Perhaps a working visa system, like a working legal immigration system, is a luxury a country that can't keep out unwanted, unvetted, illegal foreign nationals is not able to afford.
One way to be better able to afford the bill for all those illegal foreign nationals we can't keep out, would be to offset their impact by bringing in high-value foreign nationals who could help pay the bill for them. But that would require a working immigrant visa system.
We don't need a working immigration system, we need a working employment visa system. Need to just implement something like UAE where pretty much anyone is given a lifetime working visa on arrival but getting citizenship is near impossible, getting deported is as easy as jaywalking, and draconian penalities against both overstaying and sentencing enchantments for visa holders. The problem is the US is geared towards making everyone an immigrant instead of an expat with renumerations, i.e. you should get zero chance at a residency visa even if you lived here thirty years on a work visa
First, that seems mean. Second, it seems pointless. Third, it seems self-defeating, as we would be making an offer that would be less attractive to the people we want most. Fourth, it would create an "expat community" of people who are here, but who do not see themselves as "us", which I don't like the sound of at all.
The UAE is a petro dictatorship. Literally nobody in the USA wants to become a petro dictatorship and there are good reasons why they don't want to.
You can't implement a two tier citizenship system in a modern western democracy. It has zero political viability. It was literally tried in California with Prop 187 and it failed miserably, and before that Jim Crow failed.
Having a mass slave caste doing low end menial labor in the shadows just isn't that important to a societies flourishing.
There are probably other reasons that Guatemalan tourists don’t go to Japan to try to stealthily immigrate than the difficulty of learning Japanese. Japanese immigration authorities are notoriously strict and even abusive at immigration law violators. Airfare is expensive. Wages are low (around $6 minimum wage currently) even though there are plenty of jobs but recently many low skill jobs are being filled by legal immigrants from South Asia (mainly Philippines, Viet Nam Indonesia and Nepal). Immigrants and even tourists are required to show passports or permanent residence cards at anytime out in public when demanded by authorities, and police don’t hesitate to demand them from those who look suspiciously foreign.
I wonder what percentage of US undocumented immigrants are visa (from the waiver countries or the hard ones) over-stayers versus border crossers. I see lots of cars here in southern Arizona at shopping centers or when my neighbor have construction done with Sonora license plates, it must not be that difficult for Mexicans to get visas, or maybe they are driving over the border. In the winter there are lots of BC, Alberta and Ontario license plates also, but I still see more Sonora, Chihuahua and Sinaloa plates.
Why 'twisted logic' doctor Caplan? I believe immigation to be a net good for all, but there's nothing twisted in what you describe, given the mandate in each of those countries to restrict illegal immigration as much as possible.
It's probably not the only reason, but I daresay one thing that weighs in the minds of Japanese against allowing impoverished Central American natives to migrate to their country and settle there permanently is that the median IQ of Central Americans is way below that of the current population of Japan. Median population IQ in Japan -- which is in a four-way tie with Hong Cong, Taiwan, and Singapore for the nations with the highest median IQ -- is 106. In stark contrast, the highest median IQ of any nation between the Rio Grande and the Columbian/Panamanian border is that of Costa Rica, at 88; next, in descending order, is that of Mexico, at 87; then Panama, at 79; El Salvador at 72; Belize and Honduras at 67; and that of Guatemala at only 55(!) https://www.worlddata.info/iq-by-country.php Re the statistical significance of these numbers, bear in mind that a difference of 15 points above or below the midpoint of IQ bell-curve distribution is one standard deviation.
You may think of reasons to suppose that the vast gap between the median Japanese IQ and that of those other countries is largely due to environmental rather than genetic factors. Nevertheless, I submit that these statistic disparities establish ample reason for Japanese citizens to fear that allowing large-scale migration into their country from Central America would result in the establishment of a permanent, racially-distinct underclass of people with sub-par intelligence whose relative intellectual incapacity would be passed on to their progeny, with predictably divisive social, economic, and political effects.
Though median IQ in the US is nine points below that of Japan, I further submit that it's reasonable to expect similar long-term results from the massive influx of unvetted migrants that promptly ensued after the de facto opening of our southern border that Biden effected immediately after taking office in January 2021.
On the other hand, bearing in mind the way-below-replacement-level birthrate in Japan and the somewhat-higher but still extinction-trending birthrate of non-Hispanic US residents, particularly those of above-average intelligence, one could also argue that something beats nothing.
