Should All Immigration Be Stopped for Now?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns legal and wise immigration. According to his paper posted at The Daily Signal, Victor Davis Hanson believes that legal immigration should be diverse and in numbers that “can be assimilated and acculturated and integrated, meritocratic.” He added that we want immigrants “with skills that ensure that we, the people of the United States, will not have to support them” and “some knowledge of the traditions and customs and protocol of the United States, as well as English fluency.” 

This did not happen under the Biden administration. We had “12 million people [come] in, sometimes at rates of 10,000 a day, plus over a million and a half legal immigrants, then you have a pool of 30 million illegal and legal immigrants and 53 million people who were not born in the United States.”

This sort of experience causes people to stop supporting immigration, and the Biden years were not the only times when such things happened.

It happened in the early 20^th century, say from 1900 to 1910. About 1.5% of the population, 1 million people, half a million some years, but some years a whole million, came into the United States from Southern and Eastern Europe. And they had very different ideas about politics.

Many of them were anarchists. They joined unions, and an anarchist, we remember, had killed William McKinley. He was an American-born anarchist, but there was a lot of worry that immigration at that level of 1.5% of the population every year from people who were not integrating but had radical ideas about changing America was dangerous, and it lost public support for years.

The same thing is happening, as I said now, because of the numbers, but also because we’re seeing a new type of immigrant.

Usually, we say the immigrant is good for America because he’s eager to get here. He’s eager to work hard. He loves the United States. He’s studied the United States. He wants to leave his homeland and start anew, and then he makes us say, “Wow, look at that energized immigrant that loves this country. We’ve got to snap out of it and compete.”

That was the idea of immigration, one of the ideas.

Not now.

We’re getting a lot of immigrants that are coming from failed states, mostly as a result of communism and socialism. Some of them come legally, some come illegally, and they’re coming in numbers that we can’t fully assimilate.

But there’s a new type of legal immigrant, and these are immigrants from the first generation or their children in a second generation from failed states.

And so, let me ask you a question. What do Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat of Michigan, or Ilhan Omar, a Democratic representative from Minnesota whose family came from Somalia, Rashida Tlaib was from the West Bank, or [Alexander Ocasio-Cortez], whose father came from Puerto Rico, who was also a Democratic congresswoman, or the podcaster Hasan Piker, who’s from a multimillion-dollar family in Turkey and was born here and then returned to Turkey, or New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who came here from Uganda, or Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, who came from /Egypt, his family did, or Melat Kiros, whose family and she came from Ethiopia, or Rep. Ro Khanna, a representative congressman from California whose family and his wife’s family came from India, second generation, or Gustavo Gordillo, who is a first-generation immigrant from Peru – and I could go on, but that should be enough.

What do they all have in common? Let’s count them.

No. 1, most of them are pretty wealthy. Ro Khanna’s family is probably worth a quarter of a billion dollars. Hasas Piker drives a Porsche. He has a multimillion-dollar home. His family is worth millions. Ilhan Omar, whether truthfully or untruthfully, filed a financial report that said she was worth $30 million. We can talk about Mr. El-Sayed. He filed a tax return for over $600,000.

But besides that, they are mostly wealthy, they’re also, with exception of AOC, Muslims, which is fine, except they accentuate their Islamic identity to the extent that Mr. El-Sayed has even said in an unguarded moment that he didn’t want to mention anything about the killing of the Supreme Leader, the theocratic enemy of the United States in Iran, because that might upset his constituents.

But in addition to being quite wealthy and Islamic and from failed states, many of them, as soon as they arrived here or their parents, equated their own race or their religion or their antithesis to what they call the oppressor or victimizer class, the white male heterosexual Christian we all know who’s supposed to be responsible for all the sins of the world, as somehow exploiting them.

In other words, think of the argument. You come from a failed socialist state in Somalia or Uganda or Egypt. You set one foot in here or your parents set one foot in here, and immediately you lodge complaints against the gracious host that welcomed you in and welcomed you in with security, prosperity, and freedom that you did not have under the system that you left, but which you seem to now champion in a very chauvinistic way.

And no sooner than you come without any knowledge of the United States’ nature or history or protocols, you’re so bold that you start to demand socialist changes.

You want to abolish the Senate. You want reparations. You want to reopen the border. You want to get rid of the filibuster. You want to get rid of the Electoral College. You want to pack the court. You want to change the capitalist system. You want to tax billionaires not on what they make, but on their worth. You want to go after people who have two homes.

