The\nformer leader of an immigration advocacy group suggested this week that mass\nmigration might not be such a glorious blessing to the U.S. after all. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Instead of jumping on Joe Biden\u2019s open-borders bandwagon<\/a>, Demetrios Papademetriou, president emeritus of the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), cautioned America to \u201cbe careful about how much immigration we need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere are people who have not participated in the largess of immigration,\u201d Papademetriou observed during a forum titled, \u201cThe Role of Migration in Emerging from the Economic and Labor Market Turmoil.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Pointing\nto electoral maps that showed President Donald Trump carried 2,497 suburban and\nrural counties, versus 477 densely populated counties won by Biden, he said\nproponents of mass immigration \u201ccannot wish away\u201d red state voters or their\nconcerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Looking\nbeyond the short-term effects of the COVID pandemic, Papademetriou forecast\nthat \u201cby the end of 2021 we\u2019re still going to be in trouble. There is going to\nbe structural unemployment [in the U.S.]for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Papademetriou\nhas not transmogrified himself into Deporter-in-Chief. He speaks hopefully\nabout \u201cimmigrant integration\u201d and a \u201cgrand bargain\u201d to convert temporary work\npermits into permanent residency (though not citizenship). But Papademetriou\u2019s\nheightened attention to the plight of American workers indicates his belief\nthat there ought to be some limits to immigration enthusiasm. <\/p>\n\n\n\n FAIR research<\/a> has long proven that \u201ctoo many people, driven by too much immigration \u2026 looking for too few jobs \u2026 <\/strong>has resulted in periods of high unemployment and a long-term, downward spiral of wages.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThrough\nthe process of admitting millions of low-skilled legal immigrants each year, we\nare mathematically reducing our middle class and swelling the ranks of those\nliving at or below the poverty level. The middle class is disappearing,\nresulting in more income inequality and more societal friction.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Papademetriou\npicked up on that inequality and friction. \u201cMuch more attention needs to be\npaid to people who have not benefited from immigration and globalization,\u201d he\noffered. \u201cIf you cannot address the real concerns of people, that\u2019s not the way\nto move forward.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As MPI\u2019s president emeritus, he may not have the clout he once did. Indeed, on the day Papademetriou spoke, his organization released yet another sweeping critique<\/a> of Trump\u2019s policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But while\nPapademetriou\u2019s voice sounds like one crying in the wilderness, it\u2019s a voice of\nreason that is essential to any honest immigration debate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The former leader of an immigration advocacy group suggested this week that mass migration might not be such a glorious blessing to the U.S. after all. Instead of jumping on Joe Biden\u2019s open-borders bandwagon, Demetrios Papademetriou, president emeritus of the Migration Policy Institute (MPI), cautioned America to \u201cbe careful about how much immigration we need.\u201d<\/p>\n