Primer: Legal Immigration Pathways

Ohio senator and vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance was recently criticized for his defense of a conspiracy theory that Haitians in Springfield, Ohio were eating cats and dogs. He complained that he was fact checked about it at the debate, but the moderators only wanted to clarify that Haitians in Springfield are, in fact, legal immigrants. Vance wants to focus attention on illegal immigration, an issue the Trump campaign wins on, but legal immigration is an entirely different process that is far more popular with ordinary citizens. This leads to the resolution for this week’s debate: The US should open more pathways to legal immigration.

There are many economic benefits of immigration. High-skilled immigrants dominate the tech industry and lead some of the biggest companies in the country, and low-skill immigrants fill undesirable job vacancies like crop-picking. Working immigrants also increase tax revenues for the government and can solve the demographic issue of an aging population, which has a wide variety of long-term benefits. And although it’s difficult to quantify, the country probably benefits from a diverse, multicultural society and workforce. The US is the greatest country in the world, so we should understand why people are looking for opportunities here and embrace more people through greater legal immigration pathways. 

The cons of opening legal immigration pathways would be bringing in too many people, too fast. The foreign-born population currently living in the US is at an all time high, representing over 15 percent of the population. And only around 40% of the increase in immigrants under President Joe Biden are legal, so it’s clear that we do not need to expand ways to bring people into the country. There could be some economic negatives of immigration, as well, as they compete for jobs in the labor market and thus arguably put downward pressure on wages. Immigrants certainly put pressure on public services and contribute to rising housing costs. Opening more pathways would exacerbate these problems.

Come to Scott Hall 201 this Monday night at 7pm to debate!

"Chicago Immigration Protest May 1, 2006" by jvoves is licensed under CC BY 2.0.