Immigration and the Economy

The new immigration bill, which is likely to pass Congress shortly, could have serious economic repercussions nationwide. On the other hand, it may have little effect. Everyone agrees that much is at stake, but no one really knows what is going to happen. The division of opinion on immigration does not follow normal ideological fault lines, which explains the unpredictability of legislation. Some conservatives think immigrants take jobs from the rest of us. Others think that immigrants create jobs and become patriotic Americans. Some liberals think that immigrants take things without permission and ignore the National Labor Relations Board. But other liberals don’t want to police our borders because that would be racist, anti-minority, and non-com-passionate. Lots of liberals would like to legalize all aliens because that would strengthen their bargaining position as employees and put them within reach of social workers and the welfare state.

Today, about half a million legal immigrants come to the U.S. every year. The flow of illegals may be double that, and they may now total 12 million across the land. (There are said to be one million in Los Angeles County alone.) We now take in more immigrants than all other countries in the world combined—perhaps twice as many. In the past decade, immigration both legal and illegal has probably exceeded its peak at the turn of the century.

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Tom Bethell

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The new immigration bill, which is likely to pass Congress shortly, could have serious economic repercussions nationwide. On the other hand, it may have little effect. Everyone agrees that much is at stake, but no one really knows what is going to happen. The division of opinion on immigration does not follow normal ideological fault lines, which explains the unpredictability of legislation. Some conservatives think immigrants take jobs from the rest of us. Others think that immigrants create jobs and become patriotic Americans. Some liberals think that immigrants take things without permission and ignore the National Labor Relations Board. But other liberals don’t want to police our borders because that would be racist, anti-minority, and non-com-passionate. Lots of liberals would like to legalize all aliens because that would strengthen their bargaining position as employees and put them within reach of social workers and the welfare state.

Today, about half a million legal immigrants come to the U.S. every year. The flow of illegals may be double that, and they may now total 12 million across the land. (There are said to be one million in Los Angeles County alone.) We now take in more immigrants than all other countries in the world combined—perhaps twice as many. In the past decade, immigration both legal and illegal has probably exceeded its peak at the turn of the century.