White House chief of staff John Kelly reportedly told other members of the Trump administration that he would ideally admit between zero and one refugees into the US each year if the decision was up to him.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that Kelly made the comment while the administration debated lowering the cap on the number of refugees allowed into the country.
The adult in the room.
Not so much.
Judis does it once again. Massive straw manning at its finest. Name me one progressive who says “Masssive immigration is an unmitigated blessing”. Even Dems are for restricting immigration severely, with the only caveat being to not uproot people who are already here.
I am always disappointed by articles written by Judis. I am not sure why he has a prominent position on TPM
If roofing wages are $15/hour, pressure from immigrant roofers reduces that to $14.50.
Missing in the discussion is the fact that immigrant roofers buy cars, rent houses, eat food, and maybe send some money to mom in the village back home.
In the aggregate, the economy is the sum of all goods and services, so 10 million, $14.50/hour “roofers” are adding $290 Billion to the economy each year. 14.50/hour x 40 hours x 50 weeks x 10 million economically contributing people.
Citizens rail against immigrants for robbing jobs. Yet by the millions they flock to Walmart and buy goods made overseas. How about you STFU and buy a shirt for $25.00 made in the U.S. instead of one made in Vietnam for $15.00? How many people bitching about immigration drive a Hyundai? Do you inquire of the resort you stay at for your vacation if they employ H1-B visa holders instead of domestic labor? No? Why not, if you’re so damned concerned and pissed off about immigration? The hypocrisy tied up in the immigration debate is endless and can’t be justified by those clamoring for restrictions. Just STFU.
This is the kind of reporting we need to see more of at TPM. Of course, trying to figure out real numbers and real solutions doesn’t make for great Cable TV, radio or tweets. Those are all emogi based. This guy is more cerebral.
What a laugh. Show me one Dem who says “We need to restrict legal immigration, and deport illegals”. Nancy Pelosi: wnats more illegals. Gutierrez: more illegals.
Since 1965, we have admitted a lot of low-skilled immigrants, and one way to view that policy is that we were running basically the largest anti-poverty program in the world.
This is an extraordinarily tendentious statement–tendentious to the point of intellectual dishonesty. Immigrants to the USA have always been poor and initially unpopular. In the 1840s and 50s, huge numbers of illiterate and impoverished Irish were accepted by the US. Large numbers of Italian, Scandinavian, and Jewish peasants soon followed. In the 1960s, immigration began to increase again, mainly from Latin American countries. Then came significant immigration from East Asia and the anglophone Caribbean, and then came a big south Asian influx. Africans have also started arriving. To describe them as a bunch of “high-school dropouts” who function as recipients of the US’s “poverty program” is a disgrace–you could equally, and much more accurately, describe them as a self-selecting population of driven, adaptable, economically and socially ambitious individuals who very quickly become net contributors to the US economy and without whom we’d be well and truly screwed as an economic global power.
I’m not going to rehearse the argument for the benefits of immigration to the USA, or how immigration is part of the country’s DNA and raison’ d’etre and historic success. I’m just going to note that Borjas–who thinks that building the wall may be a good “signal” of something, however practically useless–does not strike me a dispassionately academic thinker on this subject, and I’m sort of surprised that this dude (whose self-regard reminds me of the reactionary white Cubans who to my personal knowledge infest Florida) is allowed to hide behind his academic credentials to peddle his prejudices.
The plain fact, in report after report, is that we have the HIGHEST proportion of foreign born in this country NOW than ever in our history as a nation. In addition, the other vehicle not being discussed, the jobs visas, are destroying huge sectors of employment for Americans. Between the high-tech visa overstays, and the low tech border crossers, we have well over the 11,000,000 - it is probably 15,000,000 right now. The huge numbers increase rents - if CA removed all the illegals, it would be 10% of the state’s residents, and housing costs would drop like a rock. Low-end jobs, which used to go to teens and the low-skilled, are filled by illegals. High-end jobs are filled by visa overstays. This is going to work to destroy the Dems in 2018. My prediction: Gillespie will use this to win VA.
