Rural America Needs New Immigrants to Help Solve our Healthcare Crisis
TIME magazine...
Aging Americans Face Bleak Futures Unless We Let New Immigrants Help appeared in TIME magazine yesterday. My co-author is Kristie De Peña, Senior Vice President of Policy and Director of Immigration at the Niskanen Center in Washington D.C. This is our second piece together. In February she and I co-authored a piece for the New York Times titled Over 75,000 Job Openings in Iowa Alone. Millions of Refugees Seeking Work. Make the Connection. A third author on that piece was David Oman, a friend who was once co-chair of the Iowa Republican Party, and Governor Robert Ray’s Chief of Staff back in the day.
So how did a young woman who is an immigration expert in Washington D.C. and I cross paths?
It’s an interesting story.
In July of 2021 Matt Russell and I wrote a piece for the New York Times titled Why Rural America Needs Immigrants.
Sometimes interesting things happen when you publish in the New York Times. You might get invited to be on the network and cable TV news shows, as well as NPR, IPR, and other public radio outlets. I am uncomfortable with this—especially TV, fearing I will mispeak and become an internet meme of an old rural hick saying something stupid.
Not the legacy I want.
I have also received death threats. The worst part about death threats is that they are almost always very detailed, and it’s clear the person writing them spent a lot of time on it. Which gives me chills.
Other people write to tell you how stupid you are.
Other people email nice notes thanking you.
But the best part is when people who are experts in the field write something like “Great piece! But have you ever thought about X, Y, or Z?”
Which is wonderful! Most often I hadn’t thought about X, Y, or Z, or even heard of them. So I always say, “tell me more,” and sometimes I get another piece from the conversation, and I always give them credit.
After Matt and I wrote Why Rural America Needs Immigrants, I got an email from Ali Noorani, who was at the time President and Chief Executive officer of the National Immigration Forum, a nonpartisan, nonprofit advocacy group working on immigration policy. Ali gave me all kinds of things to think about, and Marcel Harmon, a friend of mine who lives in Lawrence, Kansas and I wrote Kris Kobach and Eric Schmitt don't want border security. They want political theater for the Kansas City Star, giving Ali credit for some of the ideas in the piece.
When I had an outline of the basics of the piece that Kristie and I first wrote together, Over 75,000 Job Openings in Iowa Alone. Millions of Refugees Seeking Work. Make the Connection, I knew that I was way over my head on immigration policy, so I went to the most informed person I knew on the issue, Ali, to see if he wanted to collaborate. He was transitioning to his new position as Program Director of U.S. Democracy at the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, telling me he wanted to settle in at his new place of employment before committing.
However, he told me he had in mind the perfect collaborator for me; a young woman named Kristie De Peña who works at the Niskanen Center in Washington D.C.
Kristie and I had a couple of nice conversations on the phone and on Zoom, and the rest is history. It’s fun working together, but more importantly, we want to change the world and make it a better place for everyone. In our work, we see problems and offer solutions. And believe it or not, sometimes policymakers listen.
So, thanks, Ali! And you too, Kristie. I hope we have many more collaborations in the future!
I’m honored to be part of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative. Please check out the work of my friends and colleagues below. It’s free, but if you can afford to have a paid subscription, please consider it. It’s inspirational and helps us poor scribblers pay the bills. Thanks!
Iowa Writers’ Collaborative Columnists:
I applaud the authors in demonstrating that immigrants can help solve our health care crisis, or more broadly speaking, immigration is valuable for Iowa and good for us and our loved ones. In combatting racial stereotypes and bigotry, it helps to constantly explain the immigration works to our personal benefits, let alone to the community at large.
Keep on writing. Good piece. Tk u.