Immigration Myth-Busting - Redux

Podcast - Bob Zadek Show

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Read the transcript for this show here.

For all of the missteps and failures of Big Government during in the past several months, most Americans will give the Trump administration credit for shutting down travel from China relatively early on.

This is thought to have “flattened the curve” by delaying the start of the epidemic in the U.S., and giving us time to prepare.

Unfortunately, as Alex Nowrasteh notes, the government did not prepare in that time, and the travel ban may have contributed to a false sense of security. Alex estimates that the ban may have delayed COVID’s arrival by a couple of weeks at most. Now that it’s here, any further executive orders – such as a proposed halt on H1-B high skilled worker visas – would be pointless and counterproductive.

Long-time listeners know that Alex is my show’s resident immigration "myth-buster." We were overdue for a conversation, but that will be remedied – when he returned with a positive agenda for immigration reform which he has compiled with his colleagues at Cato in partnership with several allied organizations. We’ll discuss his new report, “12 New Immigration Ideas for the 21st Century,” featuring Grover Norquist, Robin Hanson, David Bier and others, offering alternatives to the worn-out, failed reforms of blanket amnesty, stricter border controls, and an expanded guest-worker program.

We also discuss the danger of rising xenophobia towards Chinese nationals. Are we headed for a new Chinese Exclusion Act? Hopefully we will veer instead in the direction of Matt Yglesias’s bold but practical idea to open our doors to Hong Kong residents fleeing China’s oppressive regime.

Finally, we’ll parse the data on whether travel restrictions actually slowed the spread of COVID, and whether immigrant populations correlate with higher rates of the disease. Do you see a correlation here?

Links:

• Commentary: Alex Nowrasteh | Cato Institute

• Twitter - @AlexNowrasteh

• 12 New Immigration Ideas for the 21st Century | Cato Institute, May 13, 2020

• Let Hong Kongers get visas to America to escape China - Vox

• Travel Restrictions and the Spread of COVID-19 – What Does the Research Say? | Cato @ Liberty

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