But What About Illegal Immigration?
Watch this brief video where Zeke Hernandez discusses how immigration contributes to safer communities.
Key Insights on Undocumented Immigration
- Undocumented immigration in the US is a problem. There are over 11 million people living in the country without authorization, or 23% of all immigrants. Over 75% have lived in the country for over a decade.
- The immigration system is the main culprit. We don’t give enough permanent and temporary visas to meet our economic, humanitarian, and family reunification needs. This mismatch between supply and demand incentivizes irregular migration (the main predictor of illegal crossings is labor shortages in the US). Research shows that increases in legal pathways reduce illegal entries at the border.
- Economic Contributions: Undocumented immigrants make the same kinds of contributions that any immigrant makes by contributing to the “big 5” inputs to the economy: investment, innovation, job creation, taxes, and talent. Their lack of legal status actually limits those contributions (e.g. they might not invest in a business because they don’t have legal authorization).
- Crime and Safety: Research is very clear in showing that undocumented immigrants are less likely to commit crimes than native-born citizens.
- Humanitarian Concerns: Undocumented immigrants often flee dire circumstances and should be treated with compassion and fairness. And because of their economic contributions, this compassion doesn’t cost us. Quite the opposite.
- Solutions: Reforms should include creating more accessible legal pathways, humane border management, and pathways to legalization for those already contributing to society.
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How To Talk About Immigration
Conversations about immigration can be challenging due to its politicization, leading to avoidance, echo chambers, or confrontations.
This guide offers principles based on expert research and the author’s experiences, aimed at facilitating constructive discussions about immigration.
Prompting Meaningful Dialogue
- What are the key flaws in the current immigration system, and how do they contribute to illegal immigration?
- In what ways do undocumented immigrants contribute to the economy and society despite their status?
- What humane and practical solutions can be implemented to address the challenges faced by undocumented immigrants?
- How does understanding the personal stories of undocumented immigrants change your perspective on this issue?
- How can the legal immigration process be streamlined to reduce bureaucratic delays and restrictive quotas?
- What are the potential benefits of creating pathways to citizenship for contributing immigrants?
- How would comprehensive immigration reform impact the economy and society as a whole?
Further reading and research:
Migration Policy Institute, “Explainer: How the US Legal Immigration System Works,” https://www.migrationpolicy.org/content/explainer-how-us-legal-immigration-system-works.
Dany Bahar, “Border Crossings and Labor Markets: Insights from Nicaragua’s 2018 Crisis,” Center for Global Development, https://www.cgdev.org/sites/default/files/Bahar_Border_Crossings_and_Labor_Markets_Working_Paper_Final.pdf.
Paul Krugman, “Trade and Inequality: Revisiting the Impact of Globalization,” Peterson Institute for International Economics, https://www.piie.com/sites/default/files/2024-04/wp24-10.pdf.
Sami Bazzi, “Understanding the Link Between Migration and Economic Development,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, https://www.pnas.org/doi/abs/10.1073/pnas.2014704117?doi=10.1073%2Fpnas.2014704117.
Migration Policy Institute, “US Unauthorized Population Is Diversifying,” https://www.migrationpolicy.org/news/us-unauthorized-population-diversifying.
Migration Policy Institute, “Unauthorized Immigrants in the United States: Stable Numbers, Changing Origins,” https://www.migrationpolicy.org/research/unauthorized-immigrants-united-states-stable-numbers-changing-origins.
Giovanni Peri and Kevin Shih, “Immigration, Jobs, and the Labor Market: A Review of the Literature,” Journal of Labor Economics, https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/721152.
Rubén G. Rumbaut, “Undocumented Immigration and Rates of Crime and Imprisonment: Popular Myths and Empirical Realities,” SSRN Scholarly Paper, August 1, 2008, https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=1877365.
“Profile of the Unauthorized Population: United States,” Migration Policy Institute, accessed August 17, 2023, https://www.migrationpolicy.org/data/unauthorized-immigrant-population/state/US.
Jeffrey S. Passel, “Measuring Illegal Immigration: How Pew Research Center Counts Unauthorized Immigrants in the U.S.,” Pew Research Center, July 12, 2019, https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2019/07/12/how-pew-research-center-counts-unauthorized-immigrants-in-us/.
Joan Monras, “Immigration and Wage Dynamics: Evidence from the Mexican Peso Crisis,” Journal of Political Economy 128, no. 8 (August 2020): 3017–89, https://doi.org/10.1086/707764.
Gordon H. Hanson, Raymond Robertson, and Antonio Spilimbergo, “Does Border Enforcement Protect U.S. Workers from Illegal Immigration?,” Review of Economics and Statistics 84, no. 1 (February 1, 2002): 73–92, https://doi.org/10.1162/003465302317331937.
Ernesto Tiburcio and Kara Ross Camarena, “The Local Reaction to Unauthorized Mexican Migraton to the US,” working paper, 2023.
