In the abstract, Conservatives are skeptical if not outright hostile to immigration. When the question is narrowed though, some of the opposition dissolves.
Miriam Jordan of The New York Times reported on Sunday that because Congress has chosen not to take up legislation on immigration reform, President Joe Biden has used executive authority to expand humanitarian parole programs for people fleeing war and political uncertainty, and he has expanded the number of people covered by Temporary Protected Status (TPS).
The start of her story covers what Biden’s administration has done and how people have reacted, but later she writes about state governors, many of which are Conservative, welcoming immigrants to help address workforce needs. “In Utah, already home to a thriving Venezuelan community but where unemployment is 2.4 percent, Gov. Spencer Cox has called for states to be allowed to sponsor immigrants to meet their work force needs,” she writes. The president of the Salt Lake City Chamber of Commerce says that the state has more than 100,000 jobs that remain unfilled.
The reporting in Jordan’s story lines up with an editorial we reported on in February where Iowa’s governor similarly wanted to work out ways to bring in immigrants to fill vacant jobs. The problems with these plans are the same as there are inherent risks in tying immigration to jobs since that leaves immigrants vulnerable to abuse, but there’s good news in this reporting. States and business communities see possibilities in immigration, which says that the opposition to immigration isn’t as absolute as the rhetoric suggests. It’s sad that humanity and justice don’t motivate immigration's critics, but the governors and business leaders’ comments tell us that there’s something to work with.
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