Immigration: A Letter to my Representatives

As a voting constituent and Montana resident of nearly 30 years, like many of my representatives, I descend from immigrants who came to this country for a better life in the mid-19th and early 20th century. With today's higher population, welcoming of immigrants must be done wisely and strategically, but states such as Montana can absorb additional population, and in fact, states such as Idaho, Kansas, and Missouri have expressed concern over declining populations. While some regions of the country may be saturated, these and many other states may continue to benefit from immigration.

I have personally met a number of refugees or immigrants who have moved to northwest Montana in recent years and find them to be smart, hard working people, who are ready and willing to become contributing members of our society. In addition, we have countless businesses in our area that are having trouble recruiting sufficient staff to keep their doors open full time, causing many to reduce days and hours, reducing their own income potential as well as service to the community. Managing legal and humane pathways to citizenship for immigrants would provide people who are willing to work at lower paid service jobs and contribute to social security and numerous other benefits to our society, such as contributing to economic growth not only by increasing the labor force, but also boosting consumer spending, and more.

I am concerned about President Trump's campaign promises of mass deportation and halting refugee resettlement and other programs.  Although not well circulated in the media, it has recently come to my attention that the Biden administration implemented strict policies for strengthening border protection, such as building relationships with other countries in both South and North America encouraging them to accommodate refugees thus relieving pressure on the U.S. It would make a lot of sense to continue addressing the root causes of immigration while we ensure humane treatment of asylum seekers and prevent separation of family members. (Blog readers can hear a summary on what Biden-Harris have done here).

I am greatly concerned for the safety of immigrants and refugees who have legally arrived in the U.S. through appropriate vetting channels. Please ensure policies are in place to protect Dreamers and legally sponsored immigrants to prevent their deportation. I strongly urge you to create bipartisan policies that are secure, orderly, and compassionate for Afghans, Ukrainians, Haitians, etc., Dreamers, asylum seekers, families, and essential workers. 

I strongly believe all humans should be treated with dignity and respect, and there is no place for torture, starvation, or denial of basic life-saving treatment in a country such as the United States of America. Our country benefits from the immigrants who are already here. Do not change the rules on those who have already arrived through legal channels. Use common sense and humane policies to manage the situation moving forward. 

Lastly, I do not support wasting taxpayer dollars on a border wall that is environmentally hazardous to wildlife, and a poor attempt at putting a band-aid on a world-wide issue that must be handled far more strategically such as the Biden administration has been quietly implementing in recent years.

I appreciate your action in moving swiftly on this topic to ensure protections for our immigrants and refugees are put into place within the next two months. Thank you for your time.

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Brene’ Brown Question #5: What is a leadership lesson that you keep having to learn over and over again? My answer: Between people who like to have all of the information before making a decision and those who prefer to get the decision made and course correct later, I am in the latter camp. There are certain situations where it gets me into trouble. I may have 95% of the information I need and just be waiting for one person to respond to get me the last piece. Too many times, I think I can guess their answer and jump the gun, finalizing the email or document too soon just so I can be finished with it when I would have been better off waiting until the next day to get that last response. Because, all too often, my guess is wrong, and people get annoyed when you ask a question, and then don’t wait for their response. It’s a lesson I have had to re-learn repeatedly, and maybe at last, I will finally get it down.
What is your answer?