Immigration Restrictions Hurt Americans, Too
Ilya Somin
Americans living along the Mexican border have begun to receive notices that their property will be condemned by the government in order to build President Donald Trump’s border wall. The greatest damage likely to be inflicted by the Trump administration’s severely restrictionist approach to immigration will probably fall on immigrants themselves. Trump advocates drastic cuts in legal and illegal migration alike. But the wall takings are a reminder that American citizens will suffer, too.
The most obvious harm is economic. Immigration restrictions interfere with the free market more than almost any other U.S. government policy. They literally prevent millions of people from freely seeking jobs and engaging in other market transactions. Free migration throughout the world could potentially double world gross domestic product and grow the economy more than almost any other policy change.
Many of those economic benefits will accrue to native-born Americans who hire immigrants, buy the goods they produce, or engage in other transactions with them. Many products we purchase every day are cheaper or have better quality because of immigrants’ work. Many would not even exist at all without them.
The world is not a zero-sum game where natives must lose out in order for immigrants to gain — or vice versa.
On average, immigrants are more likely to start businesses than native-born citizens, which creates many potential benefits for the latter. Over 80 percent of the highest-achieving high school science students in the U.S. are immigrants or children of immigrants — many of whose parents came to the U.S. on H1B visas that Trump seeks to curb.
Immigration restrictionism also threatens the liberty and property rights of Americans. Most obviously, it curtails their freedom to work and otherwise associate with immigrants. If, like many conservatives, you believe government cannot be trusted to decide what types of food we should eat or what kind of health insurance we should buy, you have reason for skepticism about giving it the power to determine which potential immigrants we should be allowed to interact with.
There is no way to deport large numbers of undocumented immigrants — as the administration seeks to do — without also imperiling the civil liberties of natives. Under the Obama administration, the Department of Homeland Security concluded that immigration enforcement requires large-scale use of racial profiling in areas where some two-thirds of the U.S. population lives.
In practice, that subjects many Americans to racial discrimination by law enforcement agencies merely because they happen to look like they belong to the same ethnic or racial group as undocumented immigrants. Increasing deportation efforts likely means increasing the extent and severity of racial profiling.
As many U.S. police chiefs have noted, the fear created by deportations makes Hispanic communities less willing to cooperate with law enforcement, thereby potentially increasing crime. By contrast, immigration itself actually reduces the crime rate, since immigrants — contrary to the assertions about Mexicans by Trump — actually have lower violent crime rates than natives.
Building Trump’s border wall would require using eminent domain to seize property of many more Americans. The condemnations that have already begun are just the tip of the iceberg.
Though Immigration can occasionally have negative side effects on natives, most are either overblown or can be addressed by less draconian measures than restrictions and deportation. Contrary to critics’ fears, increased immigration does not actually lead to higher welfare state spending per capita. Even if it did, the right solution is not to build a wall across the border but to build a wall limiting access to welfare benefits. This is just one of many “keyhole solutions” that can mitigate potential risks of immigration without barring immigrants. Similar points apply to other common concerns about immigration, including fears that immigrants will vote for bad public policies, fail to assimilate or increase the risk of terrorism.
The world is not a zero-sum game where natives must lose out in order for immigrants to gain — or vice versa. If we truly want to make America great again, we must remember the many ways that immigrants and natives benefit each other. That is a big part of what made the nation great in the first place.
Ilya Somin is Professor of Law at George Mason University, an adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute, and author of “Democracy and Political Ignorance: Why Smaller Government is Smarter.”
Source: https://www.cato.org/publications/commentary/immigration-restrictions-hurt-americans-too
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Whistler Blowers, Insiders
Okay because nobody else sensible has had the courage to say it, let me be the first to put things in a realistic perspective free of the contrived rhetoric and misinformation orchestrated by the communist globalists. First, contrary to the politically correct interpretation of illegal immigration, each person who makes the conscience decision to cross the United States border without going through the legal immigration process is a criminal. These criminals immediately exacerbate their original offense by using bogus Social Security numbers to work. In some states they can obtain drivers licenses using the false Social Security numbers. In either case they apply for welfare grants, social security disability, food stamps, subsidized housing and the list goes on, all using false information and their stolen or modified identity. It’s “fraud” at minimum!
The amount of their benefits are based on how many children they have. For this reason many illegal immigrants as a matter of economics purposely have children to increase grant amounts. This current system siphons American tax revenue, money that would otherwise be used for the benefit of taxpaying American citizens. This is revenue that could be used for education, job training, housing and elderly care. Contrary to the false assertions of the globalists such policy literally takes food from the mouths of American citizens.
At present sanctuary cities and states led by anti-American globalists are more than willing to throw their entire legal constituency under the bus to protect a handful of criminals. These sovereign nation stealing political manipulators will refuse federal dollars that fund necessary social components for Americans citizens. They continue aiding and abetting these foreign criminals. By using these dollars earmarked for domestic programs for illegal residents the amount of money available for American citizens is significantly diminished. It truly effects their lives in a negative fashion. This slaps our children, our poor, aged and disabled right in the face. Talk about discrimination!
The line of bull that supporters of illegal immigration that wrongly suggests that illegal residents contribute tax dollars is nothing but a sick joke. As a former taxman I will tell you this is not even close to the truth. At their level of income the illegal immigrants almost always get tax refunds when they file a tax return. These criminals sneak into our country and then continue their illicit activity using phony Social Security numbers to game the system. The tax agencies fully aware of the problem assign special document locator/identification numbers to each applicant who is using duplicate numbers. In many situations there are as many as five hundred illegals using the same Social Security number and nobody seems to care.
Refunds are then distributed to illegal residents mailed to the address specified on the return. That’s right, refunds are commonly doled out to criminal fugitives who cannot even be verified as being who they say they are. These criminals get back every single dime that was deducted from their wages or withheld for state and federal taxes plus any other credits given legitimate taxpayers. What should be noted is that a solid majority of these foreigners have no motive or desire to assimilate into America. Instead they strive to live as they did before coming here, to alter American culture turning our nation into an extension of their failed countries. I’m not cool with this thinking. The way I see it is either you’re an American or you’re not. Not to be rude but, if they prefer a foreign culture to America’s way of life, the answer is pretty simple, go home.
For those who might say I’m being totally unfair, let me remind you of some truth. If an America citizen were to get caught sneaking into Mexico they would receive up to a five year jail sentence. After serving it you’d be immediately deported. Perhaps if American authorities fairly imposed similar penalty here in America these lawless crooks would respect the law, they would stop infiltrating and trying to transform our free country into a socialist one. Before anyone makes the ridiculous accusation, I am not a bigot. This is not a racial issue, it is a common sense issue. The truth is that if we have no borders we are merely a territory, we are not a nation. I would maintain this exact position if the illegal immigrants were Caucasian, Black, or Asian and I do. Although there are many other races who illegally enter the US, presently the bulk of these criminals are Hispanic coming from Mexico or South America.
Deputy Dawg