The case for immigration reform

Kudos to The Gazette for publishing “Detained docket dominates court’s attention” written by Jeremy Tuttle, The Flatwater Free Press, Nov. 23.

Mr. Tuttle provides a detailed, factual account of the detention and processing of immigrants arrested in the Trump administration’s mass deportation initiative. Apart from due process issues raised by lawyers' accessibility to detainees and timeliness of judicial proceedings, he notes that more than one-third of immigrants detained nationally in September had no criminal record. He also provides granular insight into the initiative's cost, citing an ICE (taxpayer funded) $5.9 million renovation of a McCook County, Nebraska detention facility and a cost for its use to federal taxpayers of $260 per inmate per day.

These out-of-pocket costs are but a fraction of the initiative's cost to the economy. The Pew Research Center has estimated that in 2023 the U.S. civilian workforce included 9.7 million unauthorized immigrants, and that they held 15% of construction jobs and 14% of agriculture jobs.

U.S. citizens are not clamoring for these jobs. To the contrary, a serious shortage of workers in skilled trades already exists. This issue was addressed in a guest column, “Who will build the region’s future,” published by The Gazette on Nov. 13.

Thoughtful immigration reform addressing the status of immigrants without criminal records could save billions of taxpayer dollars, decrease conflict and avoid the self-inflicted injury of deporting workers we need.

D.B. Gabriel

Shaker Heights, Ohio

Cedar Rapids native