[prodigal_erik]

"Undocumented workforce" is just as slanted. Their problem is not lost paperwork. It obscures the lack of steady demand for their labor, and their willful defiance of our efforts to guard our home.

Prior to the late 1800s, we still had an untapped frontier, and immigration was in our interest. It was never a principle we committed to at all costs, despite what one poet might have thought. Now our own huddled masses are splitting a pie that isn't growing, and immigration is not so beneficial that it makes up for the overpopulation it causes (because few people have been emigrating).

[pistle]

The pie. The pie... about that pie. Recognizing immigrants increases the tax base. Recognizing immigrants ensures better wages and changes the entire narrative. Come, work, share in our bounty and our responsibility to each other.

Increase in population relate to increases in infrastructure, housing, services, global workforce competitiveness, military capabilities, and a myriad of other indirect and direct supporting features of societies that fare well historically. Do more with more instead of thinking you can always do more with less.

Increases in demand for food, services, schools, etc grows the pie. Sure, at some point, demand needs to be able to keep pace. But the US is not at that point.

It's easier to use the steamroller of global goodwill described by the statue poem than it is to simply sharpen the blades of dominance. Eventually, there's no metal left to sharpen and nations of billions will route a nation of millions.