The U.S. now has less than three people working for every person receiving Social Security. The ratio was 42-1 in 1940. ISTOCKPHOTOPresident Joe Biden’s newly issued executive order allowing hundreds of thousands of spouses of U.S. citizens without legal immigration status toand eventually citizenship without having to first leave the nation is a victory for the productive, valuable Americans who have had to wait in line for years — and a win for decency, common sense and humanity.
Yet it’s time to move past narrow views on immigration to look at the big picture. With birth rates declining in virtually every prosperous nation — and as the number of retirees relying on Social Security- and Medicare-type programs gradually begins to rival the number of people paying taxes for these programs — the world is at the dawn of an era in which immigrants.
Yes, of course, the U.S. needs border security. But to avoid Japan’s fate, Americans also need to grasp the crucial importance of immigrants to our future.