In the 19th century, the Southern states argued that putting an end to the slave economy would collapse the cotton, tobacco, and rice industries.  Some claimed that freeing the slaves would produce widespread unemployment and civil unrest.

Another contention was that slavery had existed all through history, notably in ancient Greece and Rome.  Its defenders pointed out that slavery is mentioned in the Bible and that St. Paul returned Philemon, a runaway slave, to his owner.  It was even claimed that slaves benefited from the practice as they were better cared for than the workers in the North.  Sen. John C. Calhoun (D-S.C.) said, “Never before has the black race of Central Africa, from the dawn of history to the present day, attained a condition so civilized and so improved, not only physically, but morally and intellectually.”

This led to the conclusions that slavery is part of the natural order, that some people are simply inferior beings and so are better off enslaved, and that living as a slave is preferable to starving to death.  It’s estimated that 12–13 million Africans were brought to America as slaves, not including those who died along the way.  In some years, that number might have been as high as 23%.  The last census taken before the Civil War recorded 4 million slaves in the South.

It hasn’t gone away.  It’s estimated that there are around 50 million slaves worldwide and 1 million in the U.S. alone.  Modern slavery generates over $200 billion annually in global profits and includes forced labor, sex- and human-trafficking, and debt bondage.

In 2021, a federal grand jury in Waycross, Georgia indicted two dozen defendants who allegedly used H-2A visa applications to bring in dozens of migrant workers as agricultural workers.  The federal program requires that workers be paid a fair wage and reimbursed for expenses including travel, food, and lodging.  The defendants instead kept most of that money, using it to buy land, homes, vehicles, and even a restaurant and a night club.

Those workers were likely part of the greatest mass migration movement in American history, which started in 2020, when pResident (not a typo) Biden reversed 89 of Donald Trump’s immigration policies.  The total number of illegals welcomed into the U.S. by Biden and the left is impossible to define precisely, but estimates hover around 11 million.

In an official statement, the White House incongruously defended its actions in welcoming millions of unvetted, unvaccinated third-world immigrants by saying, “President Biden believes that securing the border is essential.”  “Since his first day in office, President Biden has called on Congress to secure our border and address our broken immigration system.”

Color me skeptical.  8 USC §1182(f) states,

Whenever the President finds that the entry of any aliens or of any class of aliens into the United States would be detrimental to the interests of the United States, he may by proclamation, and for such period as he shall deem necessary, suspend the entry of all aliens or any class of aliens as immigrants or nonimmigrants, or impose on the entry of aliens any restrictions he may deem to be appropriate.

So why doesn’t he close the border?  Simple.  He doesn’t want to.  The Democrats (leftists) see potential future voters, and the RINOs (leftists) see cheap labor.

Nancy Pelosi can always be counted on to weigh in with a pithy comment.  When Bill Melugin asked her about border security, she replied, “We have a shortage of workers in our country.  In Florida, some of the farmers and the growers saying, ‘Why are you shipping these immigrants up north?  We need them to pick the crops down here.’“

That sounds like what people said about cotton, tobacco, and rice in the nineteenth century.

In 1994, 32% of Democrats polled believed that immigrants strengthened America because of their work ethic and talents.  In 2019, that percentage had increased to 83%.  That belief among Republican respondents changed from 30 to 38%.  Cecilia Muñoz, Obama’s domestic policy adviser, explained the shift: “You have political figures adopting the activists’ agenda and the activists’ language.  Political leaders who are listening to them are focusing only on some pieces of the issue where the activism is most vocal ... for example, immigration enforcement.”

Ask your leftist acquaintances or any politician how many immigrants the U.S. should take in every year.  One million?  Two?  Once that number is reached, how do we prevent others from entering?  If they tell you “comprehensive immigration reform,” ask them to tell you exactly what that means.

Forgotten in all of this is the misery endured by the child sex slaves and those enslaved in forced labor.  There are a million of them here.

Did we abolish slavery with the passage of the 13th Amendment, or have we simply outsourced the ownership?

Image: woodleywonderworks via Flickr, CC BY 2.0.