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One of the reasons I included Harrisonburg, Virginia, on my list of cities to visit during this election is because it has been a refugee resettlement site for over 20 years and I expected this to generate some controversy.
But when they got there, they found something different and unusual: a near-universal consensus that not only did the system work, but residents were proud of it.
The first Republican I asked about the program has lived locally for decades, is a big fan of Gov. Glenn Youngkin, and has employed some of the refugees over the years.
In one small town, critics and supporters alike are asking, “Who is Kamala Harris?”
“It’s well-organized,” she told me. “It’s a process: first temporary housing, then jobs, then more permanent housing, and these people become good members of the community.”
Jeff, who runs music events in the area, agreed. He graduated from Harrisonburg High School in the ’80s and returned after living in Hawaii for decades.
Left: Vice President Kamala Harris. Right: Former President Donald Trump. (Andrew Harnick/Getty Images/Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
“When I took my daughter to her high school, there were about 100 flags hanging in the cafeteria, flags of every language spoken at the school,” he told me.
When I pointed out that this must be putting a strain on local resources, Jeff acknowledged that it was, but said, “This is all planned, it’s not haphazard.”
Another man I spoke to, this time a Kamala Harris supporter, agreed. “We’re proud of it,” he told me.
It is important to understand that Harrisonburg has primarily accepted people who fit the traditional definition of a refugee, including refugees from Iraq and Afghanistan: people fleeing war, not economic migrants who have been misclassified as asylum seekers by the Biden Administration.
Harrisonburg’s stance on its role as a migrant refuge offers an important nuance in the fierce and often volatile debate over immigration and the border. Few people are outright opposed to immigration. Even Donald Trump has extolled the virtues of immigration, as long as it’s received in the right way.
The Newbridge Immigrant Resource Center in Harrisonburg, Virginia, serves primarily refugees from Afghanistan and other areas where asylum seekers are at risk. (David Marcus/Fox News Digital)
This is the same attitude I saw in Del Rio, Texas, which is bearing the brunt of our broken border system. Not only were many of the border patrol agents I spoke to of Mexican descent, they also openly told me that their parents or grandparents entered the country illegally. They don’t hate illegal immigrants, they just want a clear system for enforcement.
American voters are not generally anti-immigration. They’re just frustrated with an immigration system that just throws people off a bus in New York City or wherever, throws them in a hotel and tells them to “figure it out for yourself.”
They also understand the danger that an immigration system could create isolated communities that lead to Balkanization rather than assimilation. In Harrisonburg and places like it, the good old melting pot still seethes.
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And there is an opportunity for both Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, if either chooses to do so: a positive view of orderly, legal immigration is a policy that enjoys broad support, even at relatively high levels, and fosters unity.
Trump can score points by correctly pointing out that Biden-Harris’ open borders policies were a disaster, and Harris can win votes by calling Trump and his supporters anti-immigrant racists, but positive, pragmatic solutions to immigration issues would allow both to appeal to a much broader range of voters.
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Americans are good people, they’re welcoming people. They want to help. They want our country to remain a shining city on a hill, but they want it to be done in a well-organized way. As Jeff said to me, “Are we really helping these illegal immigrants when we don’t have a system in place? Or are we setting them up to fail?”
In a country as divided as ours, it’s worth noting when people on both sides agree on something. I didn’t expect to find that in Harrisonburg, but as always, this land of ours is full of wonderful surprises.
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