In all the hysterics that have occurred in the last 24 to 48 hours about Trump and shithole countries, and before that debates over DACA, Dreamers, amnesty, and chain migration, there is a YUGE central question that gets totally skipped over.

Who should be the primary beneficiary of immigration?

That is the real question between the left and right on the issue of immigration.

I will acknowledge that a leaked memo from a high ranking Democrat insider said that Dreamers becoming citizens is critical for Democrat electoral success – the DNC needs illegals to be able to vote to win elections.  I don’t believe that everybody on the Left is that cynically calculating on illegal immigration.

It’s worse than that, they are true believers in one of the answers to the above question.

So what are the answers?

1) America/Americans should be the primary beneficiary of immigration.

2) Immigrants themselves should be the primary beneficiary of immigration.

Fundamentally, Conservatives believe in Answer No. 1 and Liberals/Progressives believe in Answer No. 2.

This is evident in the arguments and policies made by each side.

Conservatives genuinely love America in an as-is condition and want to protect her and her citizens.  The Conservative attitude on immigration is that people from all over the world can come to America but America has the right to decide who and come here and under what conditions.  Conservatives priorities people who have the best chance for free market success in the US, e.g. people who have skills and talents, as well as a personal drive to succeed.  Conservatives want immigrants to come in at a manageable rate so that they can be integrated into American society.

It’s likely then that the immigrant from around the world who comes here will prosper more here than they will in their home land, but the primary beneficiary of that immigrant coming here is America, with the addition of another taxpaying, prosperous, resident adding to the economy.

On the overhand…

Liberals don’t like America as-is – they hate patriotic songs, the 4th of July, the troops, really any expression of patriotism.  They think that America is a racist, bigoted, xenophobic, nation, so why would they want people to emigrate to it?  They believe that America got rich from colonialism and the exploitation of other (browner skin) nations.  This is the central theme of Howard Zinn’s People’s History of the United States.

The Liberal perspective on immigration is that the poorest people from the poorest nations should come here, in droves, as a form of reparations.  Overall, more than half of immigrants on are goverment assistance.  Among certain groups, like Middle Eastern refugees favored by Obama, over 90% are on food assistance and 68% are on cash welfare.  The net cost to California for illegal immigration is $23 Billion dollars.

The people the Left wants to import are the least likely to succeed.  They are the poorest and most poorly educated people from the shittiest of the shithole countries, who are almost guaranteed to need to live for some period of time on taxpayer funded, government assistance.

But if you believe that America got rich by exploiting poorer nations, than this type of immigration policy is just giving poor, brown skin, people their money back.  America’s economy must be sacrifices for the benefit of immigrants.

There is a reason why, when listening to the Democrats, you get the idea that every Dreamer is a valedictorian who is going to cure cancer then pilot a spaceship to the moon, and the general sense that they value illegal immigrants more than citizens.

So…

Saying “we don’t want people from these shitholes” to a Conservative is saying “we don’t want illiterate, unskilled people to come here who are going to live on welfare and not contribute anything to America.”

Perhaps there is a better way of conveying that sentiment.  My best friend is the American born son of immigrants from Venezuela.  They have degrees in petroleum engineering and have done well in the US.  Azerbaijan is a poor nation, but my undergrad department head was a Soviet educated petroleum engineer from there.  I believe that we should admit people from poor nations, but they should be the best and brightest who can come here and put their knowledge and skills to building a better America.  I’ll take a Brazilian surgeon, the gang member can stay behind.

Saying “we don’t want people from these shitholes” to a Liberal is saying “America stole their money making them more and now we want them to stay there because we’re racist.

Either you believe that when immigrants come here they should add to the power of America’s economy or they should be able to live of handouts of America’s largess.

There is no compromise between these two positions.