Seeking common sense on immigration

Research suggests that the long-term benefits of immigration are overwhelmingly positive. If the real issue is cultural, the question becomes how to build an effective and humane migration system.

|
Brian Snyder/Reuters
Haitian migrant Phadaika Vertil sits on a cot in the baggage claim area of Logan Airport in Boston, Nov. 13. All the shelter beds were taken.

Virtually every country in the Western world is struggling with migration. It is arguably the biggest political issue today. 

In June's European elections, it fueled strong gains in France and Germany for parties that want tighter rules. In the United States, it could yet decide the presidential election, with President Joe Biden taking a tougher line to compete with former President Donald Trump. 

In this week's cover story, Sarah Matusek shares the stories of six immigrants to the U.S. They provide a portrait of the American dream – from a Vietnamese shopkeeper to the granddaughter of a Hungarian Jew who escaped the Holocaust. 

As with most culture war issues, the public conversation about immigration often feels at best unhelpful, and at worst dangerously warped. Polarized talking points overwhelm facts and common sense. We descend into visceral sides as opposed to thinking rationally. 

So let's think rationally for a few minutes. 

Living in Europe for the past year has driven home a key point for me. Immigration is inevitable. Whether it is migration from the Middle East and Africa to Europe or from Latin America and Asia to the U.S., humans will flow toward opportunity and safety. The idea of stopping immigration is not practical. It won't work. 

So the main questions are, Is that a problem, and what should be done about it?

The economic challenges of migration center around acute pressures on local services from first-generation immigrants. These pressures require careful consideration. But they shouldn't overshadow the fact that the long-term effects of immigration are overwhelmingly positive. Especially in countries with low birth rates (increasingly including the U.S.), immigration is not only beneficial but also essential, providing the new workforce that a growing economy needs. 

One study by the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania concludes: "The available evidence suggests that immigration leads to more innovation, a better educated workforce, greater occupational specialization, better matching of skills with jobs, and higher overall economic productivity."

The vast majority of studies agree.   

The real issue is and always has been cultural. Immigration causes changes. The backlash can absolutely include a racist element. But there are also legitimate conversations to have. Communities want to maintain their traditions and character.    

The thing is, the answer to these questions really isn't all that mysterious. First, immigration through all channels needs some appropriate degree of order or else it overwhelms the system. Second, the more inclusive it is, the more benefits it creates.  

I think about the Italian neighborhood near where I used to live outside Boston. The center stripe of the main street is the red-white-green of the Italian flag. Is that un-American? Centuries ago, many Americans would have said yes. Italian immigrants absolutely changed America. But today, Italians are so integrated that that center stripe feels like a statement of Italian American pride. It reminds us that none of this is new. And it reminds us not to lose sight of common sense and history amid debates often intended to make us forget both.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Seeking common sense on immigration
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Commentary/From-the-Editors/2024/0703/Seeking-common-sense-on-immigration
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe