My mother immigrated to Pittsburgh from Guatemala in the early 1980s under President Reagan, and I spent my first 20 years of life in South Hills. Unfortunately, today my hometown is nearly unrecognizable to me.
The reason why is simple: The system that existed when my mom came to the United States has been completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of migrants crossing our southern border today.
In the last two years, the migrant population in Pittsburgh has soared by 2,000%, and now it’s reaching crisis levels.
According to a Sept. 15 segment aired by CBS Pittsburgh, Charleroi – a borough nested along the Monongahela River – has been especially impacted by this influx. Schools are overstrained. Local stores are seeing less business because of crime concerns. And residents are watching their culture vanish before their eyes.
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This isn’t an accident. Since 2021, the Biden-Harris administration’s immigration policies have allowed the entry of millions of inadmissible aliens at a completely unsustainable rate.
I can attest that the situation unfolding in Western Pennsylvania is unprecedented and unrecognizable. Pennsylvanians deserve an ordered and sustainable immigration system that does not impact their quality of life.
Overburdened public systems resulting from mass immigration are one of the main concerns identified by Charleroi residents and cost Pennsylvanians $1.2 billion annually to cover medical, welfare and education expenses.
Schools in Charleroi are especially suffering with the number of migrants needing to learn English. The district has already spent $400,000 on English Language Learner (ELL) teachers and interpreters, but it is nowhere near enough to meet the demand.
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In Cornell School District – near Coraopolis – ELL class sizes have doubled from just last year. Further south in Ringgold, the school board just approved $142,000 or roughly $7,000 per student for English as a Second Language (ESL) services between 2024-2045.
Not only is this a financial burden on taxpayers, but it makes the overall learning experience more difficult for existing students. Classrooms already face teacher shortages. Now more students are being added to them – with many not able to fully participate in the classroom due to language barriers.
These challenges may explain why standardized test scores in public schools around Pittsburgh have drastically fallen since 2019. And, of course, almost no parents or students had a say in any of this.
Aside from over-filled schools and financial strains, the influx of migrants resettled by the Biden-Harris administration in Western Pennsylvania has also created crime concerns.
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Things are so bad that one Charleroi resident mentioned she was "afraid to go into" downtown stores because of crime.
It’s not hard to share the resident’s concerns as the Biden-Harris administration has facilitated the entry of at least 12 million illegal immigrants into the country – many of whom have already committed additional crimes, if they’re backgrounds aren’t completely unknown.
Since the Biden-Harris administration took office, Pennsylvania has seen a number of high-profile illegal immigrant crimes – including murders of ex-partners, friends and even children.
While these heinous incidents do not represent the entire immigrant population, they represent something that should be widely noted: These crimes should have never happened in the first place. The culprit should have never been in the country as they were here unlawfully.
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Pittsburgh is in peril. It is on the verge of becoming another New York or Chicago or Boston – cities completely taken over by mass immigration to the point where residents are fleeing.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. Western Pennsylvania has a choice. We can continue the status quo of chaos or return to an immigration system that puts Pennsylvanians first.
Immigration can even be good for Pittsburgh, the state of Pennsylvania, and the rest of the United States. But it can only be good within reasonable limits.
Our immigration system today must better prioritize skills, education, English literacy and a commitment to assimilate into American society. It must promote order and selectiveness to ensure Pennsylvanians aren’t suffering at the cost of foreign nationals.
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The Trump administration’s immigration policies reflected principles of a merit-based and ordered immigration system. This helps explain why Pennsylvanians were much happier with their quality of life between 2016-2020.
Immigration can have a high price. But it can also be a net benefit if managed correctly.
