We are a nation of immigrants because generations of foreigners traveled here yearning to be free. Chasing big dreams, immigrants have made the United States among the smartest, most productive, most diverse countries in human history. We owe immigrants real hope, not the false promise of free-for-all border crossings that increasingly kill them.

Immigrants come here to liberate themselves from racism, religious persecution, communism, socialism and all varieties of corrupt authoritarian controls that oppress human achievement.

Without generations of regulated immigration, we would not recognize this country as the world's host of dreams come true — the society best known for lifesaving technology, productivity, creativity, energy and all forms of innovation.

When the world needs a vaccine, the United States comes through because we're a collection of the world's best minds. Whether we talk about athletes, scientists, engineers, artists, politicians or business leaders, immigrants or their immediate offspring make up a disproportionate source of our best and brightest.

Immigrants make up more than half of our country's workers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers. Immigrants comprise a third of U.S. practicing physicians.

Without immigrants to the United States, it is hard to imagine our abundance of food. Immigrants provide more than 70% of U.S. farm labor. Immigrants launch at least 25% of startup businesses.

For these reasons and more, the humanitarian crisis at the southern border is more than just a sad look at men, women and children needlessly suffering. It makes a mockery of an orderly immigration system designed to help the people who come here to succeed for themselves and the country they chose as their home.

The blame belongs to both major political parties. Neither, when given full control, has managed to produce meaningful immigration reform.

President Joe Biden and his fellow Democrats — with full control of the federal government — have exacerbated a longstanding problem by creating the false image of an open border. They have done so without a plan for safe, orderly, controlled migration.

Because of Biden's border chaos, we see children trafficked by cartels that sell them into sex slavery. We see the smuggling of fentanyl that has led to the largest cause of death among adults 18-45.

We see, for the first time in the country's history, significant concentrations of Latin Americans living in homeless encampments throughout U.S. cities for lack of the skills and education required to succeed in a capitalistic republic.

At the same time Biden and allies have rolled out the welcome mat, they have left in place traditional barriers to asylum. They have welcomed immigrants to the border in unprecedented numbers without a plan for processing them, screening them or assisting them with integration into a society founded to reward success.

In addition to the suffering seen in the massive and growing encampments of immigrants invited by false hope, we see death — the deaths of immigrants who could not survive a system that essentially invited them without a plan.

During the days of border construction and presidential rhetoric discouraging mass illegal immigration, border authorities found 300 bodies along the border in 2019 — 300 too many. That number dropped to 247 in 2020 and was in decline as the federal government discouraged illegal border crossings.

This year — as determined by Gazette sister publication The Washington Examiner — border authorities have recovered more than 609 bodies along the border. What had fallen to 247 annual deaths two years ago could exceed 1,000 by the end of the fiscal year in October.

By nearly every measure, insincere compassion for immigrants has made our border a symbol of cruelty. If it doesn't leave our fellow humans stranded in the squalor of shanty towns, it leaves them dead after long trips in the heat with little water, food, safety or legitimate hope of a productive future in our country.

When voting in November, have real compassion for our fellow humans yearning to live free. Look for candidates who pitch logical plans for making our immigration system an asset for this country and those who long to live here. Immigrants deserve honesty and a safe, legal shot at living the American dream — not the false hope of more border bedlam.

REPRINTED FROM THE COLORADO SPRINGS GAZETTE

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