The Most Common Arguments Against Immigration and Why They’re Wrong by Alex Nowrasteh front cover About the Author Alex Nowrasteh is the director of immigration studies and the Herbert A. Stiefel Center for Trade Policy Studies at the Cato Institute. His work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and the Washington Post, among other outlets. His peer‐ reviewed academic publications have appeared in The World Bank Economic Review, the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Economic Affairs, the Fletcher Security Review, the Journal of Bioeconomics, and Public Choice. Nowrasteh is the coauthor of the book Wretched Refuse? The Political Economy of Immigration and Institutions (Cambridge University Press). @AlexNowrasteh 2 What are the best counter- arguments to common complaints about immigration? Immigration has been the unfavorable court rulings, current immigration debate unanswered and can simmer. most hotly debated public Congress’s unwillingness was listening to the questions policy issue in the United to support his policies, and and concerns of Americans This booklet attempts to States since Donald Trump his administration’s own who don’t live in Washington, answer the most common entered the Republican primary incompetence holding him back. DC, or work in public policy. objections to immigration in mid-2015. His campaign A new Biden Administration The major problem with that I’ve heard throughout for president began with a has an opportunity to reverse “patriotic correctness” and my career from policy wonks speech about the evils of illegal the anti-immigration actions of “political correctness” is and academics as well as from immigration. He went on to the Trump Administration and that many people rarely ordinary Americans. Few support drastic cuts to legal expand legal immigration. state their real objections to people can devote years of immigration and promised to liberalized immigration for their life to studying the most build a wall along the border For more than a decade, fear of being called racist, relevant public policy questions with Mexico. During his time in my job has been to produce xenophobic, bigoted, ignorant, and evidence for any issue. office, he did almost everything original research on the topic of evil, or stupid. When the However, as one who has had in his power as president to immigration, to read hundreds cost of asking questions and that extraordinary privilege, reduce legal immigration, build of thousands of pages of other voicing objections rises, fewer I’ve written this booklet that a border wall, and increase people’s research, and to debate questions and objections boils them down to the 15 immigration enforcement— opposing scholars in public are raised publicly, but the most common objections and with only the resistance of and on various media. But underlying opinions don’t explains how I respond to them. American cities and states, the best preparation for the change; they merely remain 1 15 common myths about immigration 03 07 “Immigrants abuse the welfare “Immigrants are a major source state.” of crime.” 01 05 “Immigrants will take American “Immigrants increase economic jobs, lower wages, and especially inequality.” hurt the poor.” 04 08 “Immigrants increase the budget “Immigrants pose a unique risk 02 deficit and government debt.” 06 today because of terrorism.” “It is easy to immigrate here “Today’s immigrants don’t legally. Why don’t illegal assimilate as immigrants from immigrants just get in line?” previous eras did.” 2 09 11 14 “The United States has the most “Illegal immigration or expanding “The brain drain of smart open immigration policy in the legal immigration will destroy immigrants to the United States world.” American national sovereignty.” impoverishes other countries.” 13 “Immigrants bring with them bad POLICE cultures, ideas, or other factors ICE that will undermine and destroy our economic and political institutions.” 10 12 15 “Amnesty or a failure to enforce “Immigrants won’t vote for the “Immigrants will increase our immigration laws will destroy Republican Party—look at what crowding, harm the environment, the Rule of Law in the United happened to California.” and [insert misanthropic States.” statement here].” 3 This most common argument negative finding in the peer- in how immigrants affect the has the greatest amount reviewed academic literature wages of adult native-born of evidence rebutting it. was authored by Harvard American high school dropouts, Economists look primarily University economist George who comprise about 9 percent at two effects of immigration Borjas. He found that of American adults—that’s it.4 on the labor market: whether immigrant competition lowered immigrants push natives the wages of native-born At worst, immigrants only out of jobs (also known as American high school dropouts negatively affect the wages of the displacement effect) and by a relative 1.7 percent from a small number of American whether immigrants lower 1990 to 2010 (Figure 1).2 Borjas workers while raising them for the wages of native-born also found that immigrants the rest. Americans or other immigrant boosted the average wages of Immigration increases the Myth workers. First, the so-called other native-born Americans, displacement effect is small, if with an overall average net supply of workers in the 01 economy, but the wage effects in “Immigrants will it actually affects native-born effect of increasing the wages workers at all.1 Immigrants are of natives by about 0.6 percent. Figure 1 are generally positive take American jobs, typically attracted to growing Gianmarco Ottaviano and because many other changes lower wages, and regions, and they increase the Giovanni Peri came to similar occur with immigration that supply and demand sides of the results in studying the same limit competition between especially hurt the economy once they are there. period, with the exception natives and that increase poor.” They expand employment that they estimated that the demand for labor overall. opportunities for everybody. relative wages of native- There are five principal reasons FACT: Immigrants don’t take born dropouts rose by about behind the positive overall American jobs, lower wages, Second, the debate over 1.1 percent (Figure 1).3 The effect of immigrants on native- or push the poor out of the immigrants’ effects on major disagreement among born American wages. The labor market. American wages is confined economists who study this first is that immigrants and to the lower single percentage topic is over the relative 2.8 natives have different skill points (Figure 1). The most percentage point difference levels: 29 percent of immigrant 4 High school Some Post- Dropouts College All oriented jobs are more highly produce goods and services, in graduates college college compensated than are manual response to a rise in population. 1.5 1.2 1.2 1.1 labor jobs, so the net effect on More tools means that more 1 0.9 wages of Americans is slightly workers can be employed to 0.50.6 0.5 0.5 0.5 positive. In a restaurant, produce goods and services. The 0.2 for example, low-skilled fifth and final reason is what 0 Percent -0.1-0.1 immigrants are busboys and economists call a scale effect, -0.5 dishwashers because they can’t which is when a bigger economy -1 effectively communicate with increases demand for labor. Borjas the customers, while low-skilled -1.5 Ottaviano New research by Borjas used the & Peri native-born Americans who -1.7 Mariel boatlift to examine how -2 speak English take the higher- paying jobs by becoming waiters immigrants affected the labor Figure 1. Long-run relative effect of immigration on wages of native-born citizens by education and waitresses. Language market. The Mariel boatlift differences incentivize each was a giant shock to Miami’s Sources: Data from George Borjas, Immigration Economics most Americans and most labor market, and it increased (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014), p. 120; group to specialize and change National Academy of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, immigrants. the size of its population by The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration, jobs, which, as a result, raises 7 percent in 42 days in 1980. Table 8-14, 2017, pp. 235–37; Gianmarco Ottaviano and The second reason is that other wages for both. Giovanni Peri, “Rethinking the Effect of Immigration on The boatlift was caused by a Wages,” Journal of the European Economic Association differences, such as English 10, no. 1 (2012): 152–97. The third reason is that sudden change in Cuban policy language ability, mean that immigrants are about twice as that allowed many Cubans to immigrants push some native- likely to start a business than leave and go to Miami. The born workers into occupations most famous dramatized where they can use their are natives, so immigrants representation of the boatlift adults are dropouts, while superior language skills while often employ themselves and was Brian De Palma’s 1983 only about 9 percent of native- lower-skilled immigrants others. The fourth reason is 5 filmScarface , in which Cuban born Americans are dropouts. concentrate on manual labor that investors increase the criminal Tony Montana is put As a result, there just isn’t occupations until they learn capital stock, which refers to on a boat by Fidel Castro’s much competition between English. Communication- the tools that help workers 5 government and sent to Miami, the wages of native-born high made Mariel look as if it had a where he becomes