Work and Migration
This Study Guide is designed to give junior and mid-level policymakers a starting point to explore the real negative effects of high legal immigration levels and visa programs that suppress American wages. In it, you’ll read, watch, and listen to a selection of policy briefs, articles, congressional reports, podcasts, and more.
Legal Migration: A Primer
Many Americans are surprised to learn that the United States admits over 1 million legal immigrants annually.
But it doesn’t stop there. The U.S. also grants temporary visas to millions of nonimmigrants each year, including tourists, students, and temporary workers—pushing down wages for American workers. In 2022, nearly 2.6 million people legally immigrated to the U.S., encompassing both permanent residents and temporary visa holders.
The following Study Guide begins with first principles before diving deeper into more complex topics, like H1-B visas and the impacts of migration on wages. By the end of this Study Guide, you’ll be able to answer the following:
- How does the availability of cheap labor discourage innovation in industries like agriculture?
- Why is the assumption that immigration inherently drives technological innovation and productivity growth in the United States wrong?
- Who are the main winners and losers of mass migration?
- Why is the “jobs Americans won’t do” argument fundamentally flawed?
- Why have efforts to reform the H-1B visa program stalled in Congress?
Section I: Introduction
VIDEO: “Corporations Exploit Low-Skill Immigrants for Cheap Labor“
- Summary Here’s an uncomfortable truth: American corporations exploit low-skill immigrants — and, as a result, American citizens — for cheap labor. Oren Cass, Founder and Chief Economist at American Compass, explains why in this clip from our weekly podcast, Moment of Truth.
- Why watch? If you don’t understand this basic dynamic, the rest of this study guide won’t be useful to you. In this short clip, Cass succinctly explains the “labor shortage” myth, how immigration suppresses American wages, and what policy makers can do to fix it.
- Key Quote “When there’s an unlimited pool of low-wage workers available to you, you are overwhelmingly going to choose that.”
- Study Question How does the availability of cheap labor discourage innovation in industries like agriculture?
ARTICLE: “Immigration Has Winners And Losers“
- Summary Michael Lind’s article examines the impacts of U.S. immigration policy across economic, social, and political lines. He highlights how immigration can benefit certain groups, such as employers seeking low-wage labor, while disadvantaging others, like native-born low-skilled workers.
- Why read? Lind challenges the simplistic left-versus-right narrative on immigration. Understanding the legal migration regime, especially in how it can negatively impact American workers of all races, is critical for any conservative studying public policy.
- Key Quote “Politics often involves strange-bedfellow alliances, and the bedfellows in the case of U.S. immigration policy are the strangest of all.”
- Study Question How does Lind critique the assumption that immigration inherently drives technological innovation and productivity growth in the United States?
ARTICLE: “Yes, Immigration Hurts American Workers“
- Summary George J. Borjas explores the multifaceted economic effects of immigration in the United States, highlighting it as a driver of wage suppression for native workers. Partisan narratives, Borjas explains, often account for the oversimplification of the issue along racial lines, and emphasizes the need for a balanced approach that considers both the benefits and the challenges of immigration.
- Why read? Through real-world examples, like the chicken processing plant in Georgia that raised wages after an immigration raid, the article provides a grounded, eye-opening look at how migration flows affect American livelihoods.
- Key Quote “Immigration redistributes wealth from those who compete with immigrants to those who use immigrants—from the employee to the employer.”
- Study Question How does the article describe the economic redistribution caused by immigration, and who are the main winners and losers?
Policy Report: Revisiting the Jordan Commission: A Blueprint for Immigration Reform
- Summary David North reintroduces us to the Jordan Commission, a Congressional Commission created in 1990 that advocated for noticeably decreased legal immigration, no amnesty, and assimilation. Dive into the Commission’s research, and how we can glean policy solutions from it today, 3 decades later.
- Study Question What factors contributed to the bipartisan nature of the Jordan Commission, and how might these factors differ in the wake of the recent party realignment in the United States?
Section II: Common Myths
Myth 1: “We need immigrants because they do jobs that native-born Americans won’t.”
- The Truth The cliché of “jobs Americans won’t do” oversimplifies the issue. Low wages, poor treatment, and lack of career progression—not the nature of the work—are often the reasons these jobs are unattractive to native workers.
- Video Summary In the podcast above, Oren Cass debunks this phenomenon. Cass draws a parallel between agricultural labor and hypothetical low-paying tech jobs, arguing that the real issue lies in how these roles are structured and compensated. The current approach of expanding guest worker programs perpetuates reliance on low-wage labor instead of fostering innovation or improving job conditions. A market-driven approach could involve restructuring industries to make such roles more appealing to native workers by improving wages, conditions, and career prospects.