Jens Manuel Krogstad, Mark Hugo Lopez, and Jeffrey S. Passel, “A Majority of Americans Say Immigrants Mostly Fill Jobs U.S. Citizens Do Not Want,” Pew Research Center, June 10, 2020, https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2020/06/10/a-majority-of-americans-say-immigrants-mostly-fill-jobs-u-s-citizens-do-not-want/.
Chloe N. East and Andrea Velásquez, “Unintended Consequences of Immigration Enforcement: Household Services and High-Educated Mothers’ Work,” Journal of Human Resources, May 9, 2022, https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.0920-11197R1.
“Yearbook of Immigration Statistics,” Department of Homeland Security, accessed August 17, 2023, https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics/yearbook.
Jia Lynn Yang, One Mighty and Irresistible Tide: The Epic Struggle over American Immigration, 1924–1965 (New York: W. W. Norton, 2020).
“Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965,” Wikipedia, accessed August 17, 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Immigration_and_Nationality_Act_of_1965&oldid=1170765330.
Daniel J. Tichenor, Dividing Lines: The Politics of Immigration Control in America (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2002).
“The Penn Wharton Budget Model’s Immigration Policy Simulator,” Penn Wharton Budget Model, June 27, 2016, https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/issues/2016/6/24/the-penn-wharton-budget-models-immigration-policy-simulator.
William A. Kandel, “The Employment-Based Immigration Backlog,” Congressional Research Service, March 26, 2020, https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R46291.
“Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986,” Library of Congress, accessed August 17, 2023, https://guides.loc.gov/latinx-civil-rights/irca.
Elizabeth U. Cascio and Ethan G. Lewis, “Opening the Door: Immigrant Legalization and Family Reunification in the United States,” Working Paper 27874, National Bureau of Economic Research, October 2020, https://www.nber.org/papers/w27874.
Pia M. Orrenius and Madeline Zavodny, “Do Amnesty Programs Reduce Undocumented Immigration? Evidence from Irca,” Demography 40, no. 3 (August 1, 2003): 437–50, https://doi.org/10.1353/dem.2003.0028.
Douglas S. Massey and Karen A. Pren, “Unintended Consequences of US Immigration Policy: Explaining the Post-1965 Surge from Latin America,” Population and Development Review 38, no. 1 (2012): 1–29; Douglas S. Massey, Jorge Durand, and Karen A. Pren, “Why Border Enforcement Backfired,” American Journal of Sociology 121, no. 5 (March 2016): 1557–1600, https://doi.org/10.1086/684200.
Mathias Czaika and Mogens Hobolth, “Do Restrictive Asylum and Visa Policies Increase Irregular Migration into Europe?,” European Union Politics 17, no. 3 (September 1, 2016): 345–65, https://doi.org/10.1177/1465116516633299
Omar Hammoud Gallego, “Understanding the Tide: A Comparative Analysis of Policy Responses to Refugee Inflows,” London School of Economics and Political Science, 2021, http://etheses.lse.ac.uk/4372/.
Michael A. Clemens, “Economics and Emigration: Trillion-Dollar Bills on the Sidewalk?,” Journal of Economic Perspectives 25, no. 3 (September 2011): 83–106, https://doi.org/10.1257/jep.25.3.83.
Catia Batista and David J. McKenzie, “Testing Classic Theories of Migration in the Lab,” SSRN Scholarly Paper, August 1, 2021), https://papers.ssrn.com/abstract=3928766.
Gharad Bryan, Shyamal Chowdhury, and Ahmed Mushfiq Mobarak, “Underinvestment in a Profitable Technology: The Case of Seasonal Migration in Bangladesh,” Econometrica 82, no. 5 (2014): 1671–748, https://doi.org/10.3982/ECTA10489.
Maheshwor Shrestha, “Push and Pull: A Study of International Migration from Nepal,” Policy Research Working Papers, World Bank, 2017, https://doi.org/10.1596/1813-9450-7965.
Michael A. Clemens, “Violence, Development, and Migration Waves: Evidence from Central American Child Migrant Apprehensions,” Journal of Urban Economics 124 (July 1, 2021): 103355, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jue.2021.103355.
Douglas S. Massey, Joaquín Arango, Graeme Hugo, Ali Kouaouci, Adela Pellegrino, and J. Edward Taylor, “Theories of International Migration: A Review and Appraisal,” Population and Development Review 19, no. 3 (1993): 431–66, https://doi.org/10.2307/2938462.
Yannay Spitzer and Ariell Zimran, “Like an Ink Blot on Paper: Testing the Diffusion Hypothesis of Mass Migration, Italy 1876–1920,” Working Paper 30847, National Bureau of Economic Research, January 2023, https://www.nber.org/papers/w30847.
D. S. Massey and R. M. Zenteno, “The Dynamics of Mass Migration,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 96, no. 9 (1999): 5328–35; Kaivan Munshi, “Social Networks and Migration,” Annual Review of Economics 12, no. 1 (2020): 503–24, https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-economics-082019-031419.