Firstly, thanks, that's the first post on here in quite a while that is an actual engagement, and super thoughtful and well-articulated.
As it happens, my personal position on immigration is pretty simple: the more the merrier. I think I've mentioned before, but my country is in a self-imposed death spiral because it's tiny, the current government's entire raison d'etre is xenophopic protectionism and the aging population is retiring and there's no labour market to fill the social security. Same problem in most western nations, though not all. What we need more than anything is immigration - particularly of young, hungry workers that want to start things. But, the government is elected by primarily old, second or third generation 'locals' that believe the country is for them and everyone else can f*ck back off. Sounds familiar right?
There are only two solutions to the demographic bomb that is starting to go off - AI solves all our ills and we can introduce a UBI sufficient to make everyone comfortable (yeah not so likely) or we leverage immigration to move workers to places they're most needed.
The US has slightly better demographics than say, Italy or Germany, but still not sufficient. Plus it's an enormous country, physically, has tons of resources and most importantly - has towns all over the place that are dying. Ie, perfect places to setup new immigrants. Obviously there are huge issues with the current economy and what jobs that necessitates and rewards, but the opportunity is there.
So if I were in charge, I'd mobilise a huge hiring spree, get good people in the right roles in immigration processing and massively expand the function so it could not only deal with the influx but deal with it faster, as well as helping locate people where they're most needed. Further, while I'm in charge, I'd force elite universities to massively increase their admissions and issue loads more international visas and subsequent work visas to get in and keep more of the best young minds.
However, people with my views aren't in power, nor have power. Instead, the Biden adminsitration is crippled by a house that would never, EVER provide more funding for handling border crossings and immigration. The GOP want to see huge lines, people in cages, over-worked, stressed border agents doing horrible things. That's their whole schtick. Further, Biden himself is supposed to be there representing his constituents. And more and more, Americans are sounding like people from my little country: America for Americans. The days of the huddled masses are over, I'd wager less than 50% of under 35 year-olds even know what the inscription is on the statue of liberty, and probably think it was built in the bronx.
So, that's where I sit in terms of what I expect from Biden. As I've tried to articulate, I want a totally different world. But given Biden's actual ability to do anything coupled with what his potential voters WANT from him on immigration - and most importantly given the alternative in November - I totally understand why things are playing out like they are.
There is a world where a huge media campaign highlighting that (reminder
America is built on the backs of immigrants. It is an immigrant country. Most of the most major brands have had immigrants at the forefront of success. Athletes, rock stars, movie stars all come from a huge diverse melting-pot of places. Even just calling out the actual demographics of the place would probably shock some people. We could feature amazing stories of asylum seekers bravely giving up their whole lives to see safety in the US and then turning that into amazing contributions to society. But that's all hard. Maybe the next generation will be better, we have to hope so.