I understand the argument that says welcoming a sudden influx of immigrants and refugees into the United States is the compassionate thing to do to. I also understand the argument that says embracing waves of immigrants is part of what makes America exceptional.
What I don’t understand are the arguments that suggest it is compassionate to protect the flow of cheap, underpaid labor coming up from Central and South America. It requires a special sort of cognitive dissonance to think one is being high-minded when one argues, “Hey, these people will make a terrific underclass!” Yet, this is the argument that Democratic and Republican lawmakers tend to make, even though it is elitist and ignores the economic reality that many American jobs are lost to grossly under-compensated immigrant workers. The argument also seems a bit racist.