Illegal immigration from low wage / productivity countries is great for business. You can exploit the workers and they can't do anything. They will accept such low standards of living it helps to drive down the standards of living for the whole working class. 💪
I’m well pleased that you wrote: “Once you accept the DELUSION that honest work is a crucial me”. This tells me much about your politics. Those of a true American.
Why is sponsorship not an option in these cases ? My son is dating a girl from Columbia (he is living in Argentina). Wanted her to come up with him for the holidays. She applied for a tourist visa and got denied in a 60 second review. I would be happy to have them fine/jail me if she did not exit the country as planned. Not sure why sponsorship by an individual or organization is not a central part of the immigration philosophy.
Because while you may be responsible and collectible, the millions of others who would also make such application may not be. Remember, government scrutiny boils down to applicants simply checking boxes on a form. There is no active intelligence in play.
Talk to someone who has sponsored an immigrant spouse. It's not just checking a box, not by a long way. You have to have assets and/or income. You sign up to be on the hook for everything the government spends on them, if it spends on them - even if you divorce, and possibly for life.
So, there's already a pretty onerous sponsorship process; it would be a matter of adding categories to it.
Another (implied) episode of "Caplan's World." Homo Economicus as interchangeable economic cogs: anywhere, everywhere, at any time.
Tell you what, try it in Haiti. If it works there, collect your Nobel Prize and feel free to restructure the USA, Europe, and the Asian Tigers as you see fit. On the other hand, if your grand experiment fails, Haiti will be none the worse (how could it be?), the rest of the world will remain bumblingly intact, and you'll be a whole lot wiser (if not a little sadder).
Bryan need only prepare a budget, a timetable, and staffing needs. Funding on the order of some tens of billions of dollars would be immediately forthcoming, sourced by a combination of naÏve NGOs (ready means of defunding them!) and wise developed nations only too eager to put wild-eyed economists back in their cages for another few decades (cheap at twice the price)...GO BRYAN!
Perhaps a working visa system, like a working legal immigration system, is a luxury a country that can't keep out unwanted, unvetted, illegal foreign nationals is not able to afford.
One way to be better able to afford the bill for all those illegal foreign nationals we can't keep out, would be to offset their impact by bringing in high-value foreign nationals who could help pay the bill for them. But that would require a working immigrant visa system.
We don't need a working immigration system, we need a working employment visa system. Need to just implement something like UAE where pretty much anyone is given a lifetime working visa on arrival but getting citizenship is near impossible, getting deported is as easy as jaywalking, and draconian penalities against both overstaying and sentencing enchantments for visa holders. The problem is the US is geared towards making everyone an immigrant instead of an expat with renumerations, i.e. you should get zero chance at a residency visa even if you lived here thirty years on a work visa
Why?
First, that seems mean. Second, it seems pointless. Third, it seems self-defeating, as we would be making an offer that would be less attractive to the people we want most. Fourth, it would create an "expat community" of people who are here, but who do not see themselves as "us", which I don't like the sound of at all.
The UAE is a petro dictatorship. Literally nobody in the USA wants to become a petro dictatorship and there are good reasons why they don't want to.
You can't implement a two tier citizenship system in a modern western democracy. It has zero political viability. It was literally tried in California with Prop 187 and it failed miserably, and before that Jim Crow failed.
Having a mass slave caste doing low end menial labor in the shadows just isn't that important to a societies flourishing.
In 2019, 62 million Hispanics paid $308.5B in taxes fed, state, and local. That's ~$5k per.
Per capita spending by those government entities totaled $30,000 per capita. Hispanics largely live in areas with higher than average expenditure.
I do not see how using violence to steal $25k on average is "honest labor." It's theft. They move here to steal.
Much of that government spending is on arms for Ukraine, Israel, etc, etc. Is that part of what they "steal"?
There are probably other reasons that Guatemalan tourists don’t go to Japan to try to stealthily immigrate than the difficulty of learning Japanese. Japanese immigration authorities are notoriously strict and even abusive at immigration law violators. Airfare is expensive. Wages are low (around $6 minimum wage currently) even though there are plenty of jobs but recently many low skill jobs are being filled by legal immigrants from South Asia (mainly Philippines, Viet Nam Indonesia and Nepal). Immigrants and even tourists are required to show passports or permanent residence cards at anytime out in public when demanded by authorities, and police don’t hesitate to demand them from those who look suspiciously foreign.
