Author:  R. Alan Harrop, Ph.D   

When this country was founded, not only were we a country of immigrants, but we needed immigrants to expand and populate the vast expanse of the continent. This is no longer the case. The recent election of a Marxist immigrant as mayor of New York City (NYC) would not have occurred without unrestricted immigration. No country can retain its cultural and political integrity when overwhelmed by excessive and nonselective immigration such as we have been experiencing. We could take the position that what happens in New York City is not our concern since we do not reside there, but this would be a serious mistake as I will show. Let’s start with some facts.

In 1970, 18% of the residents of NYC were not born in this country, today that figure is 38%. Zohran Mamdani received 70% of the votes of foreign-born residents in his election as mayor, compared to less than 40% of American born residents. He was born in Uganda and still holds citizenship there as well as being a naturalized U.S. citizen. He has refused to renounce his Ugandan citizenship. He is a practicing Muslim and an admitted Marxist who does not reflect the traditional values of this country. Another example of immigrants taking over and not assimilating is a city of 28,000 people, Hamtramck, Michigan. In 1970, 95% of the residents were American born; today it is less than 40%. Muslims account for 70% of the population. Their mayor was born in Yemen, and their police chief and all six city council members are Muslims. Likewise in California, a state that elected Ronald Reagan as governor for two terms, the demographics have shifted. In 1970, the foreign-born residents represented about 12% of their population; now it is 38% and is solid leftist.

This disturbing trend is no accident. In the mid-1920s, a Republican Congress and President implemented a law that severely reduced the number of legal immigrants over concern that we were admitting more than could be assimilated as patriotic Americans. The law established maximum quotas for foreign countries. This law was in place until a Democrat Congress and President in 1965 passed the Immigration and Nationality Act that essentially eliminated immigration quotas. In addition, President Reagan in 1985 agreed to an ill-advised amnesty agreement that permitted 3 million illegals to stay in this country. A strict closing of the border was supposed to be implemented (which never happened). More recently, the Biden administration essentially opened the borders to all comers, resulting in a flood of an estimated 20 million people in four years. Europe has already experienced the negative impact of too much immigration– a dramatic change in their cultures making them unrecognizable from what they have been historically.

So, what do we do to prevent losing our culture, traditions, and ultimately country? First, we accelerate and complete the deportation of all illegal aliens. No exceptions. Not just those with criminal backgrounds. Second, we reinstate a system of quotas for legal immigration to ensure that we select those who are committed to accepting our culture and values. Third, we significantly reduce or eliminate student and work visas, especially from non-Western countries. Fourth, we stop allowing immigrants to receive welfare payments and free medical care and go back to the old system where all immigrants were required to show that they had access to sufficient resources to support themselves and not be a burden on our country.

If we do not take significant action, what we have seen in NYC will spread throughout our country and destroy the very fabric of our culture and traditions. We need to elect officials who recognize and are will to make the hard decisions to deal with this oncoming crisis.