All these are radical things that are outside the American tradition….

And unfortunately, what is the most ironic of all is a lot of these new immigrants who are very affluent are imposing a socialist system, they think, on Americans as if we’re the lab rats and they are the experimenters, and that’s not a very successful way to win the American people over to the cherished idea in the past of legal immigration.

 

Articles of Faith: What Do Latter-day Saints Believe About the Fall of Adam 5?

Article of Faith 2

   We believe that men will be punished for their own sins,

                    and not for Adam’s transgression.

 This essay is the fourth in teaching about the Fall of Adam and Eve as stated in the second Article of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The first thesis discussed moral agency, or the freedom to choose good or evil. The second treatise discussed sin and punishment for sin. The third essay discussed Satan. The fourth paper discussed the creation of Adam and Eve and Satan’s great temptation. This essay will discuss the tree of life and the immediate result of the Fall, using the words of Elder James E. Talmage (The Articles of Faith [1890], 66-68).

The Tree of Life – There was another tree of special virtues in Eden; its fruit assured life to those who ate of it. While Adam and Eve lived in innocence, immune to death, this tree had not been forbidden them. Now that they had transgressed, however, now that the divine decree had issued fixing death as their lot, it was necessary that the fruit of the tree of life be no longer within their reach. They were, therefore, expelled from the garden, and cherubim with a flaming sword guarded the way, that man might not return in an unregenerate state. By transgression our first parents acquired a knowledge, which in their condition of pristine innocence they had not possessed – the experimental knowledge of good and evil. The result of their fall could have been of none but ill effect had they been immediately brought to a condition of immortality, without repentance, without atonement. In the despair following their realization of the great change that had come upon them, and in the light of the knowledge that had gained at such cost as to the virtues of the tree of life, it would have been natural for them to seek the seeming advantage of an immediate escape by partaking of the immortalizing food. In mercy they were prevented from so doing.

The words of the Creator are unmistakable as to the necessity of banishing Adam and Eve from Eden: “And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever: Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life” (Gen. 3:22-24).

Alma, the Nephite prophet, comprehended the result that would have followed had Adam and his wife eaten of the tree of life; he thus explained the matter: “Now, we see that the man had become as God, knowing good and evil; and lest he should put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat and live forever, the Lord God placed cherubim and the flaming sword, that he should not partake of the fruit – And thus we see, that there was a time granted unto man to repent, yea, a probationary time, a time to repent and serve God. For behold, if Adam had put forth his hand immediately, and partaken of the tree of life, he would have lived forever, according to the word of God, having no space for repentance; yea, and also the word of God would have been void, and the great plan of salvation would have been frustrated” (Alma 42:3-5).

The Immediate Result of the Fall was the substitution of mortality, with all its attendant frailties, for the vigor of the primeval deathless state. Adam felt directly the effects of transgression in finding a barren and dreary earth, with a relatively sterile soil, instead of the beauty and fruitfulness of Eden. In place of pleasing and useful plants, thorns and thistles sprang up; and the man had to labor arduously, under the conditions of physical fatigue and suffering, to cultivate the soil that he might obtain necessary food. Upon Eve fell the penalty of bodily infirmity; pains and sorrows, which since have been regarded as the natural lot of womankind, came upon her, and she was made subject to her husband’s authority. Having lost their sense of former innocence they became ashamed of their nakedness, and the Lord made for them garments of skins. Upon both the man and the woman was visited the penalty of spiritual death; for in that very day they were banished from Eden and cast out from the presence of the Lord. The serpent, having served the purposes of Satan, was made a subject of divine displeasure, being doomed to crawl forever in the dust, and to suffer form the enmity which it was decreed should be placed in the hearts of Eve’s children.

What Will Be the Effect of the Latest Supreme Court Ruling?

Today’s politics resemble the intrigue of “As the World Turns.” The latest news is that the Supreme Court overturned “a lower court order that blocked the restrictions in 23 states.” Carlos Garcia reported as follows. 

The U.S. Supreme Court sided Monday with President Donald Trump against a collection of Democrat-controlled states who sued to oppose his executive order restricting mail-in ballots. The highest court of the land found in a partisan 5-3 ruling that the states did not have standing to sue against the president’s order and overturned a lower court order to block the restrictions in 23 states.

“This internal directive does not regulate the States’ voter registration processes,” read the order from the Supreme Court. “Nor does it impinge on the States’ authority ‘to create and enforce a legal code’ for elections.”

