The Immigrants
Most of the immigrant debate focuses on the impact of immigration, legal and otherwise, here in this country. This is proper, of course, but there are other ramifications to immigration too. Especially important are the remittances immigrants send back to their home countries, particularly in Latin America. The Washington Post has an article on how those remittances are slumping after several years of strong increases.
Why should we care? According to Donald Terry, manager of the Multilateral Investment Fund at the Inter-American Development Bank:
"We don't know if it's a trend or a minor correction," Terry said. "If it becomes a trend as opposed to a moment in time, this would not be good in terms of U.S. interests in Central America."
In other words, lower remittances would cause some Latin American economies to implode and probably launch larger waves of immigrants this way. The resulting social unrest in the home countries would not be good for us either.
Labels: immigration, politics
posted by Clemens @ 9:23 AM
3 comments
3 Comments:
Whatever the solution is, it likely won't be fair to the millions of would-be immigrants who aren't coming here to fill low-wage jobs. My sister-in-law can't get a visa because the American consulate in Russia thinks she won't return once she's in the States. But if she were here and had a job illegally, the public debate would be about how best to accommodate her. I gotta love that!
I came across your blog through the article in the Washington Post that you commented on. I was wondering if you'd be interested in a link exchange with Immigration Orange. Email me at kyledeb at gmail dot com if you're interested.
Jack, I don't think we are going to be able to come up with a fair solution - I keep hoping for a workable one that won't hurt too many people. Status quo is clearly not working.
As the husband of a Cuban, brother-in-law of a Vietnamese, and uncle to an Irish/American (dual citizenship) and a Chinese (adopted - with a long story about citizenship), I can understand your frustration with the system!
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