By Brian Lyman, Alabama Reflector
I’m tired of the hateful nonsense directed at immigrants.
I’m disappointed that hardly any elected officials — either in Alabama or in our federal government — defend immigration as a vital, constructive force in our country.
I’m done with the idea that I have to treat people waving signs saying “Mass Deportation Now” and cheering bloody-minded attacks on peaceful communities as good-faith political actors.
And I despise the fact that we allow the most paranoid people in the country to set the terms of the immigration “debate.”
I’m fed up with the stubborn delusions so many Alabamians cling to about foreign-born people, who make up just 4% of the state population. That includes the dehumanizing and misleading assertions that they commit more crimes than native-born Americans (they do not).
According to the U.S. Census, immigrants in Alabama are more likely to be married than most Alabamians; are more likely to be in the workforce; are more likely to make less than native-born Alabamians and are more likely to fork over more of their income to pay rent each month.
I’m frustrated that none of that matters when someone lights a fire on social media and calls for panic.
It comes from former President Donald Trump and slithers its way down to our state officials.
Lt. Gov. Will Ainsworth, in a chest-thumping letter to Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas earlier this month, claimed participants in a federal program for immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela were increasing the HIV rate in the state (they are not).
Attorney General Steve Marshall went to Sylacauga recently to meet with law enforcement amid rumors about a small number of Haitian immigrants living in the area.
Our attorney general acknowledged no reports of “criminal activity” in Sylacauga. But he felt compelled to suggest that Haitian immigrants were leading to an uptick in crime in Marshall County (something the Marshall County sheriff said last month that he’s not aware of).
Demonizing Haitian immigrants is an old, ugly tradition in the United States. Haitians have been subjected to different legal standards for decades. The federal government classified Haitian immigrants fleeing the violent Duvalier regime in the late 1970s as economic migrants, not political refugees, denying them asylum.
When another coup took place in that country in 1991, the federal government subjected immigrants who were HIV positive to a higher standard of asylum screening — without allowing attorneys to be present — then put them behind barbed wire at Guantanamo Bay. Even the government conceded that the medical facilities were inadequate to treat the people there.
It’s almost as old as Alabama politicians attacking small communities. According to al.com, there were about 2,500 Haitian immigrants in the state in 2022.
That’s a tiny number in a state of 5.1 million people. But not so small that the endlessly cruel gaze of Alabama officials can’t find them.
It’s obvious why they do it. Immigration fears play well in Republican primaries. But all this talk has a price.
In Ohio, the Republican ticket’s lies about the Haitian community in Springfield led to bomb threats at schools and hospitals. Here in Alabama, the attacks have alarmed Albertville’s Haitian community.
No one deserves that.
We should be welcoming these men and women. Because immigration is good. Immigration is what keeps our nation going. And immigration could help address problems we see in rural Alabama.
People coming to this country create jobs. Immigrants pay hundreds of billions of dollars to federal, state and local governments. Even those who don’t have full citizenship status, and who cannot access federal or state services, pay $50 billion in taxes each year.
Immigration creates issues, of course. Not the violent, racist fantasies anti-immigrant politicians try to sell, but the familiar problems growing communities face: making housing available and ensuring schools can accommodate children.
Those are real challenges. But they’re challenges that competent, sincere public officials can address, particularly if the tax base is expanding. It may not have the political appeal of spewing despicable nonsense about pets, but it’s a lot more constructive.
And the problems from population decline are far worse. In the Black Belt, where some areas have seen population decline since 1940, newcomers could keep schools open or bring more health care providers in, cutting the distance elderly people need to travel to see a doctor.
Encouraging immigration doesn’t guarantee that people will come. You need something to attract folks, particularly jobs. But areas of the state that have lagged in economic performance could only prosper by welcoming new residents.
Even though Alabama’s immigrant communities grew during the 2010s, the percentage of foreign-born people in the population is well below the 14% we see nationwide. Most go to other southern states, like Georgia and Florida.
That’s unfortunate. Immigration is how we build strong and prosperous communities. Alabama would be better with more immigrants.
And when state officials feel no hesitation in demonizing them, we are far worse.
