President Joe Biden’s newly issued executive order allowing hundreds of thousands of spouses of U.S. citizens without legal immigration status to apply for permanent residency and eventually citizenship without having to first leave the nation is a victory for the productive, valuable Americans who have had to wait in line for years — and a win for decency, common sense and humanity. Some Republicans quickly said Biden had exceeded his authority, but for years, courts have generally accepted presidential orders on immigration without much pushback.
Yet it’s time to move past narrow views on immigration to look at the big picture. With birth rates declining in virtually every prosperous nation — and as the number of retirees relying on Social Security- and Medicare-type programs gradually begins to rival the number of people paying taxes for these programs — the world is at the dawn of an era in which immigrants are in demand. In Japan, where the population has been declining since 2011, the steadily growing toll this is taking on the nation’s welfare system, workforce and economy is seen as a frustrating, ruinous nightmare.
Yes, of course, the U.S. needs border security. But to avoid Japan’s fate, Americans also need to grasp the crucial importance of immigrants to our future.
