Chicago’s population was 2.7 million in 1990. It’s 2.66 million now.
That’s bad. Fewer people means fewer taxpayers and a city in decline.
What’s good is when those busloads of Venezuelans started showing up, courtesy of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott. A political thumb in Chicago’s eye for daring to call itself a “sanctuary city” and welcoming immigrants the way America has — grudgingly — since the Pilgrims landed in 1620.
Sure the new arrivals were a hassle. Finding them temporary shelter at a moment’s notice — actually, no notice at all. Getting them food and warm clothes and enrolling their kids in school.
It was expensive, in the same way building a house or putting money in a 401(k) is expensive. An investment in the city’s future. Because many of those Venezuelans are going to stick around.
We are at a moment of anti-immigrant frenzy in this country — another anti-immigrant frenzy, as common as dirt in American history, almost like saying “Today is a day ending in a ‘Y.'” A good time to take a breath and assess the facts.
Maybe it would help to look around the world. Across the globe is an industrialized nation called Japan. Japan’s population in 1994 was 125 million. Today, 30 years later, it is … still 125 million, having slowly peaked in 2008 and begun to steadily fall. The Japanese Health Ministry projects that by 2060 it will be 86 million.
So … a good thing? Less crowding? No. A bad thing. Population decline and economic ruin go hand in hand. You can buy a Japanese house for $1 in towns that are emptying out. Let me teach you a Japanese word, “kodukushi.” It means “lonely death” and is used to describe individuals who die at home and nobody notices, sometimes for weeks or even months. Cleaning up is a chore.
There are several reasons for this precipitous decline. Japanese couples are getting married later, if at all, and having fewer children. But the stake through the nation’s heart is immigration, or lack of it.
Japan welcomed 175,000 immigrants in 2022. The United States let in 2.6 million. See a difference? Immigration is saving America. Immigration is why the population of the United States is not declining, and it’s also much younger. The median age in the United States is 38.5 years. In Japan, it’s 50. Younger is good.
Immigrants are younger, work harder, commit less crime and bring the range of cultural diversity that our nation is so proud of — at least those who don’t wet themselves if they hear Spanish spoken in the break room.
That’s why some folks prefer to imagine crimes and assign them to immigrants. The whole Haitians-are-eating-pets slur. As astounding as it was to hear that calumny spoken at a presidential debate, the true shock is that even after it was firmly established as a complete lie, vice presidential candidate JD Vance shrugged and kept repeating it. “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do,” he said.
OK, let’s go with that. JD Vance’s bold fabrications have caught my attention. Tell me: How do immigrants make you suffer? I’m interested. Scorched your tongue on hot sauce, did you? Got woken up out of a deep sleep by a loud mariachi band? What?
Because the standard accusations don’t add up. Donald Trump says other countries are emptying their jails and insane asylums, and the former inmates are coming here and taking all the good American jobs. Never pausing to consider the complete disconnect: You mean your job can be performed better by a newly-arrived, insane foreign criminal who can’t speak English? Doesn’t really say much for your line of work, does it?
Here’s a tissue. So tell me, how have immigrants hurt you? Were you robbed by an immigrant in 1969? A traffic accident — a fender bender by a Haitian immigrant in Springfield — made international news.
Usually, I like to write this column myself. But I can let you guys help.
Begin your letter. “I hate immigrants and want millions of them deported because an immigrant once …” and tell me your tale of woe. Something true, if you can.
And I suppose, if you feel differently, write a note beginning, “I welcome immigrants because of the time an immigrant helped me by …” Sign your name.
Send your true tale of suffering —or benefit —to nsteinberg@suntimes.com. I’m interested. I care.