Editor,

In Gordon Weil’s “Wealth and age gap threatens future” column, the author makes the case that due to Maine’s aging population, we are threatened by a lack of workers, especially eldercare workers, and we need to solve this problem by recruiting more immigrants.

It’s a Ponzi scheme. After bringing in immigrants to take care of us, what do we do when the immigrants get old? Bring in a new batch? This argument is brain dead.

Planet Earth must transition to steady state economies, face the demographic transition of aging populations, and not put our head in the sand.

Every country faces this dilemma at some point, not just us. But more immigration is just dumping the problem onto the next generation; its not facing the reality.

Japan’s aging population is refusing to take the “more immigration” solution: investing in robotics, recruiting and training marginal workers, deconstructing dams as their energy needs reduce, and saving tons of money in infrastructure costs. A Buddhist nation thinks long term, concerned for future generations.

Maine’s problem is a lack of good paying jobs, causing our children to leave. And the solution is not recruiting immigrants from poor countries willing to take low paid jobs.

A much greater threat to America’s future well being is population growth, driven by massive numbers. We’ve added 44 million since 2001, mostly immigrants and their children. 44 million people require a huge infrastructure investment: housing, schools, healthcare, roads, etc. And all that development requires land and resources. According to The Center for American Progress, we’ve lost 24 million acres from development just since 2001.

And still we hear: we need more immigrants.

Voters beware: The cheap labor “grow forever” open borders agenda has intoxicated our political elite and their lobbies, the people who use government to protect and expand their wealth. And the argument is always the same: Every problem can be solved with more immigration.

My advice: Think it out for yourself.

Jonette Christian
Mainers for Sensible Immigration Policy