Immigration Policy That’s Not Only Heartless but Economically Damaging to the US

Don the Con’s edict that 200,ooo fugitive Salvadorans must return to El Salvador next year has been denounced for its heartlessness and the effect it would have of the 193,000 US-born children of these “temporary” residents.  That much has been pointed out.  What has not been emphasized is the negative effect that the forced emigration of a quarter of a million people (counting US-born minors) is an economic disaster, both for them and for the US economy.  Don the Con does not seem to comprehend that every adult living in the US contributes to the economy; their employers pass to the federal Treasury a portion of their paychecks earmarked for Social Security in addition to their income taxes and this money goes directly to pay current retirees who themselves paid into the system for years.  The younger a worker is, the longer she or he will pay into the system; it matters nothing whether that worker comes from El Salvador or is a Native American.

Thus Don’s policy will directly contribute to diminution of the Gross Domestic Product, as well as motivating push-back among voters with relatives among those to be re-displaced.  Don’t bother to tell him though– he is psychotically anti-immigrant and so far to the right wing that he has hit the wall of anti-political correctness.

For a dangerous period of time, the international status of the United States of America will be at risk.  Tilting towards autocratic regimes such as Russia, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, and the like, and destroying trade relationships, Don has alienated the traditional allies of the US.  Withdrawing from active participation in Southeast Asia will encourage China to proceed at full speed with its continent-spanning development efforts that will ensnare many weak governments in an economic hegemony– and make it possible to drive an automobile from the west end of Europe to Beijing, following the old Silk Road.  If the US fails to participate in development and push back against Chinese censorship of the Internet, China will take over half of the world.