by Pia M. Orrenius and Madeline Zavodny
Abstract
Illegal immigration along the Southwest border has dropped to levels last seen during the 1970s, yet the focus on stopping it has reached unprecedented intensity, culminating in February in a national emergency declaration. Meanwhile, the unauthorized immigrant population has been falling for at least a decade, and Mexico is no longer the source of most unauthorized immigrants. Over half of new unauthorized immigrants are visa overstayers who entered legally. A historically high number of people attempting to enter along the Southwest border are asylum seekers—unaccompanied minors and families from Central America. Both of these groups are unlikely to be deterred by tougher border enforcement. Meanwhile, the number of unauthorized immigrant workers has been falling, leading to heightened employer interest in using the H-2A and H-2B visa programs to hire temporary foreign workers. However, those programs are unlikely to fully meet employer demand for less-skilled workers. This demand will only grow as the number of less-educated US-born workers falls. Instead of building a wall, the US needs to build programs that ensure enough workers are available.
The-US-Needs-Workers-Not-a-Wall.pdf
