The U.S. should welcome legal immigrants -- there's plenty of room
But the United States has a population of 327 million. One million is fewer than one-third of 1% of the total population. That's a pathetic showing for a fabled land of immigrants.
America could take in 3.27 million legal immigrants each year -- just 1% of the total U.S. population -- and civilization would not crumble.
Yet my main concern isn't about numbers. It's about motives. Given the spotty history of U.S. immigration policy, we have to be careful that -- when we settle on limits of any kind -- we don't base those decisions on our fears or prejudices and camouflage them under a vague notion of occupancy rates.
The reader signed off: "As I see it, the USA is full, nothing to do with racist, nativist, white people, just a matter of logistics."
Don't you believe it. Throughout history, we've seen this movie over and over again. Folks like these aren't worried that the United States is taking in too many people. They're worried that we're taking in too many of the wrong people.
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Ruben Navarrette's email address is ruben@rubennavarrette.com. His daily podcast, "Navarrette Nation," is available through every podcast app.
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