Journal Entry #2: On Immigration

Description: Analyze the reading. Response should be one to two paragraphs.

Journal #2: “Our Real Immigration Problem”

This article, “Our Real Immigration Problem” written by Bret Stephens of The New York Times begins his article describing how large the country is as seen through an airplane window. Stephens discusses in his article the need for more immigrants in the United States rather than a push against an influx of immigrants. As said by Stephens (2018), “America’s immigration crisis right now is that we don’t have enough immigrants” (2018, p.2). Stephens is talking about the Trumpian mindset against the incoming flow of new immigrants in the country, describing how in reality America needs more people. Stephens is going against what the President has set forth as the “immigration crisis” and reversing it to show how the country is in reality an empty space needed to be filled. 

Stephens uses statistics in various areas to show the reader how the United States is rather an empty country than one overrun by immigrants, as thought by some Americans. Stephens gives six examples of how the economy could deplete without an influx of new persons in the country. As described by Stephens, some facts to consider when regarding immigrants in this country is, “The U.S. fertility rate has fallen to a record low”, “Americans are getting older...by 2050 close to 22.1 percent of the population [will be over the age of 65], “labor shortages… between 2002 and 2014, accounting for $3 billion a year in revenue losses”, “Rural, or small town America is emptying-out”, “The immigrant share of the U.S. population is not especially large”, and finally “ immigrants — legal or otherwise — make better citizens than native-born Americans...More entrepreneurial. More church-going. Less likely to have kids out of wedlock. Far less likely to commit crime” (2018, p.2-3). These are ways in which Stephens brings the reader’s attention to the positive benefits that incoming immigrants actually have on the U.S. Through these six examples, Stephens shows that immigrants can save the country from an economical “bust” and rather improve the country via various ways.