First of all I wish people would define their terms. What is meant by massive immigration?
The only other thing I can is the only way this country got populated with Europeans and others from elsewhere is immigration. We’re a nation of immigrants. Get over it.
Since you have clearly never read anything written by him, your pro-open-border pro-criminal mindset is making you say really stupid things. Borjas, who I know personally, is a very smart guy, and is far less prejudiced and biased than, say, Peri at UC-Davis, who is a total whore.
Try education. Try google.
https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/frequently-requested-statistics-immigrants-and-immigration-united-states#CurrentHistoricalNumbers
I’ve read this interview. I base my observations on it, together with quotes. So you’re wrong, and maybe being a bit stupid yourself: Professor Peri and his opinions are totally irrelevant.
Try being a bit nicer first thing in the morning.
Will U.S. teens and low skilled laborers stoop over crops in a field for 12 hours a day in the hot sun, day after day, for the entire harvest season?
By Benjamin Powell
To forgo a repeat of last year, when labor shortages triggered an estimated $140 million in agricultural losses, as crops rotted in the fields, officials in Georgia are now dispatching prisoners to the state’s farms to help harvest fruit and vegetables.
The labor shortages, which also have affected the hotel and restaurant industries, are a consequence of Georgia’s immigration enforcement law, HB 87, which was passed last year. As State Rep. Matt Ramsey, one of the bill’s authors, said at the time, “Our goal is … to eliminate incentives for illegal aliens to cross into our state.”
Now he and others are learning: ***Be careful what you wish for, because you may get more than you bargained for.***
Georgia’s law, similar to those in Alabama, Arizona and a few other states, gives police the authority to demand immigration documentation from suspects when they detain them for other possible violations. The law also makes it more difficult for businesses to hire workers and creates harsher punishments for those who employ or harbor illegal immigrants.
The Pew Hispanic Center estimated that some 425,000 illegal immigrants lived in Georgia when the legislation was passed – seventh highest in the nation. Those numbers are now down, as hoped for, but ***the state’s economy is paying a heavy price.***
The dirty secret that everybody knew was that most of the state’s agricultural workers were immigrants, many of them illegal. Some lived in the state; others migrated with the harvest from southern Florida up to New York and back. Some of the former have moved away, while many of the latter are bypassing Georgia. Without them, according to a University of Georgia study, farmers were about 40 percent short of the number of workers they needed to harvest last year’s crop.
Despite high unemployment in the state, most Georgians don’t want such back-breaking jobs, nor do they have the necessary skills. According to Dick Minor, president of the Georgia Fruit and Vegetable Grower’s Association, immigrants “are pretty much professional harvesters” with many specializing in particular crops.
Workers are paid by volume, with skilled workers typically earning $15 to $20 an hour. Unskilled workers earn much less, which is why ***most locals don’t want the jobs.***
https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2012/05/17/the-law-of-unintended-consequences-georgias-immigration-law-backfires/#6e99d460492I love immigration. When I was a kid, Dallas was so homogenous and it so isn’t any more. We’ve gained immeasurable benefits from every single group of immigrants who’ve ended up in the US and certainly we are benefiting in Texas. The broader point of view has and continues to change Texas for the better.
Yeah, well, it’s still Texas. I think that state flag would be mighty attractive if it denoted Texas was a northern province of Mexico. Alas, secession is a damned difficult proposition, but that doesn’t mean y’all shouldn’t take a big swing at it.
Pbthbpbthbpbthbpbthpbpth!!!
My version of blowing a raspberry.
If people don’t get nicer I’m going back to bed.
Well if we didn’t go out of our way to liberate Iraq, Syria, Libya. And import so much drug from Mexico and Central America, we wouldn’t have driven up the demand for immigration.
Typical of America to blame the defenseless, self righteous that we are. I think it is caused by inbreeding.