Illegal Immigration Will Take Care of Itself
Last week, approximately 50 Ricochet Members gathered in San Francisco to hear a conversation between Chuck Schwab and AEI's Arthur Brooks on the moral case for the free enterprise system. Following the conversation was a Q&A session during which one Member asked Arthur Brooks for his thoughts concerning the illegal immigration crisis at the United States' southern border. Brooks rejected the premise that the U.S. is currently experiencing an illegal immigration crisis, but to the extent that Americans still fret about the problem, he believes that it's likely to work itself out.
As we've seen to be the case for a few years now, a languishing U.S. economy has caused Mexican immigration to slow significantly. Mexicans now have a better shot at finding jobs in Mexico, whose unemployment rate has been in the high 4 to 5 percent range, than they do in the U.S. But looking beyond what we all hope will be a temporary recession, a return to high rates of Mexican immigration is unlikely. Why? Because with plummeting fertility rates, Mexico's demographics are on their way to looking more and more like Europe's. Take a look at this chart:
With fertility rates barely above replacement rate, but still falling sharply (2012's fertility rate, not included in this chart, is 2.27) Brooks predicts that by the time today's children reach voting age, illegal immigration will seem to them a complete non-issue.
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Oct '10
Re: Illegal Immigration Will Take Care of Itself
Diane Ellis, Ed.
John Marzan
Diane Ellis, Ed.
As for the children of illegals — if they weren't abe to go to school, their parents would just leave them at home while they went to work. Not sure how a bunch of illiterate children who'll grow into adults "helps us greatly". That really isn't a solution to anything. · Jun 11 at 5:13pm
every country in the world offers free education to it's citizens. USE IT. the undocumented worker should not bother bringing his children illegally to the U.S. if they can't afford to enroll their kids in U.S. private schools. · 4 hours ago
But the fact of the matter is that they do bring their children. To merely say that they ought not doesn't solve anything. · 12 hours ago
overturn plyler v doe. and let's see what happens 5 to 10 yrs after implementation.
my guess is that workers from let's say mexico will continue to pour in once the U.S. economy improves, but they'd leave their family and kids behind, not bring all of them over illegally.
Edited on June 14, 2012 at 7:09amOct '10
Re: Illegal Immigration Will Take Care of Itself
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/lanow/2012/06/conservative-ministry-immigration-reform.html
Replace "border security" with overturning Plyler v Doe and abolishing birthright citizenship, then you have an immigration reform deal that can succeed.
Apr '12
Re: Illegal Immigration Will Take Care of Itself
Astonishing
If you weren't denying that economic truth, then why did you inject the snarky remark about "jobs we citizens refuse as a waste ofprecioustime and energy"?
I understood that you intended the word "precious"as sarcasm directed precisely against the notion (which I take as true) that the time of a higher skilled native worker is indeed more "precious"
than that of an unskilled immigrant.
What you understand based on "precious" is incorrect.
It is an error to assume that my entire argument and our discussion is vitiated by the use of that word to describe something that actually is precious.
It is incorrect to assert the that those who wish an ordered immigration law with predictable outcomes based on statute (i.e. conservatives) are unable to grasp or apply the finer economic truths and theories.
The methods of rhetoric evident in a number of comments are consistent with the techniques of libertarians - assume special knowledge about economics then over apply it to all facets of political argument denying that those same truths are evident to their rivals.
Liberals make a similar error in their over application of race class and gender.
Apr '12
Re: Illegal Immigration Will Take Care of Itself
Astonishing:Me: What is your problem with illegal immigration?
Him (angrily):The problem with illegal immigration is that it is illegal.
Me:If theonlyproblem with illegal immigration is that it is illegal, then that is a very easy problem to solve: Simply make it legal. But if you think there are other problems with immigration, problems that would not be solved simply by declaring it legal (problelms such as language, welfare, citizenship), then let's discuss what those other problems are. And then, once we have identified what thoserealproblems are, maybe we can find ways to address those problemswithoutabandoning free market principles, without improperly restricting labor movements...
Astonishing rightly avoided discussing legal-regulatory fixes to the legal-illegal problem, choosing instead to throw rocks at the law for its inadequacy in rising to the expectations of "no borders" enthusiasts.
Rightly because [1] such a discussion would draw these enthusiasts into a realm of complex law where, likely, many of its vagaries would be viewed as credible health and safety statutes and regulations.
[2] They would be positing a means of distinguishing between legal and illegal aliens and, therefore, subject to their own criticisms.