I wrote the following back in January of this year, “Democrat Party leaders have to have a long conversation as to whether they want to keep helping people coming here illegally or help those already here.” Here is the Post.
There is a reason this country has resorted to mass deportation of “Illegals.” It happened in the 1930s and again in the 1950s. Both times, it was because of the scarcity of work or economic hardships; in 1930, it was the Great Depression. In the 1950s, they had to find jobs for the veterans returning home from the war. They had allowed illegal immigration as they needed workers for the war effort.
So, we find ourselves again at the threshold of the circle of history, deporting undesirable people.
Will the deportation policy help the economy? Most experts think not, but we will find out. Will the day laborers who sit outside the Home Depots get rid of some of their competition? Will they be dragged in on the net that Trump will so be casting to catch the “Illegals?”
Danilo didn’t have a vote in Tuesday’s elections, but like several of the day laborers who spoke to the American-Statesman, he was optimistic about the results of the presidential race. A Donald Trump victory, Danilo said, seemed to be the country’s best shot at an economic boom to recover from the downturn he has felt since the start of the pandemic.
The Republican former president’s return to the White House appeared to be Danilo’s best chance at a sense of economic stability, which inflation has corroded — and worth the potentially increased risk of deportation, he said. This time around, or at least on the morning when the election results were still novel, a Trump presidency had the scent of opportunity.
“More investment. If things get moving, that creates work,” Danilo said in Spanish about what he expected. Besides, he said, “Trump wants to deport those who do bad things. … I haven’t broken any laws.”
Several men, including Víctor and Danilo, said scarcity of work and the growing competition can make the day laborers resentful of each other. Since Trump was first elected, the number of immigrant men who wait for work in the Home Depot parking lot has grown and diversified. What was mostly Mexican and Central American immigrants now include Venezuelans, Haitians and Cubans. It makes both men open to Trump’s calls to reduce the number of crossings at the border.
