This week on What's The Frequency, we delve into a big topic in the first week of the President Donald Trump term, with issues related to immigration.
Trump is promising mass deportations of people in the US without legal status, and that possibility also informs the national discussion on immigration today.
That discussion was roundly aired in the 2024 presidential contest. It is important to note that some people say they defend immigrants coming to the US, while adding that it should only be done legally.
Others want to reduce the number of people who immigrate to America via legal means.
Against all that backdrop, for this episode or What’s The Frequency, we discuss the value of immigration and immigrants.
That discussion took place in Sioux City at the Mary J. Tregalia Community House, a facility was founded in 1921 to help struggling foreign-born people become U.S. citizens and build better lives in Siouxland.
The guests are Executive Director Barb Newhouse, plus Andrea Paret, one of agency’s Department of Justice representatives who works with clients on a range of legal immigration matters, plus Anna Vu, a client of the Tregalia Community House, who took English Language Learner classes as part of her path in becoming a citizen.
They said people in Siouxland are definitely afraid of possible immigration raids.
The Storm Lake Police Department is pursuing the same track as Sioux City police, saying in a time when many people are scared of deportation raids, that police will not stop people to determine their citizenship status.
Sioux City Police Department officials on Thursday said even though Sioux City is not a sanctuary city, officers do not and will not ask about immigration status when dealing with residents, because to do so might silence victims and witnesses.
Immigration has been one of the ways by which the United State has grown its population. Back in the 1800s when the nation was less than a century old, people from a host of European nations, plus other places, came to see America as a place of prosperity and a good place to live.
Some were seeking to flee oppressive governments, or to get away from places with subpar economies.
So they started moving to the U.S., typically at first coming past the Statue of Liberty in New York City to be processed through the steps of living here and often becoming naturalized citizens.
As time went on, the places from which people migrated to the U.S. broadened, and the races of those people arriving became more diverse. Many people saw that as a great aspect of America, although others pushed back on whether immigration is a net positive.
Immigration has become a fraught topic for some people.
Back in the 1920s in the novel “Babbitt” by Sinclair Lewis, the main character who sees himself as a upstanding businessman, often voices his anti-immigration stances, and worries about how immigrants are being assimilated into society.
While many people today still share that view of George Babbitt, others see the benefits of immigration.
The U.S. has the biggest population of immigrants in the entire world, and people who like that point to some outcomes such as providing a better educated workforce, greater occupational specialization, and higher overall economic vitality.
Culturally, immigration can help reverse low population growth, as the number of children born in families drops in many areas.
The Tregalia Community House people said immigration also broadens the ways people live, as the newcomers bring with them distinctive customs, languages, and values.
*Click on the audio link above to hear the entire show.
What's The Frequency, Episode 50
