how many people might that be?

Gallup says 158 million. Read down a few paragraphs.  

America’s current population is 330 million. The 158 million would be an almost 50% increase.

How in God’s name could we handle another 158 million people?

How could their needs be met, even for the basics, the fundamentals? 

Where would they work? Can we wave a magic wand and create millions of jobs, irrespective of their skills? We can’t, and a massive surplus of labor would result in lower wages. That’s simply supply and demand. 

If they can’t work because there are no jobs, how can they feed themselves? And if they can’t, can we? 

How about schools for them and their children?

How could we build enough schools for them and staff with teachers and support personnel? 

Next, housing. Where would these people live, assuming they could buy a house or pay rent to a landlord? And if they did not have the money for that, where would it come from? Imagine 158 million more people living on the streets. Nightmare city.

Next, health coverage. Our medical system seems to be staggering now. How could it cover another 50%?

Do you find the image of people dying in the streets appealing?

I am talking about common sense numbers. It’s got nothing to do with race, religion, gender, or nationality. It’s got nothing to do with the morality of immigration, just the actual numbers. 

And the numbers say, “No, we can’t.”

Think of the United States as a lifeboat — as many immigrants rightfully do — with 48 seats, and Americans now fill 35 of them.

We have room for another 13 people.

If 13 people arrive, fine.

We might even take 18, with some squeezing.

But if 24 show up, they sink the lifeboat and everyone drowns.

OK — I can hear you say, “But 158 million won’t show up at one time.”

Probably correct.

Let’s be generous and say only 10% show up — 15 million.

The U.S. will get some 2 million undocumented people just this year and we are scrambling to feed and house them,

That’s just 2 million. Now imagine 15 million.

And that’s just in one year. Imagine 15 million every year.

How soon before the lifeboat sinks?

All my life I thrilled to the words of Emma Lazarus’ sonnet, “The New Colossus.”

Especially to these lines: “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

I was thrilled because she was describing my grandparents, whose memory I honor for crossing the ocean and coming to a strange land so that later I could be blessed with the incredible gift of American citizenship.

But Lazarus’ words were poetic and not policy, and, back then, America’s needs and space were different. My grandparents came by the rules that were then in place. And they didn’t just waltz in. Immigrants were stopped and screened at ports of entry. Many were detained for political reasons, and many were deported for health reasons. The process could be brutal.

Today, the Biden administration doesn’t even screen for covid.

Today’s immigrants — excluding those who seek asylum — often sneak across the border or overstay their visas. (I covered asylum, mostly fraudulent, in an earlier post. )

This is about sheer numbers and our ability to absorb them.

We admit about 1 million legal immigrants a year — far more than any other nation. The vast majority are nonwhite.

Can we admit some more? Probably.

15 million more? Never.

Open Borders is suicide.