However, the majority ruling warned that not all measures taken by the executive to implement the order will be necessarily lawful.

“On that score, time will tell,” the majority said.

The court’s three liberal justices dissented from the ruling.

The executive order from March directed the Department of Homeland Security to tabulate a list of citizens eligible to vote. It then called on the U.S Postal Service to only accept ballots from people on the list.

U.S. attorneys general from several Democrat states sued to stop the order on the basis that it would disenfranchise some voters who could vote lawfully.

“Only Democrat politicians and operatives would be upset about lawful efforts to secure American elections and ensure only eligible American citizens are casting ballots,” read a statement from White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson in April.

In her dissent Monday, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson accused the president of seeking to “foment chaos ahead of the November elections”

Justice Sonya Sotomayor said the ruling only “postpones” the adjudication of the president’s order.

“Today’s decision does not address whether the President’s attempts to interfere with States’ administration of the November 2026 elections are lawful,” wrote Sotomayor in a dissent joined by Justice Elena Kagan.

“Nor does it suggest that the Executive Branch has any constitutional or statutory authority to implement the President’s directives,” they added.

New York Attorney General Letitia James agreed with Sotomayor in her own statement on the ruling.

“This decision is a painful setback, but it will not be the final word,” she wrote. “The right to vote is sacred, and no administration should be allowed to put that right in jeopardy by making it harder for eligible voters to cast their ballots.”

The Trump administration is attempting to bring integrity back to political elections. It is interesting to see how many people are opposed to providing proof of citizenship to register to vote and picture identification to vote. Time will tell if the new ruling stands and how it would affect elections.

What Is Happening with Birthright Citizenship?

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday concerns birthright citizenship, a topic that is once again in the news. President Donald Trump is trying to do all that he can to stop foreigners from coming to America and particularly those who are coming only to have a baby on American soil

Trump lost his first case at the Supreme Court when the court ruled in June that babies born on American soil have birthright citizenship. The loss did not stop Trump, who “issued two new executive orders seeking to limit avenues for birthright citizenship in the United States.” In her article in the Deseret News, Lauren Irwin explained the new orders as follows. 

The two orders appeared to try to find a way around the court’s ruling that struck down his previous executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship all together.

After receiving the setback from the justices, Trump vowed to change the constitutional guarantee another way.

He was accompanied by White House deputy chief of staff for policy Steven Miller in the Oval Office as he signed the new executive orders: one that puts limits on birthright citizenship for children of embassy employees and another on birth tourism.

Scholars are divided about whether his orders will be allowed to go into effect and advocates are questioning the legality, just as they did in January 2025.

But what do Trump’s orders actually say, and will they fail legal scrutiny like the last one?

The birthright citizenship executive orders

The first order, titled “Continuing to Protect the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship,” looks to exclude babies born to employees working for foreign governments, meaning embassy or consulate staff who aren’t U.S. citizens.

The long-standing rule was that children born in the U.S. to accredited ambassadors or diplomats didn’t receive birthright citizenship because their parents are not subject to U.S. jurisdiction – which was the key question before the Supreme Court. However, Trump’s order covers a broader number of people, not just diplomats.

Trump’s new order expands the ban on birthright citizenship to all foreign government employees living in the United States.

The order raises legal questions because the Trump administration argues those people aren’t “subject to the jurisdiction” of the United States under the 14^th Amendment, but others argue that the diplomatic exception was a very narrow avenue to deny birthright citizenship to begin with and cannot be expanded.

The order also targets children of members of foreign terrorist groups and babies whose parents are engaged in “fraudulent activity” to gain citizenship in the country.

The second executive order, titled “Ending Birth Tourism,” directs the secretary of state and the secretary of homeland security to deny visas to anyone suspected of engaging in birth tourism.

While the exact scale of birth tourism is unclear and the number of children born to foreign nationals in the United States was less than 10,000 in 2024, the order is looking to end or limit the practice of pregnant women who say they’re coming to the U.S. for another reason in order to give birth so their child can receive U.S. citizenship under the constitutional guarantee….

Trump’s order will likely face legal challenges, but still, it targets a very small number of children born in the U.S. annually, since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates 3.6 million babies were born in 2024.

Trump said when signing the orders that people were building businesses around birth tourism and birthright citizenship.

