Payan: ‘This unkindness cannot stand’

Addressing immigration policy and its associated rhetoric is imperative in the post-Trump era, according to Tony Payan, director of the Center for the United States and Mexico at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy.

“We have seen how the issue of immigration was used as a poisonous political platform for dividing the nation, stoking xenophobia and intolerance, and justifying absurd and cruel solutions, such as a border wall and family separation,” he wrote in an op-ed for The Hill.

Payan, the Françoise and Edward Djerejian Fellow for Mexico Studies, argues an immigration system that is both more rational and more humane can help reset the economy, improve race relations, stave off a pending demographic crisis and encourage Americans to revalue immigration.

“Despite the rhetoric, illegal migration is no longer a problem in the U.S. It peaked at around 12.2 million undocumented residents in 2007 and has been falling since,” he wrote. “Moreover, the 10.5 million unauthorized residents today have been here for 10 years or more. They have made a life in the U.S.; most are working, many already pay taxes and nearly half have American-born children.”

Credit: 123rf.com/Rice University.

Payan believes the U.S. faces a major demographic crisis due to the suppression of immigration and a shrinking population — caused by both lower fertility rates and COVID-19 — that have led to the lowest population growth since at least 1900.

“This shrinkage caps the country’s economic performance, reduces the future tax base and funding for popular government programs such as Social Security and undermines the nation’s standing as a world power. Witness what has happened in Japan already over the last few decades,” he wrote.

In response to the Trump administration’s immigration policies, polarization has given politicians “an opportunity for grandstanding and displaying political cruelty,” Payan argues.

“Immigration has historically given the United States a kind face to present to the world — something which has been lost over the last few years as the Trump administration reduced the number of refugees admitted, separated families and rejected our tradition of giving everyone a hearing to make their case over whether they deserve to stay,” he wrote. “This unkindness cannot stand, and America must recover its image as a place of shelter for some of the most vulnerable in the world.”