By Mick Early

Guest Column

Immigration has historically been a hot topic in the United States. This moment is certainly no exception, but let’s look at it from an honest and historical perspective, because current debate over the subject has become quite unhinged.

When the Puritans came to this country to escape persecution, it sounded like a great idea, until they started persecuting anybody who disagreed with them. Fast forward to the mid-1800s and millions of Irish fleeing a genocide (conveniently mislabeled a famine) being perpetrated upon them. They arrived on what have been called Coffin Ships, such were the conditions on these vessels. Many thousands died at sea and thousands more were buried in mass graves on Grosse Isle, Quebec, among other places. Those who were fortunate enough to survive were greeted with disdain and discrimination. Anti-Catholic mobs desecrated their churches in a frenzy of sectarianism led by The Know Nothing movement, much like today’s Christian Nationalists who so efficiently spread fear and misinformation using modern technology.

Consider Springfield, Ohio, where lies are inflaming calls for deportation of legal residents, bomb threat calls to schools, and ridiculous claims of immigrants eating household pets.

If Trump is reelected, Project 2025 will go into effect on Day One. Project 2025 calls for the mass deportation of immigrants, which is really just a dog whistle to instill fear in the uninformed. Hitler used it all too well in the 1920s and ’30s to inculcate the belief that “others” were the source of all woes. 

That is not to say we don’t have an immigration problem. In fact, there was a recent bill in Congress that attempted to deal with it. Guess what happened to that? Trump instructed his minions to kill it, because, if passed, it would deprive him the ability to use the issue as a cudgel to instill fear and disinformation.

Here in Maine individuals and businesses have already seen the effects of bad immigration policy. It used to be that industries, such as hospitality, agriculture, and construction, could rely on migrant labor to get them through their busiest season. These days, many businesses are unable to operate full-time due to a lack of migrant workers. In the West, farmers can’t get enough people to pick their crops. Produce is literally rotting in the fields. 

The vast majority of immigrants coming here are fleeing violence or government collapse, while desperately trying to provide for their children. Some who call themselves Christian are calling for mass deportation of young people who have gained status under the Dreamer Act and the dismantling of the Department of Homeland Security. How is this supposed to help our society at large?

It’s a statistical fact that immigrants add to national economic wellbeing. Without them, we would have negative population growth, which in turn leads to negative economic growth. The vast majority pay taxes, whether they are legal or not. They are not rapists or drug dealers, nor are they eating your pets.

It is indeed ironic to see the MAGA extremists invoke the name of Ronald Reagan, who as president signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1985, which led to the legalization of millions of illegal immigrants. I was one of the beneficiaries of this act and am confident I have contributed to this country ever since. I did not take anybody’s job and paid taxes even while undocumented.

It is time to be honest about this topic. MAGA extremists who are proposing all these actions are in reality racist and sectarian — and peddling fear in place of hope or progress.

Mick Early is a resident of Denmark.