“They’re buying their way in, and we’re not going to let it happen,” he said, adding, “We look very heavily at denying visas to people that we have reason to believe are coming here for that purpose.” …

Scholars are divided over whether the courts will allow Trump to amend birthright citizenship and birth tourism.

It’s potentially legal to expand the category of foreign diplomats not being included but it also would give them significant immunity from U.S. law, Amanda Frost, a University of Virginia law professor, told Reuters….

The American Civil Liberties Union and other advocacy groups filed a motion last week asking a federal judge to block the enforcement of the two orders.

They argue Trump can’t circumvent the Supreme Court’s ruling since the justices already confirmed the 14^th Amendment guarantees and the specific “subject to the jurisdiction” language.

Since the administration deliberately narrowed the language of the birthright executive order, courts will have to decide if the foreign government employees and birth tourists fit within the historical framework of the jurisdiction clause.

 

 

Who Is Sophie Cunningham?

My VIP for this week is Sophie Cunningham, the WNBA guard who stood up to defend Indiana Fever superstar Caitlin Clark. According to Jennifer Graham at the Deseret News, a Vanity Fair article says Cunningham has become a “MAGA fixation.” The article noted that Vice President JD Vance praised Cunningham for “speaking her mind” about transgender athletes in women’s sports. The article also noted that Cunningham has “retweeted and like social posts supporting conservative viewpoints,” some by Riley Gaines were included. They claim that Cunningham is MAGA by association. Cunningham claims that she is neither Republican nor Democrat. 

“I’m very much in the middle. I agree with things on both sides, disagree with things on both sides. And that’s all I’ve ever said about my political beliefs. But people love to assume,” Cunningham recently said in an interview with ESPN.

But she does hold views that are more identified with the political right than the left, including remarks she has made about what she wants in a family.

Indiana Fever’s Sophie Cunningham (8) talks to teammate Caitlin Clark (22) during the first half of an WNBA basketball game against the Chicago Sky in Chicago, Saturday, Aug. 8, 2026. [Paul Beaty, Associated Press]

Basketball Network reported that not only does Cunningham want to find a man who is taller than she is (she’s 6-foot-1), but she said recently on a podcast that she wants a husband who can “push me towards Christ.”

“If you’re not about it, and you don’t talk about it, then don’t even talk to me. I have my blinders on…. But my No. 1 thing is I want you to lead our house, lead me, lead our future kids to serve and love a good, good God,” she said.

That statement doesn’t make her MAGA, but it might make her even more controversial than she already is … if the word gets out. Religion writer Terry Mattingly recently pointed out that for all the headlines that Cunningham is making these days, few of the articles mention her religious faith.

Cunningham, who just turned 30 this week, is single and still looking; any interested man who is 6-foot-2 or taller and has a strong Christian faith might want to go to a Fever game with a friendship bracelet for her, a strategy that worked out great for Travis Kelce.

What Does It Mean for the Earth to Be full of the Goodness of God?

My Come Follow Me studies for this week took me to the first third of the book of Psalms in a lesson titled “The Lord Is My Shepherd” (Psalms 1-2; 8; 19-33; 40; 46). The following information introduced the lesson. 

We don’t know for certain who wrote the Psalms. Some are attributed to King David, but for most of them, the writers remain anonymous. Yet after reading the Psalms, we feel as if we know the hearts of the psalmists, even if we don’t know their names. We do know that the Psalms were an important part of worship among the Israelites, and we know that the Savior quoted them often. In the Psalms, we get a window into the soul of God’s ancient people. We see how they about God, what they worried about, and how they found peace. As believers today, all over the world, we still use these words in our worship of God. It’s almost like the writers of the Psalms had a window into our souls, because they expressed how we feel about God, what we worry about, and how we find peace.

The scripture block teaches several principles, including: (1) “I have trusted … in the Lord” (Psalms 1; 23; 26-28; 46). (2) Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah (Psalms 2; 22). (3) “The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord” (Psalms 8; 19; 33). (4) The word of the Lord is powerful, “rejoicing the heart” (Psalms 19:7-11; 29). (5) The Savior can help me be pure so I can enter God’s presence (Psalms 24; 26-27). This essay will discuss principle #3 about the earth being full of God’s goodness.

Reading Psalms 8; 19; 33 might inspire you to consider the Lord’s many wonderful creations. I love to be outside where I can enjoy God’s creations, whether I am in my backyard, in the mountains, or at the beach. There is nothing like nature to show us the greatness of God and our smallness.

