Why America Needs Immigration
By: Ivan 4 America
Donald Trump is such a dick. His approach to immigration is emblematic of his broader leadership style: rather than fixing problems, he prefers to blow them up. Immigration is just another example of what happens when we put someone with the temperament of a three-year-old in charge.
No One Thought the Previous Immigration Policy Was Good
To be fair, a handful of far-left outliers may have supported an essentially open border, but no mainstream politician believed our immigration system was functioning well. Instead of crafting a real solution, Trump has effectively halted immigration and is aggressively deporting current immigrants, often disregarding their actual legal status. So why do we need immigration?
Mitigating the Aging Population Crisis
America needs immigrants, it’s a simple matter of demographics. The U.S. has a rapidly aging population. According to Census data, approximately 19% of Americans are over 65, and 11% of those are over 85. By 2035, that number will rise to 24%, and by 2045, it will reach 26%.
Per the CDC, the U.S. fertility rate has fallen to 1.62 births per woman, well below the replacement rate of 2.1. A Brookings study projects that the old-age dependency ratio (retirees per 100 workers) will rise from 28 in 2020 to 53 by 2100, meaning there will be one retiree for every two working-age adults. Without immigration, the U.S. population would begin shrinking by 2033, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Why It Matters
The most obvious challenge posed by an aging population is: Who will take care of all the elderly? With over 25% of the population above 65 and 4% above 85, doctors, nurses, and caregivers will be in critically short supply. In 2019, the average age of newly arrived immigrants was 31 (up from 26 in 2000). By 2045, these immigrants will only be in their 50s and still in the workforce and able to support the aging population.
The less obvious but equally critical issue is Social Security. While it’s not a Ponzi scheme (despite what that tool of a human, tool Elon Musk claims), it’s not an investment program either. Current workers fund today’s retirees. The primary Social Security trust fund is projected to be depleted by 2033, which would trigger an automatic 21% benefit cut.
Here’s the key: Immigration can keep Social Security solvent. Right now, the average employee in contributes around $10,500 to social security. An immigrant may make less so let’s call it $8,000 a year. Each 100,000 additional immigrants per year contributes around $800mm annually. If the USA allowed 2 million immigrants a year, this would add a whopping $16,000,000,000 annually. Enough to pay the average benefit for 8 million Americans. And here’s something the right doesn’t want you to know: Unauthorized immigrants contribute $25.7 billion per year to Social Security but are ineligible for benefits (Bipartisan Policy Center).
Beyond Social Security, immigrants fill critical labor shortages in healthcare, agriculture, technology, and construction.
Fix the System
We are a country of immigrants. The statue of liberty has written “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” Trump has amended that to “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free and we will deport them to a horrible prison in El Salvador without due process.” The overwhelming majority of unauthorized immigrants currently in this country are hard working, and tax paying people who just wanted a better life. Rather than vet these people and provide that opportunity, we have turned our back and on them, destroying lives. There will be unforeseen consequences to these mass deportations.
We need to build a functional immigration infrastructure. Nobody wants an open border, but we must recognize that our country depends on immigration. We need to process more legal immigrants to:
- Replace retiring workers
- Care for the aging population
- Sustain Social Security
In 2025, we’re on track to see the sharpest decline in immigration (legal and otherwise) in history. This short-sighted approach will have devastating consequences, and sooner than we think.