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Summary
The costs and benefits of immigration are routinely measured and debated in academic journals with the conclusion that immigration has mixed effects. That conclusion comports with most people's common-sense understanding of the issue. Nevertheless, many advocacy groups continue to cite a supposed academic "consensus" that immigration has only benefits. In this week’s episode of Parsing Immigration Policy, Jason Richwine, the Center’s resident scholar, discusses his recently updated compendium of academic work showing negative impacts of immigration.
Starting with a 2016 review by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Richwine summarizes some of the published papers, authored by mainstream academics writing for mainstream outlets, that have found both costs and benefits. The papers, which look at wage and employment, political and cultural, and crime and health effects, support Richwine’s assessment that immigration creates both winners and losers.
“One-sided claims about immigration are rarely true. No fair reading of academic literature could conclude that immigration has only benefits — or only costs, for that matter”, said Richwine.
Host
Mark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies.
Guest
Jason Richwine is the resident scholar at the Center for Immigration Studies
Related
A Compendium of Recent Academic Work Showing Negative Impacts of Immigration
An Academic Sheen on Immigration Advocacy
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Intro Montage
Voices in the opening montage:
- Sen. Barack Obama at a 2005 press conference.
- Sen. John McCain in a 2010 election ad.
- President Lyndon Johnson, upon signing the 1965 Immigration Act.
- Booker T. Washington, reading in 1908 from his 1895 Atlanta Exposition speech.
- Laraine Newman as a "Conehead" on SNL in 1977.
- Hillary Clinton in a 2003 radio interview.
- Cesar Chavez in a 1974 interview.
- House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaking to reporters in 2019.
- Prof. George Borjas in a 2016 C-SPAN appearance.
- Sen. Jeff Sessions in 2008 comments on the Senate floor.
- Charlton Heston in "Planet of the Apes".
