It’s Just Good Business March 29, 2025 Conservative Andrew Sullivan’s scathing “Two Perfect Months” is a must-read. Among so much else: It is becoming clearer and clearer that Trump’s aim for Ukraine is to divide it between him and his closest ally, Putin. . . . Anyone who believed Trump is merely trying to get a workable peace now looks stupid. He just wants to share in the Ukraine spoils Putin secured by invasion. As I say, a must-read. It begins “in all fairness” by crediting Trump with securing the Southern border (he gives Biden some credit, too) . . . which leads into today’s topic today — undocumented immigrants. Everyone agrees that undocumented criminals should be deported; but what of the 99.9% who are not murderers, rapists, terrorists or drug-dealing cat-eating gang members? Consider: Undocumented Immigrants Pay Higher Tax Rates Than Many Major Corporations In 2022 America’s 10.9 million undocumented immigrants paid $96.7 billion in taxes. It is estimated that $40 to $137 billion of additional revenue could be generated each year if these people were granted work authorization. [A] less exploitable workforce would be paid higher wages (thus pay more taxes) and tax compliance by both employers and employees would increase. According to ProPublica’s released tax data from the 400 highest-income individuals, undocumented immigrants paid a higher effective tax rate than five of the richest Americans. Undocumented immigrants also paid a higher effective tax rate than 55 mega corporations. . . . These corporations had a combined pre-tax income of nearly $200 billion but paid just $3.7 billion in federal income tax, 90% less than undocumented immigrants. Undocumented Immigrants [account for] 1-in-7 construction workers, 1-in-8 agriculture workers, and 1-in-14 hospital workers. Deporting millions of undocumented workers would shrink the economy by $1.1 to $1.7 trillion, a more devastating contraction than what happened during the 2008 financial crisis. So now that we’ve sealed the border, why not grant those who are here work permits and a pathway to citizenship? It’s just good business. > We need their labor. > We need their taxes. > Their lower-than-average crime rate would lower our national averages. > And, argues Karla Cornejo Villavicencio, “Immigrants can be our secret weapon in the fight against authoritarianism. Immigrants love America in a way that America needs to be loved if it is going to survive.” BONUS #1 I’m so proud of Rufus Gifford, our former Ambassador to Denmark. Watch the first few minutes: “This is shameful”: Trump sows animosity and mistrust abroad, degrading Americans in the process. BONUS #2 Woodward on Trump. If you don’t have 24 minutes to watch (16 at 1.5X), the key takeaways are Trump’s view that “trade is bad” . . . that “everything is mine” . . . that “fear” is his superpower.