Immigration vs. Prosperity
"Immigration is the cause of (high prices, unemployment, crime...)"
The Facts
>> Sources
Research consistently shows immigration creates net economic benefits—immigrants contribute more in taxes than they consume while filling essential jobs, yet we are told otherwise. Crime rates among immigrants are lower than native-born citizens according to public data spanning decades, yet we are encouraged to be fearful.
The Details
The Real Problems
Immigration dominates our conversations. Bureaucrats decry sanctuary policies while simultaneously promoting State autonomy. Political candidates promise walls and mass deportations, while accusing their opponents of “destroying America” with their policies.
We’re having the wrong argument.
Some communities face real strains when large numbers of people arrive quickly. Emergency rooms get crowded. School districts scramble for translators. These aren’t imaginary problems, and dismissing them only fuels resentment—but exaggerating their effects is equally harmful.
While immigration causes legitimate friction, the forces that have actually squeezed working families over the past forty years have little to do with it. Manufacturing jobs disappeared to automation and trade deals that benefited the ultra-wealthy. Workers and their unions lost power. Executive compensation soared while worker wages stagnated.
Public infrastructure spending was cut along with tax cuts that primarily helped not the middle class, but the leisure class . Companies increasingly prioritized short-term profits over long-term community investment. This has devastated entire regions while those in power increase their profits and find easy scapegoats for our anger as to why wealth has passed us by.
History Repeats, Repeats, Repeats
The evidence on immigration’s actual effects often contradicts our heated language. Immigrants—including undocumented ones—consistently commit fewer crimes than native-born Americans. Border cities like El Paso rank among our safest. Yet we are told to be afraid.
The economic picture is complex but positive. According to Congressional Budget Office analyses spanning multiple decades, immigrant families contribute more in taxes over time than they consume in services, even accounting for initial costs like education and emergency care.
We’ve seen this before. The Irish were going to destroy American cities in the 1800s. Then it was the Germans and Italians. Each generation worried they were dangerous and unassimilable. Each generation was wrong.
The real irony? Many businesses in deeply conservative districts that publicly oppose immigration often depend on immigrant workers. They understand what the data shows: immigrants frequently fill jobs with chronic labor shortages and help keep essential services running—jobs that native born workers simply refuse.
Policies and People
This doesn’t mean immigration policy is working well or that border security concerns are invalid. But if we want to help struggling communities, we need to focus on the policies that actually matter: fair trade agreements, strong labor protections, corporate accountability, and a political system that prioritizes its people.
The immigration debate is ultimately a distraction, diverting our attention from the real choices we can make that determine whether working families can once again build toward the American dream.
Sources
- https://www.cbo.gov/publication/44346
- https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2016/09/new-report-assesses-the-economic-and-fiscal-consequences-of-immigration
- https://www.americanprogress.org/article/facts-immigration-today-2017-edition/
- https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2020/03/02/how-border-apprehensions-ice-arrests-and-deportations-have-changed-under-trump/
- https://www.cato.org/white-paper/fiscal-impact-immigration-united-states#executive-summary