The US is encountering a surge of migrants at the southern border, with a shift from single adults to families with children making deportation challenging. This surge is driven not only by chaos and poverty in Latin America but also by the belief that immigrants can stay for extended periods once they reach the US. This perception, combined with weaker border security, fuels a feedback loop that attracts more immigrants. While immigration is costly for states in the short term due to education expenses, in the long run, the descendants of immigrants contribute positively economically, with second-generation immigrants contributing $1,700 and third-generation immigrants $1,300 per immigrant.
The U.S. immigration system is a massively complicated machine, with a lot of worn-out parts. How to fix it? Step one: Get hold of some actual facts and evidence. (We did this step for you.) (Part two of a three-part series.)
- RESOURCES:
- The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers, by Zeke Hernandez (2024, available for pre-order).
- "Illegal Immigration Is a Bigger Problem Than Ever. These Five Charts Explain Why," by Andrew Mollica, Alicia A. Caldwell, Michelle Hackman, and Santiago Pérez (The Wall Street Journal, 2023).
- Ours Was the Shining Future: The Story of the American Dream, by David Leonhardt (2023).
- The Economic and Fiscal Consequences of Immigration, by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (2017).