Regarding Immigration, Get Back to the Forefront Pittsburgh

Immigration has become topic Number One in the world, or at least in the first world’s media eye, with immigration reforms continuing to be a political hot potato in the US and mass migration from the Middle East and Africa perhaps leading to epoch changes to Europe’s demographics in ways seen only occasionally in world history.

Population migrations have occurred throughout history from the time Asian peoples crossed the Bering Strait into North America to the waves of southern and eastern Europeans who doubled America’s population within a couple generations and literally changed the perceived face of America in the Industrial Age.  So the 21^st century’s migrations should not surprise us.  It’s not a question of if we will allow these mass population movements; it’s a question of how established natives handle their new neighbors.

During the Industrial Age, Pittsburgh played a front and center role by being a prime destination for those “huddled masses yearning to breathe free”, as well as wanting to make a decent living for themselves in a new world.  That seems to be what today’s immigrants are seeking as they stream north from Latin America to US Sunbelt cities, and from the Middle East and Africa to northern Europe.  I want to see Pittsburgh reestablish itself at the forefront of places that more than just welcome; that actively seek, immigrants from troubled places.

These days, “everyone” in the region including Pittsburgh Mayor Peduto, Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, every major higher-ed institution, every business-led association, and countless not-for-profit organizations chant the somewhat exaggerated mantra that “Pittsburgh is not diverse enough”, whatever that really means.  But if by one definition it means the region needs to attract more foreign-born residents then …let’s do it.  Usually the opportunity for a better life and a higher living standard are what attracts in-migrants be they from any geographic source.  Strikingly Western Pennsylvania has failed at that effort since World War II ended.  So maybe a different approach is what’s called for.

Assuming that different approach is needed, my challenge question is “Who is going to step up to the plate and work with legal authorities, the US federal government mainly but also international NGOs, to make it known that Pittsburgh wants you to move here?”  It’s really as simple as that.  If lack of diversity is a bad thing, all the high paying and high profile “directors” in diversity positions writing op-ed pieces deprecating our region will solve nothing.  One more local government commission or study on the subject will result in …one more report.  And because there is a defined and legal gatekeeper to immigrants from outside the US borders [the US federal government], there’s a defined procedure whereby any one of these diversity proponents with a law degree or human resource training should be able to develop a program to put Pittsburgh, again, at the forefront of immigrant destinations.