Yet another article extolling the virtues of immigration into the United States.
We at DumbAgent believe that borders should be completely open to immigration of all sorts. Simple Supply and Demand mean that workers will travel (often very far and through perilous terrain) to find jobs to which they are suitably matched. The workers immigrating to the United States have often shown tremendous drive, ambition and patience in being able to reach this country, find employment, and work in conditions many locals would be loath to accept, all the while sending money back home to their families. Given these conditions it is natural that the immigrants who do make it in this country have more drive, will-power and perseverance than average, which is exactly what a country needs to keep advancing. As the article points out: “it takes get-up-and-go to get up and go, which is why immigrants are abnormally entrepreneurial.”
Allowances should be made for national security, but those aside, immigration should be encouraged in and out of all countries. The United States is no exception.
Click here for an article in which we tackle an opponent of relaxed immigration laws.
Click here for an article on Japan, a country whose restrictive immigration laws may be proving to be its undoing.
It is clear that if US immigration laws were relaxed, illegal immigration would decrease. There is the obvious fact that if it’s permissible, it is no longer illegal. But it is moreover possible, perhaps likely, that there could be a decline in the immigrant population in the short term.
Many people who slipped across the border to do seasonal agricultural work decide to stay precisely because they cannot be sure of being able to return for the next season. And so, whereas they may prefer to spend the non-working time back where they have a social network, they become idle and illegal in the US.
And now, during the current employment crisis, it is conceivable that many illegal immigrants would return home if they thought they would be able to return when the demand for labor increases.
That is a very good point. Many of the immigrants who come from overseas, as well, prefer to ‘disappear’ into the crowd once their visas expire rather than risk being deported or not being able to return at a future date. Once they’ve done this, obviously, their opportunities become much more limited
It would be interesting to see a study conducted on the effect of this. How many people would be happy to return to their home country for 6 months or even several years, if they knew they could return when they wish?
Good luck collecting data, though.