Thank you for your summary of an America 🇺🇸 We The People would never have imagined. Former public servants now are private profiteers. Corporate power brokers making a profit off repression. The former wealthiest country in the world 🌎 now is wealthy only for a few. Have we misplaced our heart ❤️ and soul?
Dr. Greenberg, Everything I’ve read of your posts precisely characterize the season we are in. I serve a congregation of Hispanic immigrants, I understand the struggles they face and the way they are treated.
This is the painful reckoning that is long overdue: Our house of cards.
"Middle-class consumers, often without realizing it, have long benefited and continue to benefit: food is cheaper, care more affordable, and housing more accessible because the real costs are displaced onto those with no legal standing."
Thank you for this piece. You name so clearly what is too often hidden, that the system is not failing but working exactly as designed, producing disposability and insecurity for some while delivering cheap labor and political theater for others.
I share your conviction that migration is not a crisis but a mirror. Until we are willing to see ourselves in that reflection and act from dignity and solidarity, exclusion will remain the policy.
I agree with most of what you said-- the important parts like migrants are used and degraded. The "lucrative contracts while projecting an image of sovereignty that fuel political careers" IS about the contracts for horrific ICE facilities and politicians who tout cruelty. Shameful!!! The one part I disagree with is that our current system "delivers cheap labor." It has decreased because, in their hurry to bleach the population, our leaders have taken not only lower prices off the shelf, but destroyed any semblance of balance in handling immigration. They can only claim victory over the poor people who suffer at the hands of sorry ass racists who want the purge. It is a scandal.
I hear you — and I think your point about how racism and performative cruelty shape policy is spot on. The spectacle of “toughness” often matters more to politicians than actual solutions, and that’s part of why the system remains stuck.
Where I’d add a layer is this: even if certain sectors rely less on migrant labor today than in past decades, the logic of a precarious, easily exploited workforce still underpins the system. Whether it’s in agriculture, elder care, or service industries, that dynamic hasn’t gone away — and the absence of a coherent legal framework only deepens it.
To me, the real challenge is how we confront those ugly incentives without abandoning the idea of shared civic norms that protect everyone equally. That balance — compassion without chaos, rights without exploitation — is the piece of the conversation I think we too often skip.
It’s the tension I tried to unpack in my latest essay, and I’d be curious how you’d approach it:
This is SO GOOD. Distills it to the essence. I keep sharing on Facebook, imploring my circle to subscribe and spread the word. Are you inclined to find a platform with a wider reach? Because surely your voice needs a wider audience!
I have always called our immigration policy “Kick the can down the road” policy because no one ever wanted to hold our bad practices under the microscope because it would expose the hypocrisy of how horrible it is. We exploit people who are willing to do such hard jobs and for very little pay. Businesses often pay them as contract workers in cash and don’t have time to insure them or pay any taxes or even practice OSHA standards. Don’t ask don’t tell. If you make them citizens then that costs money and gives labor more votes…They have no means to fight for their own rights… too exhausted picking all day or driving nails or cleaning up our dear elders. Just horrible how they are being treated. I feel so ashamed of our country.
This is a deeply compelling argument — and I agree that the “system failure” narrative often misses how much of this is intentional design. But I think there’s another layer to explore: how do we confront that reality without abandoning the idea of a shared civic framework that protects everyone’s rights equally?
I wrestled with that question in my latest piece — how to balance historical truth with the need for integration and civic unity today. I’d be curious how you see that balance playing out:
Thank you for your summary of an America 🇺🇸 We The People would never have imagined. Former public servants now are private profiteers. Corporate power brokers making a profit off repression. The former wealthiest country in the world 🌎 now is wealthy only for a few. Have we misplaced our heart ❤️ and soul?
Dr. Greenberg, Everything I’ve read of your posts precisely characterize the season we are in. I serve a congregation of Hispanic immigrants, I understand the struggles they face and the way they are treated.
This is the painful reckoning that is long overdue: Our house of cards.
"Middle-class consumers, often without realizing it, have long benefited and continue to benefit: food is cheaper, care more affordable, and housing more accessible because the real costs are displaced onto those with no legal standing."
absolutely!!
I believe your description of our immigration system is exactly right.
Thank you for this piece. You name so clearly what is too often hidden, that the system is not failing but working exactly as designed, producing disposability and insecurity for some while delivering cheap labor and political theater for others.
I share your conviction that migration is not a crisis but a mirror. Until we are willing to see ourselves in that reflection and act from dignity and solidarity, exclusion will remain the policy.
I can see clearly now.
I agree with most of what you said-- the important parts like migrants are used and degraded. The "lucrative contracts while projecting an image of sovereignty that fuel political careers" IS about the contracts for horrific ICE facilities and politicians who tout cruelty. Shameful!!! The one part I disagree with is that our current system "delivers cheap labor." It has decreased because, in their hurry to bleach the population, our leaders have taken not only lower prices off the shelf, but destroyed any semblance of balance in handling immigration. They can only claim victory over the poor people who suffer at the hands of sorry ass racists who want the purge. It is a scandal.
I hear you — and I think your point about how racism and performative cruelty shape policy is spot on. The spectacle of “toughness” often matters more to politicians than actual solutions, and that’s part of why the system remains stuck.
Where I’d add a layer is this: even if certain sectors rely less on migrant labor today than in past decades, the logic of a precarious, easily exploited workforce still underpins the system. Whether it’s in agriculture, elder care, or service industries, that dynamic hasn’t gone away — and the absence of a coherent legal framework only deepens it.
To me, the real challenge is how we confront those ugly incentives without abandoning the idea of shared civic norms that protect everyone equally. That balance — compassion without chaos, rights without exploitation — is the piece of the conversation I think we too often skip.
It’s the tension I tried to unpack in my latest essay, and I’d be curious how you’d approach it:
📍 https://open.substack.com/pub/frankreagan/p/coming-soon?r=6mvswj&utm_medium=ios
This is SO GOOD. Distills it to the essence. I keep sharing on Facebook, imploring my circle to subscribe and spread the word. Are you inclined to find a platform with a wider reach? Because surely your voice needs a wider audience!
This is the most cogent account of the U.S. immigration system I’ve ever read. Thank you.
I have always called our immigration policy “Kick the can down the road” policy because no one ever wanted to hold our bad practices under the microscope because it would expose the hypocrisy of how horrible it is. We exploit people who are willing to do such hard jobs and for very little pay. Businesses often pay them as contract workers in cash and don’t have time to insure them or pay any taxes or even practice OSHA standards. Don’t ask don’t tell. If you make them citizens then that costs money and gives labor more votes…They have no means to fight for their own rights… too exhausted picking all day or driving nails or cleaning up our dear elders. Just horrible how they are being treated. I feel so ashamed of our country.
This is a deeply compelling argument — and I agree that the “system failure” narrative often misses how much of this is intentional design. But I think there’s another layer to explore: how do we confront that reality without abandoning the idea of a shared civic framework that protects everyone’s rights equally?
I wrestled with that question in my latest piece — how to balance historical truth with the need for integration and civic unity today. I’d be curious how you see that balance playing out:
📍 https://open.substack.com/pub/frankreagan/p/coming-soon?r=6mvswj&utm_medium=ios