Immigration policy stupid, evil and hurting Americans

Also at:    /articles/immigration-policy-stupid-evil-and-hurting-americans

Contra Costa Times
Published         Saturday, December 4, 1999

"IN AMERICA, WE have a                                  two-party system," a Republican                                  congressional staffer is supposed to have told a                                  visiting group of Russian legislators some years                                  ago.

"There is the stupid party. And                          there is the evil party. I am proud to be a member of                          the stupid party."

He added: "Periodically, the two                          parties get together and do something that is                         both stupid and evil. This is                          called—bipartisanship."

Our current mass immigration policy                          is a classic example of this fatal Washington                          bipartisanship. It is a stupid policy because there is                          absolutely no reason for it—in particular, Americans as                          a whole are no better off economically because of mass                          immigration.

It is an evil policy because it                         second-guesses the American people, who have shown                          through smaller families that they want to stabilize                          population size.

Unfortunately, our current                          immigration policy is consuming the environment with                          urban sprawl, hurting the poor and minorities with                          intensified wage competition, and ultimately threatening                          the American nation itself—what Abraham Lincoln called                         "the last, best hope of earth"—with cultural and                          linguistic fragmentation.

And, of course, the current mass                          immigration policy is bipartisan. Both major party                          leaderships have tacitly agreed to keep the subject out                          of politics. No single figure is more                         responsible for this than                         Sen. Spencer Abraham, R-Mich., chairman of the                          Senate's Immigration Subcommittee.

Abraham was a key figure in                          sabotaging the most recent chance of reform, the                         Smith-Simpson immigration bill, in 1996.

Ironically, this was a truly                          bipartisan measure, proposed by Republicans but                         based on the work of the                         Jordan Commission, headed by the former black                          liberal                         Democratic Congresswoman Barbara Jordan. She                          recommended almost halving immigration, in part because                          of its impact on the poor.

The economic stupidity of current                          mass immigration policy is illustrated by a brilliant                          new book, "Heaven's Door: Immigration Policy and the American                          Economy" (Princeton University Press).

The author,                         Professor George Borjas of Harvard University's John                          F. Kennedy School of Government, is widely regarded as                          the leading American immigration economist. And he is an                          immigrant, arriving here penniless from Castro's Cuba in                          1962, when he was 12 years old.

Borjas has every reason to favor                          immigration. He writes movingly about his own early                          experiences, and compassionately about the immigrant                          waves that have followed him.

But, as a scholar, he recognizes                          what he calls "accumulating evidence" that immigration                          has costs as well as benefits. "My thinking on this                          issue has changed substantially over the years," he                          admits.

Professor Borjas' devastating                          findings:

The current wave of mass                          immigration is not benefiting Americans overall. "All                          of the available estimates suggest the annual net gain                          is astoundingly small," writes Professor Borjas, "... less than 0.1 percent of the Gross Domestic                          Product." Roughly: less than $10 billion in a $7                          trillion economy.

Note carefully what Professor                          Borjas is saying here. Sure, those immigrants who work                          do raise overall GDP. But the bulk of that increase goes                          to the immigrants themselves, in the form of wages. The                          benefit to native-born Americans, after everything is                          taken into account, is infinitesimally small.

Current mass immigration is not                          benefiting Americans overall—but it is transforming                          their country. For nothing.

Least-skilled Americans are being                          hurt. Borjas estimates that almost half of the increased                          wage gap between high school dropouts and high school                          graduates can be attributed to immigration.

Again, note carefully what                          Professor Borjas is saying. Mass immigration is not                          making Americans richer overall. But it is, in effect,                          redistributing income between Americans. Specifically,                          because immigrants tend to be unskilled, they compete                          with American unskilled workers and have forced their                          wages down.

Of course, profits for employers of                          unskilled workers have correspondingly gone up. But the                          employers' gain, according to Professor Borjas'                          calculations, does not cancel out the workers' loss.

And it's not just unskilled                          American workers. Any group of workers could be                          displaced. It's already happened in the computer                          software industry. Employers prefer to import cheap                          young immigrant programmers rather than retrain and pay                          older American programmers.

Current mass immigration is hurting                          key states badly. Because immigrants tend to be                          unskilled, and because we now have a costly social                          safety net, immigrants cost taxpayers money in the                          half-dozen states where they concentrate.

A lot of money. For example,                          immigration has raised the taxes of native households in                          California by a stunning $1,200 a year. Overall, this                          fiscal loss easily cancels out any small benefit                          immigration brings to native-born Americans.

Not only are Americans seeing their                          country transformed, they are actually paying for the                          privilege.

Oh, in case you're wondering: The                          amazing fact is that                         Borjas' views are the consensus in his                          profession—see the National Research Council's 1997                          report "The New Americans."

Evil? Or stupid? Either way,                          immigration policy is broke. And it needs fixing. Now.