By Charlice Byrd
In the late 19th Century, a gifted bookkeeper with incredible accounting skills named Hew Fat Pak Kong immigrated from mainland China to Maui to assist a family member in running a business.
My grandfather was a Chinese immigrant who came to this country to pursue the American dream and United States citizenship. He was among the first wave of Chinese immigrants that made it to the shores of this nation.
As with so many Asian-Americans who reside in Georgia, I believe in legal immigration. It makes this such a great, stable and diverse country. It is among the many reasons I support Donald J. Trump as the 47th President of the United States. He wants to make our nation safe as no country with unsecure borders can survive.
An open border has led to disaster with surging crime as countries such as Venezuela have released criminals who quickly entered the United States. Georgia citizens – such as nursing student Laken Riley in Athens – have become victims of their crimes.
The FBI just two weeks ago made a large revision in numbers for 2022, showing a 4.5 percent increase in violent crime across the country – not a decrease in crime as originally reported. Crimeresearch.org reported that the revised FBI statistics showed a net increase of 1,699 more murders, 7,780 rapes, 33,459 more robberies and 37,091 more aggravated assaults from 2021 to 2022.
As Georgia’s Asian-Americans go to the polls in these final days before the 2024 Presidential election, I hope they will consider their ancestors or their own journey to citizenship of this great country. It was their decision to abide by the rule of law and follow the process that makes the reward of being here so satisfying – especially when they vote for the first time.
They came here legally and worked hard once they arrived, wanting to become part of the American dream – not overwhelm the system and destroy it.
A nation with no secure border will fail and become the welfare state for the rest of the world. Our hospitals and healthcare system will collapse providing free medical care for all. Our schools are already overcrowded as they take on unlimited numbers of immigrants. We are already seeing children’s recreation centers, playgrounds and community centers in some states overrun by the enormous influx of illegal migrants. Local taxpayers can’t even enjoy the infrastructure their tax dollars built.
Most of all, secure borders provide physical safety and economic security.
Asian-Americans, like all Americans, are longing for economic stability right now. They are hurting from unbridled inflation we all have endured the past four years and want Trump to bring back a prosperous economy.
For example, inflation on food has averaged a cumulative increase of 21.7 percent during the Biden-Harris Administration, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That is compared to 7.6 percent during Trump’s first term.
A half-gallon of ice cream, for example, has gone from an average of $4.80 in 2019 to $6.34 in 2024 – a 32 percent increase, according to the Consumer Price Index. Frozen orange juice has jumped 75 percent from $2.41 to $4.23 during that same period. And a dozen eggs skyrocketed 176 percent from $1.38 to $3.82 in 2024.
Many families are now using credit cards to pay for important essentials. A recent survey by Bankrate found that 37 percent of credit card holders have maxed out their credit card limits. Fifty-four percent of those surveyed said the cause was inflation. The Federal Reserve has found that delinquencies on charge card payments are up 50 percent in the past year and delinquencies on car loans are also soaring.
Not only are Georgians feeling unsafe but too many are scared of economic insecurity and bankruptcy caused by the Biden-Harris Administration. No one should have to live that way, and Trump will bring a sense of calm and certainty we all need when it comes to our wallets and our families. This election can’t come soon enough.
Charlice Byrd is a Republican state representative from Woodstock. She represents District 20 in the Georgia House of Representatives and is chairwoman of the Georgia Freedom Caucus.
