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What Would Happen If We Let All The Immigrants In


Auburn85

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http://www.slate.com...igrants_in.html

Matthew Yglesias

Mickey Kaus has an elaborate theory of social equality vs "Money Liberals" that I don't really understand, but that also leads him to want to kick unauthorized migrants out of the United States and curtail the ability of future migrants to come to the United States. To my way of thinking, that involves completely discounting the interests of human beings who happen to have been born in Mexico or Morocco or Mali. They are perhaps reasons for deciding that people born in Boston or Birmingham count more than people born in Bangladesh or Bolivia, but they're nationalistic reasons not egalitarian ones.

At any rate, in responding to me on this point he suggests that cosmopolitanism would lead to disaster:

I leave it to you to imagine the real-world consequences of Yglesias’ position. (Hint:
Blade Runner
set in Brazil!) But what about my position? I would give Americans priority in the competition for low wage jobs. I worry more about whether they can make $12 an hour than I do whether Mexicans who may have made only $2 an hour are able to come here and make $8 an hour. “We take care of our own”–even though the jump from $2 to $8 might be a huge income boost for the immigrants, who are indeed “people too.”

I love Blade Runner but I think some data might help elucidate this point. According to Gallup there are 150 million people around the world who say they'd like to move permanently to the United States. Right now the United States has about 89 residents per square mile. Add another 150 million people and we'd be at around 135 people per square mile. How would that stack up in context? Well, France has 303 people per square mile and Germany has 593. Japan has 873. The Dutch have 1,287!

All those places have their share of problems (and so do we) but none of them are exactly post-apocalyptic hellscapes. I've never been to Japan, but the other countries are all quite pleasant. German cuisine would benefit from more immigrants.

Now that said, it does seem like the sudden arrival of 150 million new people all at once would overtax American infrastructure. Some kind of phase-up of permitted immigration levels (perhaps tied to a residency permit auction) would be a lot better than a sudden leap to an open borders policy. But the United States ran an open borders regime throughout the 19th century and we weren't worse off for it. On the contrary, it laid the foundations for American greatness. Shifting back in that direction—with exceptions for dangerous criminals and other select problem types—over time seems perfectly feasible to me and would substantially increase overall human welfare. Now obviously that doesn't resolve the question of whether or not, morally speaking, it makes sense to simply not care about the interests of foreigners. But Kaus and I agree that foreign-born people are people, so for my part I'd like to take their interests into consideration.

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Follow the law, file for status, and work your way to citizenship. We need a better process, but it's not Americas job to provide asylum for every unhappy person in the world.

Here's a thought......make your nation better.

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I looked at America as this great bar in town where everyone wanted to go to..its the happening place.

But the last decade and the emergence of China and the Asia region tells me the center of gravity of business has shifted already. This is going to have huge impact on immigration over time. The financial mess over the last 4 yrs have shown the rest of the world that America has problems.

What makes America more competitive is the question? Who are going to start businesses, Who is going to invent, Who has the drive and fire in the belly to create (remember immigrants come with that for most part). Somewhat like our football team, we need those 4* and 3* who are willing to work and build to be 5* players in our economy and not have that entitlement mentality.

Don't forget there are US businesses in many parts of the world and Americans are living there increasingly. My recent trips to India found many American families over there (a lot more than 10 yrs ago).

The point is its a global economy and movement of skill is important for all businesses. Just ask the Auto Industry, where most of their profits are coming in from overseas, or the foreign Auto investors in Alabama who need the flexibility and are employing many Americans. What happens if we close the borders?

Sure, how we as a country handle immigration without burdening ourselves, to benefit the US is critical. Lets see what they come up with. America is a believer in Capitalism and Immigrants are inherently Capitalistic (heck who would go through all the hoops to come here if you didn't have some capitalism in you)

It shouldn't be about the Left or the Right, common sense to be applied here. "Immigration is the best form of flattery" - a sign from an Immigration Attorney website.

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