Pope’s Departing Message: More Migration

By Joe Guzzardi
February 19, 2016

During his recent six-day trip to Mexico, Pope Francis toured the country, spoke to adoring crowds, and ended his journey with Mass at Ciudad Juárez on the shared United States border.

At the heart of Pope Francis’ border sermon was his urgent plea that the U.S. be more welcoming to migrants, the same message he delivered to Congress last year. Francis told Congress that people need to avoid what he called the common temptation to discard whatever proves troublesome. Instead, the Pope recommended invoking the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Some critics contend that the timing of the Pope’s visit to Mexico was intended to influence the 2016 presidential election that has seen the candidates taking strong immigration positions—pro and con.
 
In recent years, church leaders from different religions have frequently opined on U.S. immigration. Most have shown that they’re either under-informed or look at the issue only from the immigrants’ perspective, and not from the effect it has on the receiving country. Many critics claim that the Pope’s focus should be on the consequences of too much immigration, too quickly. In America, over-immigration has cost billions in taxpayer funded educations, medical care, and social services.
 
Congress has been struggling for the proper balance since the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act that began the huge, nation-changing influx. When he signed the 1965 law, President Lyndon Johnson promised that it would not reshape the nation. But fifty years later, the United States Census Bureau puts the foreign-born population at 45 million, up from 9.6 million in 1965. The 45 million total includes about 12 million illegal aliens and, with no federal immigration policy change on the horizon, will rise even farther for years to come. Even though many are avowed U.S. enemies, Middle Eastern refugees are welcome, too, a prime example of America’s willingness to accept more and more immigration.
 
Reporters covering the Pope’s visit should have asked what specifically Francis wants the U.S. to do, and how he proposes that it be accomplished. After Francis’ speech to Congress last year, Rep. Michael Burgess, (R-Texas), said that by accepting more people every year than the rest of the world combined, the U.S. already does more than its share. Including legal immigrants, illegal immigrants, and guest workers some of whom remain permanently, the total immigrants accepted last year was more than 1.7 million. Burgess asked what the right number should be, a question that immigration advocates routinely refuse to answer.
 
Advocates may dodge the question, but the Pew Research Center has crunched the numbers. Pew projects that by 2060, the foreign-born population will hit 78 million, 18.8 percent of the total U.S. population. The increase will include larger shares of not only Hispanics, but also Asians, Africans, and Middle Easterners.
 
The 2016 electorate will be America’s most diverse. Nearly one-in-three eligible voters (31 percent) will be either Hispanic, Asian, black or another racial or ethnic minority, up from 29 percent in 2012.

The U.S. has had and will continue to have the world’s most inclusive immigration policy, one the Pope should hail for its generosity, not wrongly condemn for doing too little.