Fareed Zakaria on the Immigration Debate
By Paul
“Americans are debating the issue of illegal immigration these days. It’s a real problem, but many are veering towards solutions that remind me more of Europe than America. We’re talking about guest-worker programs, deportation, and harsh penalties against immigrants.
Now that’s how many European countries handle their need for extra workers. They keep these people at arm’s length, never hold out the prospect of citizenship, exclude them from community life, and signal in all kinds of ways that these people are not welcome. The result--Europe has large groups of sullen, disaffected, alienated foreign workers who don’t assimilate, feel no attachment or loyalty to their host country, and are ripe for radicalism--even terrorism. You can see the problem on the streets of French cities these days as angry minority youth burn cars and destroy property. Do we really want America to become more like France?”
- Fareed Zakaria, in the latest show of ‘Foreign Exchange’
My fear is that are we entering a phase of decline that Benjamin Friedman talked about in his book, 'Moral Consequences of Growth'
Related Links:
- Martin Wolf on Unskilled Immigration
- A Summary of the Debate As Seen by NYT.
- Russel Roberts comments NYT piece
- Don Boudreaux asks the question “Are 'Illegal' Immigrants Illegal?”
- Greg Mankiw on Immigration
- Paul Krugman on Immigration and Bryan Caplan critiques Krugman
- Andrew Samwick’s view on Immigration
- Gary Becker on Illegal Immigration
- Kevin Hasset’s comments on Immigration
- Chris Coyne and Pete Boettke deals with issues raised by Huntington.
- Arnold Kling also raises the broader issues related to immigration
- How does US fertility rate relate to the topic
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