The Biden Administration has had a total lack of faith in the American people for some time, and it doesn’t look to return any time soon. During a meeting in Arlington, Virginia, Navy Secretary Carlos Del Toro suggested the Navy needed more workers and that the American people weren’t cut out for the job.
“What we’ve got to do is open up the spigot a bit, basically, on legal immigration to allow blue-collar workers to come here … so they can actually work in our shipyards and be employed by the types of trades that are open to shipyard workers.” His call for shipbuilders comes as warship builds are significantly behind schedule, with many being built with horrific faults.
Pushing for immigrants to build the next generation of warships gives states and companies less incentive to offer opportunities for the next generation to be trained. These migrants won’t demand the salary rates that Americans get during an apprenticeship or while employed. If undertaken, a union push isn’t likely to be heard of simply because of the nature of their immigration status and wanting to remain here.
While Del Toro isn’t giving up completely on Americans, he is only offering the opportunity for retraining, making it sound like he wants to accept some of the welfare-to-work Americans. This group isn’t typically the cream of the crop when it comes to intelligence, ambition, work ethic, or attention to detail. Suffice it to say, they are not the people you want hired to work on your ship or anything involving national security.
Asking for more immigrants to build ships is a horrible idea. Millions of Americans are already looking for work or better employment than they have now. It’s high time Del Toro, Biden, and other officials did more to get real Americans to fill these roles while offering them a fair wage.