Elder Gérald Caussé of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles shared a personal experience in the April 2026 general conference that reminded him of Psalm 8 (“Love All; Love Each,” Liahona , May 2026, 44). 

Years ago, while spending peaceful time in the beautiful countryside, I stepped outside after sunset to rest on a lounge chair. The night was so dark that I could hardly see anything. Instinctively, I looked up and noticed a tiny flickering point of light, then another. As my eyes adjusted to the darkness, the sky filled with stars.

I thought, “This is like our relationship with God.” Some think He is distant, and life feels heavy as a result. But if they pause to reflect on His presence in their lives, they will find that He is near—quietly present, far closer than they imagine.

As I pondered this idea, a question from one of David’s psalms came to mind:

“When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars …;

“What is man, that thou art mindful of him?”

The answer that follows is deeply comforting: “Thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.”

This is the miracle of God’s relationship with us: The universe is vast beyond comprehension, yet every soul carries infinite worth in the eyes of our Creator. Though we may seem small in a physical sense, each of us is personally known, remembered, and loved by our Eternal Father and by His Son, Jesus Christ.

What experiences have led you to ponder “the miracle of God’s relationship with us”? You might have an experience with music as President Dallin H. Oaks suggested: 

The singing of hymns is one of the best ways to put ourselves in tune with the Spirit of the Lord…. Sacred music has a unique capacity to communicate our feelings of love for the Lord. This kind of communication is a wonderful aid to our worship…. Our hymns contain matchless doctrinal sermons, surpassed only by the scriptures in their truth and poetic impact (“Worship through Music,” Ensign, Nov. 1994, 10, 11).

What hymns related to the Psalms could you listen to or sing to enhance your worship this week? Some suggested hymns are:

·       Psalm 23: “The Lord Is My Shepherd” (Hymns, no. 108)

·       Psalms 23:6; 150: “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty” (Hymns, no. 72)

·       Psalm 26:8: “We Love Thy House, O God” (Hymns, no. 247)

·       Psalm 27:1: “The Lord Is My Light” (Hymns, no. 89)

·       Psalm 33:1-6; 95:1-6: “For the Beauty of the Earth” (Hymns, no. 92)

·       Psalm 37:3-9: “Be Still, My Soul” (Hymns, no. 124)

·       Psalm 148: “All Creatures of Our God and King” (Hymns, no. 62)

Why Should Americans Choose Capitalism Over Socialism and Communism?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday is that capitalism supports freedom, while socialism and communism destroy freedom. Yet, many young Americans believe the hype that socialism in America would be a good thing. They are part of the reason that communists are being elected to state and federal office.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is campaigning with House Republicans to help Republicans retain majority in the House. On Monday, he was campaigning with Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-VA). This was just one of the stops as he toured 34 districts in 18 states in 30 days. He calls the mid-term election the choice between “common sense vs. communism.” Virginia Grace McKinnon at The Daily News reported the following information. 

With the rise of Democratic Socialists of America candidates across the country and the divide in the Democratic Party, Republicans believe that if they can communicate the threat of socialism and communism to Americans, it will be winning messaging for the GOP come November. Johnson laid out the threat and what DSA candidates will do if they assume office.

“They want to abolish the border. They want to abolish all prisons in America. They would have abolished the U.S. Senate. They would have removed the president,” Johnson told reporters. “They want to expand the House and make it a unicameral governing body over the entire country because they believe that over two or three cycles, they’ll be able to bring a wave of the Marxist communists into the Congress and take it over.”

These are all policies of the DSA, according to the group’s Workers Deserve More plan. Johnson continued, explaining that if this happens, they will take away and assume the means of production to the government. “That means no more private property ownership. That means the small business owners across America, who provide jobs and opportunity for people, will be taken over by the government. It’s a dangerous game,” he said.

Over the weekend, Johnson published a new website, Contrast for America, to “educate people, especially young voters,” on the long-term threat of communism.

The website lays out the history of socialism, arguing that every attempt led to communism – from famine beginning in Soviet Russia in 1918 to China’s Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, which led to famine, the government closing schools, and silencing free speech. It also mentions North Korea and Venezuela, where food shortages continue today.

“The government that promises everything for free will almost certainly take it away in short order. Definitely in the long term,” Johnson said, highlighting the tens of millions of people killed by communism in the 20^th century. He warned this could soon be America if the Democratic Party accommodates DSA members….