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News broke yesterday about President Trump that has had people talking non-stop ever since.
Yeah, I know, it seems like that could be the opening sentence of a column virtually any day of the week.
This time, the reason the president has been the topic of conversation almost everywhere is because he reportedly referred to nations like El Salvador, Haiti, and several African countries as “s---tholes.”
Immediately, people came out in droves to rip the president for being an insensitive racist.
Being that I am an immigrant myself, I feel like my perspective on this may be different than some other people.
I’ll start by saying this: If what President Trump meant is that the people in those countries are worthless and bringing them into the United States is bad, then that is a disgraceful thing to say and he should apologize immediately.
If what he meant is that the countries he spoke of are countries that have terrible living conditions that people would love to escape from, well, then he simply needs to be less profane and choose his words better.
Google Haiti for example, and you will see some horrifying poverty statistics. This is not a reflection on the people of Haiti at all. I’m sure most of them are perfectly fine human beings. But the country itself is an absolute mess for a long time, and there’s really no denying that.
The question here should never be one of race or ethnicity, but instead, of culture and values.
Regardless of where you live, my criteria for whether or not you should be in the United States is simple: Do you believe in capitalism and a constitutional government? In other words, do you believe in western values?
If the answer is yes, then great, come on in. If not, you can stay where you are.
America can never have enough hard-working people who want nothing more than to assimilate to our culture and do everything humanly possible to succeed. But for those who have no desire to do those things, we do not need you.
Ultimately, this is what we should be focusing on with the immigration debate. Who is going to come and make a positive contribution to society is all that matters, so let’s ensure that those we let in fit that description. Which country they come from, which race they are, or who they are related to should mean far less than whether or not they would make ideal American citizens.
This is a very complicated subject and there is no easy fix. But if we can all agree that the above paragraph is what our immigration system should be based on, then at least we have a solid place to start.