MARK DEVOLDER
Los Alamos

There has been considerable news lately about immigration and the integrity of (or lack of integrity of) American borders. Immigrants crossing the border have been bused, flown, etc. to various cities throughout America. The cities are having issues with where to house the immigrants, how to feed them, etc. In some cases, there are also crime-related issues.

To me this issue seems similar to the great migrations which occurred in America during the 1930’s Depression.

During the Depression, the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) was created to provide employment to a considerable number of American citizens. I believe something similar is needed today in order to address the immigration issue.

Due to the effort to suppress fires in America, our forests have been overgrown with excessive vegetation for more than 100 years. With global warming, there have been wildfires all over America. A huge effort requiring many workers is needed to clear out excessive vegetation, harvest usable timber and build roads in difficult terrain to access timber resources and combat wildfires.

Enormous stands of timber rights in America have been purchased by large investment firms. Those firms along with various lumber processing mills and pulp / paper mills have been burdening American consumers with higher prices on finished lumber and paper goods for some time now. When I go to the grocery store, the price on paper towels has doubled. Toilet paper and tissue paper are also expensive. I don’t use paper cups or paper plates, but I imagine that they have increased in price, too. The paperboard used to make cereal boxes and other dry goods boxes has most likely increased in price, too. I imagine that is a partial explanation for how skinny cereal boxes have become. If immigrants were put to work harvesting timber on Public Lands, maybe I could purchase a six-pack of paper towels or a four-pack of tissues at a reasonable price.

China has a military of considerable size. Maybe some immigrants can serve in various branches of the US military establishment. If they can’t serve in the military, perhaps they can function in some type of support role. Our military bases and equipment need updating / attention. If nothing else, military bases could catch up on some badly needed maintenance which has fallen in a crack due to budget limitations.

Then there is the issue of care for the elderly and children. The Biden Administration was not particularly successful in expanding care for many Americans. Perhaps some immigrants might be assigned to help with that problem.

There are many jobs which Americans do not want to do any more (for example, driving diesel truck rigs.) In some cases, those jobs have gone to foreigners. So why not train the immigrants to do a variety of tasks.

During WWII, Pratt and Whitney could not produce enough aircraft engines. So P&W went to Missouri to manufacture the engines. Missouri had a good school system and a workforce of women was available to do the work. Most of the women didn’t know a micrometer from a 2 x 4 piece of lumber, but they were trainable. They built something like 3,000 functional / reliable engines before the end of the war.

We as a Country ought to be asking ourselves what kinds of experience are the immigrants bringing with them. How do you think that peasants working on Chinese farms were eventually able to construct I-phones?

Strangely, the immigrants passing through our borders might end up being more of a blessing than a curse.