Immigration

My colleague over at A Random Walk just published a counterpoint to a point on immigration in our local rag. You can check it out here.

My only critique is that it wasn't long enough to make even more of a case for opening up immigration. For example, he didn't point out the exact degree of the miniscule wage premium that low wage earners have received over the last few decades through limiting immigration (less than 8 percent). Or that immigrants more than make up for any increase in social expenditures by the contribution they make to GDP (and therefore taxes). Or that most Americans think that we should let illegal immigrants become legal once they've set roots in a community.

My grandpa came from Ireland and I've directly reaped the benefits of his willingness to take that risk. Why should we think differently about this issue now that most immigrants are no longer white or less educated?