Making Sense of the Donald Trump Rhetoric
“Illegal immigrants are pouring across our borders unabated. Public reports routinely state great amounts of crime are being committed by illegal immigrants.” – Donald Trump
A lot has been written and discussed recently about illegal immigration into the United States. This is not a new issue, and our border with Mexico has been a passage for illegal immigration for years. It is a significant problem, for businesses and general economics, yet little has been done to address this issue.
The U.S. government has an established processes and systems for immigrants to legally enter our country, such as interviews for example. They are designed to check that you’re entering the country for the right reasons. The interview shouldn’t make you feel too nervous, especially if you read some articles beforehand. There is an informative article here explaining what to do in preparation for your visa interview.
Legal immigration is a cornerstone of our economy, diversity, and growth. America is a “melting-pot” of different cultures, ethnic backgrounds, and religions. It is one of the things that makes our country great! However, if we don’t have laws about immigration, and those laws aren’t enforced, then we basically have chaos. It is so interesting to me that laws about murder, robbery, and even traffic laws are clear, and there are consequences if these laws are broken, but when it comes to illegal immigration, there are often no consequences when you break the law. I started wondering, why is that? Why aren’t we doing more?
Like many of you, I have been loosely following the rhetoric by Donald Trump over illegal immigration into the United States. I sometimes feel that Mr. Trump is a bit over the top, with his crazy hair, real estate businesses, ex-wives and elitist children, beauty pageants, and his reality TV show. Some of the most interesting and famous quotes from Mr. Trump on the subject of illegal immigration, in his bid for becoming the next president of the United States, are as follows:
“I’m ready to go right at the Mexican government. I’m going to charge them $25,000 per illegal immigrant and, oh, I’ll make them pay.”
“These are people that shouldn’t be in our country. They flow in like water.”
“When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best. They’re sending people that have lots of problems. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists, and some, I assume, are good people.”
“I like Mexico. I love the Mexican people. I do business with the Mexican people, but you have people coming through the border that are from all over. And they’re bad. They’re really bad, You have people coming in, and I’m not just saying Mexicans, I’m talking about people that are from all over that are killers and rapists and they’re coming into this country.”
Sadly, these quotes about illegal immigration have been used to paint Mr. Trump as a racist and uncaring for Hispanic people including the Mexican people in this country, whether they are here illegally or legally. I don’t know Mr. Trump. He says he’s not a racist. I don’t see any evidence in his business dealings that he is a racist. I think his rhetoric about crime in New York City, where he lives, has also added fuel to these racist claims, primarily by the liberal press in our country.
What are the facts and is it good or bad for our economy? Is illegal immigration good or bad for business? What about the legal immigration policies in the U.S.?
In my experience as an executive in a number of technology companies, and a knowledgeable and active citizen, I can categorically tell you that the United States immigration laws and policies are terrible for business. The issue is not only our country’s practices of illegal immigration, but also our laws regarding legal immigration.
Some people are also upset with Mr. Trump about his comments about crime in New York City, where he lives:
“According to Bill O’Reilly, 80% of all the shootings in New York City are blacks-if you add Hispanics, that figure goes to 98%. 1% white.”
“Sadly, the overwhelming amount of violent crime in our major cities is committed by blacks and Hispanics, a tough subject (that) must be discussed.”
Is quoting a statistic about race and crime a racist comment? I don’t know if it is or if it isn’t. I can see how some people would feel that way. However, if NYC collects statistics about race and crime, which they do, why is it racist to quote them? I suspect the demographic of these violent criminals are also that they are abusers of drugs and alcohol, they live below the poverty line, they are mainly from broken homes, and they are socialized in neighborhoods with crime and gang influences. Unfortunately I don’t think NYC collects statistics about these demographics, or at least I could not find them in my research.
On the subject of illegal immigration, I have a tendency to agree with Mr. Trump, and I think we have another big problem related to legal immigration.
This is Patrick Henry, CEO of QuestFusion, with The Real Deal…What Matters.