, Guest Columnist
Stop Saying ‘Immigrants Do Jobs Americans Don’t Want to Do’
The Baltimore Key Bridge tragedy highlights why we need to rethink how we talk about the work immigrants do to help build our nation.
Immigrants are people too.
Photographer: Joe Raedle/Getty Images North AmericaThis article is for subscribers only.
The deaths of six immigrant workers in the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge on March 26 sparked the kind of collective empathy that usually follows tragic events. President Joe Biden was among the many who offered his prayers. In news reports, the men have been called “kindhearted,” “humble” and “heroes.”
We should ask ourselves, is it only the tragedy that made them deserving of such labels? The disparaging way immigration is framed in the US any other time makes this outpouring of praise seem like a trope.