24A041 Migrants by Jim Davies, 10/22/2024 

People move. Like any other resource, labor seeks its best price; if wages in Country A are double what they are at home in Country B, ambitious people will relocate. That's unless a government should stop them, with prohibitions on crossing borders (out- or inbound.)

That's how America was populated, in the spectacularly prosperous 19th Century. Its population in 1800 was 5.3 million but in 1900, 76.2 million - a growth of 14 times of which most came by immigration. Europeans, Chinese and others saw an opportunity, and took it. Meantime the GDP per capita leaped from $1,708 (measured in 2017 "dollars") to $6,857 in the same 100 years. That's a quadrupling, while prices actually fell, by about 40%.

That is the foundation for the unprecedented wealth of this nation; a story that made history. Immigrants were courted sometimes by offers of free land, but basically had to build their own wealth. There was no welfare, but also very few restrictions or taxes. They came from all over, so as to be Americans and, relatively, free.

Within families and local communities that had come as a group from the "old country" at first they would speak with its language, but a high priority was to learn English, which was that of the first settlers. German and Swedish newspapers could be found, for example, as late as the 1980s - but nobody, certainly in the second generation, was unable to converse in English too.

So why the current fuss, about "undocumented" immigrants walking North from Mexico? Remember, all those (above) who came before 1900 were also undocumented. Passports, even, had not been invented. If you wanted to live and work here, you just bought a ticket and boarded ship.

Candidate Trump has emphasized that under Biden-Harris, 8 million more of them have slipped in to the country than he would have allowed, had the 2020 election not been stolen; and that over 100,000 of those are criminals. Sounds terrible... until you do the math. 100K is just 1.25% of 8 million. One or two percent of the existing (and documented!) population is also criminal, in the sense of having at some time run foul of the forest of US laws. So those numbers alone ought not to alarm anyone, until one considers the motive.

I know of no data that says how many of the 8 million came North purely in search of a more rewarding job. Probably some did. However if that's the main reason for immigrating, regular application via a US Embassy is a simpler way, even if it's slower; so it's fair to presume that most of them arrive for other reasons. They are not hard to find. They take the form of welfare. Free housing, free schooling, free medical care. So the newcomers arrive primarily to get free stuff. They may eventually get a job, or they may not. They are not the kind of people who came prior to 1900 and made America what it is.

Further, they tend to congregate in enclaves separate from native-born Americans, and to speak in their mother tongue - usually Spanish; and all kinds of companies and government departments publish their notices in that and other languages, not just English. That encourages them to stay where they land, without much attempt to assimilate. America was a "melting pot" which placed Lithuanian Jews alongside Irish and Italian neighbors; no such thing is taking place today. Instead of becoming "one from many" it's becoming a country of just "many" different areas, without much of a unifying factor.

One that does exist is religion and culture; most newcomers from central America have been raised with at least a nominal background in Christianity. All the foregoing applies also in Europe, but only too often there, even that unifying factor is missing. They come North from the Balkans and Middle East, bringing with them culture and religion that has nothing in common with the host country. That greatly exacerbates the problem.

The solution is obvious, to any with a basic grasp of economics: take away the artificial carrot, ie the free stuff. Then, the only people who will wish to migrate here will be those with skills they are eager to sell. That's exactly like it used to be in that uniquely prosperous 19th Century, and will add much to America's wealth and wellbeing. That Donald Trump and his followers want to complete the Wall instead tells us that he and they do not have that basic grasp of economics.

TOLFA is one way to acquire it. Another more thorough way is an Econ primer, such as the recently-published and excellent Per Bylund book, How to Think About the Economy. Movement to places of optimal opportunity will be unrestricted.