I wonder what percentage of US undocumented immigrants are visa (from the waiver countries or the hard ones) over-stayers versus border crossers. I see lots of cars here in southern Arizona at shopping centers or when my neighbor have construction done with Sonora license plates, it must not be that difficult for Mexicans to get visas, or maybe they are driving over the border. In the winter there are lots of BC, Alberta and Ontario license plates also, but I still see more Sonora, Chihuahua and Sinaloa plates.
Why 'twisted logic' doctor Caplan? I believe immigation to be a net good for all, but there's nothing twisted in what you describe, given the mandate in each of those countries to restrict illegal immigration as much as possible.
It's probably not the only reason, but I daresay one thing that weighs in the minds of Japanese against allowing impoverished Central American natives to migrate to their country and settle there permanently is that the median IQ of Central Americans is way below that of the current population of Japan. Median population IQ in Japan -- which is in a four-way tie with Hong Cong, Taiwan, and Singapore for the nations with the highest median IQ -- is 106. In stark contrast, the highest median IQ of any nation between the Rio Grande and the Columbian/Panamanian border is that of Costa Rica, at 88; next, in descending order, is that of Mexico, at 87; then Panama, at 79; El Salvador at 72; Belize and Honduras at 67; and that of Guatemala at only 55(!) https://www.worlddata.info/iq-by-country.php Re the statistical significance of these numbers, bear in mind that a difference of 15 points above or below the midpoint of IQ bell-curve distribution is one standard deviation.
You may think of reasons to suppose that the vast gap between the median Japanese IQ and that of those other countries is largely due to environmental rather than genetic factors. Nevertheless, I submit that these statistic disparities establish ample reason for Japanese citizens to fear that allowing large-scale migration into their country from Central America would result in the establishment of a permanent, racially-distinct underclass of people with sub-par intelligence whose relative intellectual incapacity would be passed on to their progeny, with predictably divisive social, economic, and political effects.
Though median IQ in the US is nine points below that of Japan, I further submit that it's reasonable to expect similar long-term results from the massive influx of unvetted migrants that promptly ensued after the de facto opening of our southern border that Biden effected immediately after taking office in January 2021.
On the other hand, bearing in mind the way-below-replacement-level birthrate in Japan and the somewhat-higher but still extinction-trending birthrate of non-Hispanic US residents, particularly those of above-average intelligence, one could also argue that something beats nothing.
Illegal immigration from low wage / productivity countries is great for business. You can exploit the workers and they can't do anything. They will accept such low standards of living it helps to drive down the standards of living for the whole working class. 💪
https://www.eugyppius.com/p/the-hysterical-style-in-western-politics?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=268621&post_id=141153221&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreem
FYI.
I’m well pleased that you wrote: “Once you accept the DELUSION that honest work is a crucial me”. This tells me much about your politics. Those of a true American.
The above was meant to say……”honest work is a Crime”.
Why is sponsorship not an option in these cases ? My son is dating a girl from Columbia (he is living in Argentina). Wanted her to come up with him for the holidays. She applied for a tourist visa and got denied in a 60 second review. I would be happy to have them fine/jail me if she did not exit the country as planned. Not sure why sponsorship by an individual or organization is not a central part of the immigration philosophy.
Because while you may be responsible and collectible, the millions of others who would also make such application may not be. Remember, government scrutiny boils down to applicants simply checking boxes on a form. There is no active intelligence in play.
Talk to someone who has sponsored an immigrant spouse. It's not just checking a box, not by a long way. You have to have assets and/or income. You sign up to be on the hook for everything the government spends on them, if it spends on them - even if you divorce, and possibly for life.
So, there's already a pretty onerous sponsorship process; it would be a matter of adding categories to it.
Another (implied) episode of "Caplan's World." Homo Economicus as interchangeable economic cogs: anywhere, everywhere, at any time.
Tell you what, try it in Haiti. If it works there, collect your Nobel Prize and feel free to restructure the USA, Europe, and the Asian Tigers as you see fit. On the other hand, if your grand experiment fails, Haiti will be none the worse (how could it be?), the rest of the world will remain bumblingly intact, and you'll be a whole lot wiser (if not a little sadder).
Given the opportunity, I’m sure Bryan would be overjoyed to see Haiti adopt his preferred suite of policies!
Bryan need only prepare a budget, a timetable, and staffing needs. Funding on the order of some tens of billions of dollars would be immediately forthcoming, sourced by a combination of naÏve NGOs (ready means of defunding them!) and wise developed nations only too eager to put wild-eyed economists back in their cages for another few decades (cheap at twice the price)...GO BRYAN!