If money wasn’t an issue, would citizens feel differently about immigration?

Reasons that President Trump uses for pushing immigrants out of the country are money and “crime.” But if he knew that immigration is great for our economy, and that immigrants are rarely criminals, would that change the way he treats immigrants?

How about Mainers? Does anti-immigrant sentiment really stem from racism, or from the view that welcoming immigrants is an act of generosity?

Does the worry that immigrants might get free services or help bother Mainers almost entirely because Mainers don’t get the help that they need?

Farmers, carpenters, scientists, legislators, artists, teachers: we all benefit from work other people do. I didn’t build the road, but I drive on them. I didn’t invent bread, or grow wheat, but I eat it. President Trump didn’t personally build anything, but he makes money from it. 

When my friend was hospitalized in a rehab center, he said it seemed like the U.N., with nurses, caregivers, doctors working there from all over the world. Immigrants contribute so much to our society, with their contributions often going under the radar.  

If citizens knew that immigrants give more than they take, and that poor neighborhoods become healthier and safer when immigrants move in, would any Americans support Trump’s war on immigrants?

Jenny Yasi
Freeport