By Gene Kemmeter

Immigration has been the topic of a lot of discussion in the last year, especially in recent months when President Trump initiated his zero tolerance policy. As people began crossing the border seeking asylum, the administration that claims to be family friendly instituted a policy of separating migrant children from their parents at U.S. borders.

The administration missed a court-ordered deadline Tuesday, July 9, to bring those families with children together, admitting more time is needed to locate all the children, nearly 2,000 of them. And hundreds of them are under the age of 5, leading doctors throughout the U.S. to criticize the action.

There are hundreds of other examples of situations with the new policy. Soldiers serving in the U.S. military services under a promise to grant them citizenship upon completion of their enlistment have been told that citizenship will not be granted. The wife of a Wisconsin businessman, who is studying for a doctorate at a university in Canada, was denied re-entry into the U.S. because she is from Iran, one of the countries where all citizens are barred from entering the U.S.

There is also the “Dreamers” situation. The DREAM Act was proposed to give legal status to certain undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children and open a path to citizenship. Like all other immigration legislation, it failed.

President Obama created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals policy (DACA) to shield the 1.2 million immigrants known as “Dreamers,” but Congress has failed to pass legislation to make it law. Trump continued the policy, but then canceled it because he didn’t like the proposals brought forward.

Bipartisan proposals on immigration reform have also been proposed and endorsed by Trump, only to have the President pull his support. His main sticking point has been his desire to build a controversial wall along the border with Mexico.

Immigration from Mexico is down, as are the overall numbers of immigrants. The numbers from Honduras, China and India are up. Honduras has the most unaccompanied minors, seeking asylum and refuge from poor economic conditions and social strife in their nation, where 64.5 percent are living in poverty and the murder rate is the world’s highest, with San Pedro Sula in Honduras considered the world’s murder capital.

The majority of immigrants are coming to the U.S. to find a safe place to work and raise a family, the same as our ancestors, and they work and add to the U.S. economy.

In the U.S., the birth rate is declining among whites, and the nation faces a shortage of workers. Something needs to be worked out. U.S. military forces are unable to recruit enough soldiers to meet their quota. What immigrant today is going to be the father or mother of a world-famous, life-changing invention?