By Matthew Yglesias in WashPost:
. . . .
At the same time, President Trump has been pursuing an immigration policy supported by only his own party, seeking to foreclose the flow not just of undocumented migrants but also those who come here legally.
These two policies are at odds with each other. The best way to ensure that the United States maintains the upper hand against China is easy: It can welcome more of the tens of millions around the world who’d like to move to our shores — not as an act of charity but as an exertion of national power. To compete, we need more people.
. . . .
Migrants increase both the supply of labor and the demand for goods and services. The wage impact of that push and pull tends to balance out, but benefits emerge in the form of greater diversity of products and services. When the U.S. government eliminated the use of legal Mexican guest workers in agriculture in the 1960s, wages didn’t go up; farmers simply cut production of certain foods, including asparagus, strawberries, lettuce, celery and cucumbers, while switching to lower-quality, mechanically harvested tomatoes. Study after study finds that immigrants are disproportionately represented among entrepreneurs, including at high-growth firms. They are personally responsible for a large share of patent filings and increase the productivity of native-born inventors. Targeting immigrants with technical skills rather than family ties is fine — though research confirms that the existing stock of immigrants is actually quite skilled — but the overall finding is that we should seek more immigrants rather than fewer.
. . . .
The United States is distinctive in its civic culture of creedal nationalism, with founding principles that are explicitly open to all and not tied to any particular bloodline or plot of land. Wise American leaders have in the past seen immigration as a source of national strength. The early republic imposed essentially no limits on immigration, and Abraham Lincoln signed the 1864 Act to Encourage Immigration because “I regard our immigrants as one of the principal replenishing streams which are appointed by Providence.” Views like those give us a great advantage in seeking foreigners, welcoming them and incorporating them and their descendants into American life. A time of new challenges from abroad is a time to double down on those strengths rather than abandon them.
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Read the full story at the link.
Supposedly the Chinese Government wants Trump to lose. So, maybe their leaders are as dense as Trump and his GOP cultists.
The article restates a basic truth. America is a nation of immigrants and a continued more robust immigration system continues to be both essential and beneficial to the US. Not going to happen under Trump and the kakistocracy.
PWS
09-14-20