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WORLD FOCUS: Voting with their feet

It was in Lake Placid that during my 60 years of residency I experienced the blessings of American democracy.

My hope is that the 2024 U. S. presidential elections would reaffirm this tradition.

On Nov. 5, millions of United States citizens will caste their vole in an U.S. presidential election.

But millions of people around the world are voting with their feet.

They are leaving their homeland in search of freedom, security, and a better life, for themselves and their families.

The dream of many of them is to reach the U.S. and start a new life here. Just like in the past.

According to official statistical data, as of Sept. 27, the U.S. foreign-born population reached a record 47.8 million people. In 2022, immigrants made up 13.9% of the U.S. population, which is the highest since 1910.

The top countries of origin for legal U.S. immigrants in 2022, were Mexico, 23%, India, 6%, China, 5%, and the Philippines, 4%. Unauthorized immigrants in 2022 made up 3.3% of the U.S. population.

According to the latest statistics, about 2,200 immigrant refugees arrive daily to become permanent resident, while about 5,000 foreigners enter the country without authorization. In both groups, most are working-age people who contribute to the economy as customers and taxpayers.

Today, 13.9% of the nation’s residents are foreign-born, more than half of whom are naturalized citizens. They contribute to the economy by being entrepreneurs, 22.6%, STEM worker, 23.1%, and 15,6%, nurses.

Contrary to public perception, FBI, and other law enforcement agencies statistics show, the crime rate among legal and unauthorized immigrants, is lower than among American-born citizens.

One reason may be that not naturalized immigrants, face deportation if convicted of crime.

The pattern of immigration to the United States has changed a lot since the end of World War II. First, it was the wave of Holocaust survivors, then people fleeing the Soviet empire to escape communist oppression.

They risked their lives to escape. They voted with their feet.

My late wife and I were among them. We saw America as the “shining city on the hill.” For us, it was. It offered freedom, security and opportunities to succeed.

I have been selected, some years ago, by the Williamsburg Chapter of DAR (Daughters of the American Revolution,), the sponsor of the naturalization ceremony, at the Colonial Williamsburg capitol, to be a speaker at the event.

During that event, some two dozen immigrants from around the world receive their American citizenships. The Capitol Hall was full of anticipation and excitement.

“I am one of you,” I said. “I came to America as a refugee, escaping communist Czechoslovakia. America never promised to me or to any new immigrant a bed of roses. What it promised is illustrated in Norman Rockwell’s paintings, the ‘Four Freedoms.’ Freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear.”

I continued, “America kept its promises to me. If you will keep your promises embedded in the naturalization swearing in document, America will be for you, just as it was for me, that ‘shining city on the hill!'”

I trust the 2024 election results will not change this.

(Frank Shatz is a former resident of Lake Placid and a current resident of Williamsburg, Virginia. He is the author of “Reports from a Distant Place,” a compilation of his columns. This column is used with permission by the Virginia Gazette.)

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