Senator Marco Rubio, a product of US immigration who believes in America’s great immigration tradition, argues that immigration has changed with globalization and subsequent “open borders” policies, putting the nation at a disadvantage. In his new book, Decade of Decay: How Spoiled Elites Blown America’s Legacy of Liberty, Security and Prosperity, Rubio explains how newcomers have served as a convenient source of cheap labor, upending long-standing patterns of assimilation and integration.
Rubio believes that many elites prefer to import cheap labor and buy out Americans with government-provided cash welfare programs rather than provide American workers with higher wages and better working conditions. This policy agreement accelerated the decline of national identity and patriotism. Under the Biden administration, efforts to open the traditional borders to unchecked immigrants will only accelerate.
The United States embarked on a series of initiatives to globalize its economy in the early 1990s, signing the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1992, and hundreds of US companies set up operations across Asia and Latin America. However, with economic borders now wide open, there is a parallel move to liberalize immigration to the United States, and millions of immigrants have arrived in the United States in huge numbers, illegally and permanently.
The offshoring of American jobs continued rapidly despite the hollowing out of communities. In the years since, the Democrats have continued to accept cheap imported labor, while something equally corrosive has begun to emerge. Consider, for example, the welcome received by Rep. Luis Gutierrez of Illinois when he made the rather memorable declaration, “There is only one loyalty, and it is to the immigrant community.”
Rubio believes that there are actually two immigrant communities in the United States. Groups that are ignoring US laws and trying to change US traditions are getting the most attention in our national debate. This is why so much attention is spent on amnesty for those staying here illegally. Activists like Gutierrez and legacy media tend to ignore or suppress other groups.