Shooting Off Our Right Foot

My spouse and I are fortunate enough to be annually invited to a coastal resort in southern California by a family friend. The good company, the beauty and power of the Pacific Ocean, as well as the pleasant weather are offers we can’t refuse. For natives of Lansford, North Dakota, and Thief River Falls, Minnesota, who grew up either being or surrounded by Scandinavians, it is impossible not to notice California’s reliance on the Hispanic community.

In the Imperial Valley between Yuma, Arizona, and San Diego, as well as the farms between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara, it is impossible to imagine how those farms could function without Hispanic farm workers. At our favorite Italian restaurant in suburban San Diego, with the exception of one of the bartenders and the piano player, all of the kitchen staff and servers are Hispanic. So are virtually all of the staff at the coastal resort where we were staying. Approximately thirty-five percent of the population of San Diego County is Hispanic. How many of them are illegal and how many aren’t is a good question. How would one know just by looking at them? In Thief River Falls, one couldn’t differentiate at first glance whether someone was a Swede or a Norwegian.

It is quite apparent that if all of the undocumented Hispanics in California were deported, its economy would collapse. California’s gross domestic product is roughly fourteen percent of America’s gross domestic product. If California were a separate country, it would have the world’s fourth-largest economy, surpassing that of Japan. In other words, California is too big to fail.

I suspect that most clear-thinking Americans are disappointed by Biden’s failure to secure the border as well as Trump’s catering to the lowest common denominator. I can only wonder at the disappointment of Republican Senator Lankford of Oklahoma, who tried to forge a compromise bill regarding immigration only to have it trashed by those wanting to keep the issue alive as a wedge in the last election.

Immigrants are part of our American fabric. With the exception of the Lakota, Chippewa, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara, so are the rest of North Dakotans. Hopefully, more of those who are persons of faith will put their faith into action by showing compassion for our fellow human beings, notwithstanding the color of their skin.

What America is, has been, and is doing now is self-destructive. Northern Europeans are not flooding to America to work in our fields, hotels, yards, and restaurants. Our leaders are either catering to the fringes or are too weak to speak up. Will we continue to vote for division rather than solutions? What’s happening is embarrassing. Enough.