When it comes to immigration, Donald Trump voters overwhelmingly believe their candidate is the best person to deal with the issue. A Marist Poll found that 96 percent of individuals who plan to vote for Trump say he is better equipped than Joe Biden to handle immigration.
West Virginia is Trump territory. The state’s voters have chosen him over the Democratic nominee by forty points in the last two elections, and they will do so again in November, and it is reasonable to associate Trump’s position on border security with his popularity here.
It is worth noting that West Virginia is one of the states with the fewest number of migrants who have crossed over the border in recent years. According to a Washington Post analysis of immigration court data since 2014, “West Virginia, Wyoming, and North Dakota—states with severe labor shortages—attract hardly any of the newcomers, while New York, Chicago and Denver have received thousands.”
A tracking by the Post shows that the greatest concentration of migrants can be found in West Virginia’s eastern panhandle.
–143 migrants with pending immigration cases have settled in Hardy County. Over half of them are from Guatemala. Many are drawn there to work in the poultry industry.
–186 migrants are living in Jefferson County, with another 174 in neighboring Berkeley County. They have come from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua and Peru.
But some migrants have also turned up in other parts of the state.
–176 migrants are in Monongalia County and 39 percent of them are from Guatemala.
–140 migrants are in Greenbrier County and most of them are from Honduras.
–The Post analysis reports about two dozen other West Virginia counties have fewer than 100 migrants each and about half of all the state’s counties have none. Typically, the trend is for migrants to settle where there is family, friends or at least others of the same background, so that is why much of West Virginia is not a landing spot for them.
Illegal entries into the United States have surged since President Biden took office in 2021, and his administration has been slow to act. As the Post reported, “They’re fleeing poverty and repression back home, drawn by a tight U.S. labor market and perceptions of a weaker border enforcement under President Biden.”
Congress had a chance to improve border security and tighten the lax asylum policy, but Republicans killed the deal after Trump spoke against it.
While presidential candidates argue and Congress dithers, hundreds of thousands of people from all over the world make up a great diaspora. The United States, with its porous border and easily abused asylum laws, is a popular destination, but these individuals end up in a legal netherworld.
Meanwhile, West Virginia is desperate for economic growth, something akin to North Carolina, for example. A growing economy needs workers, and our state is in short supply. Immigration is a logical source.
If only we had a secure border, a functioning immigration policy and political leaders willing to work together to achieve that goal, rather than trying to score partisan points with voters.