Another fluff story on the positives of immigration

I get so tired of stories like this that don’t distinguish between legal and illegal immigration, whether as to economic boost or lower incarceration rates.

There’s a hell of a lot of difference between an Indian software engineer or a Pakistani doctor coming here, on the one hand, and a peasant Mexican farmer wrecked by NAFTA, or worse, on the other hand.

But, you can mine for gems that undercut this story within its grafs. Take this, for example:

Those of Asian descent generally showed lower incarceration rates and higher educational levels than Latinos.

Yes, there are illegal immigrants from south or east Asia, and unskilled ones whether legal or not. But, it’s not a stereotype, but a generalization to point out that our primary problems in these areas is Latin America, not Asia.

The problem is, many people try to view immigration, both legal and illegal, in a vacuum. And you cannot.

It must be seen light of free vs. fair trade issues and globalization. As I mentioned, NAFTA pretty much wrecked the Mexican agricultural sector. And, its effects headed further south.

At the same time, H1-B visas for the software engineers are a government subsidy, in essence, in a free-trade heavy industry.

And, this isn’t even touching on issues such as birth control and birth rates. (Guatamala’s is as high as Saudi Arabia’s.)