America can't decide if we have too many immigrants or too few
SAN DIEGO -- Americans are confused. We can't decide whether to get rid of immigrants because they scare us -- or import more of them because they make our lives comfortable.
One minute, President Trump wants to deport illegal immigrants, gut legal immigration and build a wall. The next, he wants to bring in guest workers -- probably from Mexico.
"For the farmers, OK, it's going to get good," Trump recently told supporters in Michigan. "We're going to let your guest workers come in."
About a decade ago, Congress nearly passed immigration reform. Guest workers were the stumbling block. Republicans wanted them, and they wouldn't budge. But Democrats were ordered by organized labor -- which hates competition -- to oppose them.
The idea sounds appealing. We bring in a few hundred thousand temporary workers. When the work is done, they go home.
But there's a catch. As the saying goes, there is nothing more permanent than a temporary worker. Human beings fall in love, get married, have babies and never leave.
Guest workers date back to labor shortages during the Civil War. In 1864, with President Lincoln's support, Congress passed the Act to Encourage Immigration, which let employers recruit foreign workers and pay their way to America.
More guest workers came during World War I.
But the most famous guest workers in U.S. history were the braceros. Congress imported these laborers from Mexico in 1942 to offset labor shortages caused by World War II. Brazo is Spanish for "arm," as in someone who works with his arms.
When the war ended in 1945, the program continued -- for another 19 years. In total, nearly 5 million Mexican workers participated. Congress finally pulled the plug in 1964 amid reports that the braceros were being exploited by employers.
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