The media have been playing up the “civil war” inside the GOP between what Politico calls the “MAGA Republicans and Big Tech.” The restrictionists in the party want fewer visas, and the pro-growth wing wants more.
This past weekend, President-elect Donald Trump announced his support for expanding immigrant worker visas. He told the New York Post:
“I’ve always liked the visas, I have always been in favor of the visas. That’s why we have them.”
It wasn’t clear whether he was talking about special visas for seasonal workers or high-tech (H1b) visas. But he has the strategy exactly right: legal immigration, yes; illegal immigration, no.
The evidence is overwhelming that LEGAL immigrants are assets to the economy.
The most recent 2024 report by the Congressional Budget Office on the economic and fiscal impact of immigrants finds that immigrants pay more in taxes than they use in federal services, thus “reducing the deficit by nearly $1 trillion over the period 2024-2034.”
Despite some traditional nativist concerns that immigrants “take jobs from American workers,” the most recent meta-study published in 2020 by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that, on balance, immigrants are “job creators, not job takers,” as former AOL CEO Steve Case put it. That is because immigrants today as always have high rates of starting businesses, fill niches in the workforce, and create jobs with their purchases of American goods and services.
The nonpartisan American Immigration Council recently found that 45% of American Fortune 500 companies were founded by immigrants and their children.
The businesses they create are not just in the tech sector. They include retail (Kohl’s), telecommunications (Verizon, AT&T), finance (JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup), pharmaceuticals (Pfizer, Moderna), media (News Corp, Fox), transportation (Boeing, JetBlue) and petroleum (Phillips 66, Occidental Petroleum), to name a few. And let’s not forget Elon Musk’s Tesla and SpaceX.
The revenues of these first- and second-generation immigrant companies exceed that of any other nation.
Musk, who will co-chair the Department of Government Efficiency commission, says he thinks we should double visas for skilled immigrants “yesterday.” He added: “The number of people who are super talented engineers AND super motivated in the USA is far too low. … If you want your TEAM to win the championship, you need to recruit top talent wherever they may be.”
It is clear that hardworking and entrepreneurial immigrants in combination with good old Yankee ingenuity is one of the greatest comparative advantages the United States has over nearly every other nation in the world — especially China.
I can’t think of a better way to make America great again.
Stephen Moore is a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation. He is also an economic advisor to the Trump campaign. His new book, coauthored with Arthur Laffer, is “The Trump Economic Miracle.”
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Democrat politicians, unlike the American voter, refuse to understand the meaning of LEGAL versus illegal. When I hear Trump/Homan state we are going to remove all the bad criminal illegal aliens, then they damn well had better understand illegally entering the United States is an invalid act of criminality that by definition makes them ALL criminal lawbreakers worthy of deportation. Although it sounds warm and fuzzy to conservatives that the murderers and rapists, with criminal records will be deported first, Make no mistake that ALL, the very minute they entered the USA illegally to steal from the hard-earned American programs of social benefits designed for those taxpayers who legally paid into them, are thieves,,,,,and succeeded not in obtaining the American dream for themselves, but imposing an American nightmare upon WE THE PEOPLE , who only succeeded in self-defining themselves as criminal minded lawbreakers and should be dealt with as such in eligibility for IMMEDIATE deportation. Those who do not embrace government sponsored incentives to self-deport back to where they came from, to get in the back of the line for legitimate Visas to return with those who follow our laws, must be deported forcibly, and with added financial punishments based upon how many social benefits they illegally gleaned while inside our USA borders. All Biden border pardons and policies should be revoked, based upon his mental unfitness as President, including the Hunter and family pardons.
Even some so-called conservatives, don’t understand the difference between LEGAL immigrants (those who come here do work, THEN GO away after a while) and ILLEGAL aliens!
The most recent 2024 report by the Congressional Budget Office on the economic and fiscal impact of immigrants finds that immigrants pay more in taxes than they use in federal services, thus “reducing the deficit by nearly $1 trillion over the period 2024-2034.
I CALL THE BS CARD ON THIS STATEMENT.
V1B Visas are a scam most of the time. We need to do what Australia dose, if you want to come to the US for a job the US should check to see what US Citizens can do the job first, and only then the H1 Visa can be issued.
I call bs on that too.. THERE IS NO Way they pay enough in taxes, to overwhelm the BILLIONS yearly they cost us in health care, schooling, policing etc.
A crazy idea deport blm for American safety. But keep the illegals who want to work. Pay a fine require English and citizenship within 3 years or Immediate deportation. At least they want to work and love this country.