Good immigration data is hard to come by so the data that is out there is frequently misused to spread lies. This is a good article in that it is pretty unbiased and has good data on net immigration. Some interesting takeaways:
- Yes, there is a surge of net migration underway
- Yes, Trump's policies appeared to reduce net migration even before the pandemic
- Our amnesty laws have become the de facto method of migrants coming into our country and our amnesty laws and processes are in need of updating and modernizing by Congress
- This net immigration surge has benefited our economy and sustained our economic recovery
This makes me rethink some of my views on immigration. I have been a proponent of less immigration because I believe GDP per capita is a more important metric than GDP and I'm not convinced that in our modern age (with robotics and AI coming fast) that more immigration will be a boost to GDP per capita. Recent years may have shown my views on immigration to be wrong. Or maybe too soon. I don't know but I'll be interested in seeing how this evolves.
Congress should definitely act on the legislation that has been prepared to modernize our amnesty laws and processes. Whether we want more immigration or less immigration that needs to be done.
https://www.demographyunplugged.com/p/whats-really-going-on-with-immigration