- Why watch? Cass explains a simple truth: Immigrants increase the supply of labor, which can drive wages down, especially in low-skill markets. Employers generally raise wages only when they cannot fill positions by cheap, imported labor.
- Key Quote “At the end of the day, immigration is fundamentally an economic issue. Allowing a large number of new workers into some segment of the labor market reduces power for workers in that segment, and reduces pressure to raise wages in that segment.”
- Study Question Why is the “jobs Americans won’t do” argument fundamentally flawed?
Myth 2: “Immigration substantially boosts a country’s economy and increases the GDP.”
- The Truth Even substantial increases in immigration result in only modest improvements in per capita economic growth. As Stephen Camarota explains in this article for Real Clear Policy, projections indicate that adding 166 million people through increased immigration over three decades would raise per capita income by just 7%. This modest gain could be further diminished if new immigrants displace existing workers, particularly among vulnerable groups.
- Why read? The piece offers empirical evidence that shows no clear correlation between population growth and per capita economic growth; countries with high immigration rates do not consistently outperform those with lower rates in terms of per capita GDP growth.
- Key Quote “Among all developed countries, the correlation between population growth and per capita economic growth was actually negative between 2010 and 2019.”
- Study Question What are the potential economic and social trade-offs of relying on increased immigration to address the challenges of an aging population? What alternative strategies could be more effective in promoting sustainable economic growth?
Myth 3: “Assimilation is easy, and most immigrants do it quickly.”
- The Truth As explained in the clip above, immigration leads to a “culture transplant” where immigrants bring and maintain cultural traits that reshape the society receiving the immigrants. Historical examples show that new groups profoundly influenced American culture rather than fully assimilating.
- Why watch? Jason Richwine, resident scholar at the Center for Immigration Studies, breaks down this phenomenon with data. For example, Richwine’s academic work highlights not only cultural trends, but economic ones. For instance, personal savings behavior of second-generation immigrants correlates with the savings rates of their ancestral countries, highlighting the long-term influence of cultural heritage.
- Study Question How does the persistence of cultural traits across generations, as seen in savings behavior or social trust, challenge traditional narratives of immigrant assimilation?
Myth 4: “America is a nation of immigrants.”
- The Truth One can recognize the positive aspects of migration while making a distinction between early settlement of North America and modern-day immigration policy. Today, immigration is incentivized by material benefits for new migrants. Foundational texts, such as Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America, make no mention of immigration because America had a distinct and unified national character by that time. It wasn’t until the early 20th century that immigration truly ballooned.
- Video Summary Jeremy Carl, Senior Fellow at the Claremont Institute and former Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Interior under President Trump, contends that the idea of America as a “nation of immigrants” was a mid-20th-century invention driven by political agendas. Carl maintains that the settler-immigrant distinction is an important one: America’s foundation was built by settlers, not immigrants, as they established new societies rather than joining existing ones.
- Why watch? This provocative yet insightful conversation gets to the root of arguments made in favor of unlimited migration to the United States, and re-centers the conversation around the economic and social wellbeing of current American citizens.
- Study Question How does the distinction between settling a frontier and integrating into an established society challenge the “nation of immigrants” narrative?
Myth 5: “Restricting immigration is a right-wing issue.”
- The Truth In 2016, Bernie Sanders dismissed the idea of open borders, calling it a “Koch Brothers proposal,” admitting that increasing the labor supply drives down wages for domestic workers. As expert Ryan Girdusky explains above, leftist labor leaders throughout history, including Cesar Chavez, were, in fact, immigration restrictionists for this reason.
Section III: Outsourcing and Visa Programs
“60 Minutes” examines H-1B visas outsourcing American jobs
- Summary Bill Whitaker of “60 Minutes” sits down with average Americans who have been disastrously affected—even being forced to train their replacements after decades of work.
- What is the H-1B Program? Established in 1990, was designed to allow U.S. companies to recruit highly skilled foreign workers for engineering, scientific, and emerging technology jobs. However, loopholes in the system have enabled companies to exploit the program, outsourcing jobs to lower-paid foreign workers and displacing American employees.
- Key Quote “I didn’t get laid off for lack of work. I got laid off because somebody cheaper could do my job.”
- Study Question Why have efforts to reform the H-1B visa program stalled in Congress?
VIDEO: “Immigration: H-1B, J-1, and STEM OPT (Oh My!) (ft. Kevin Lynn)“
- Summary Kevin Lynn, Executive Director of the Institute for Sound Public Policy and Founder of U.S. Tech Workers, to discuss various tools and loopholes being utilized by silicon valley and big business to displace American workers with dependent foreigners, and the social, cultural, and economic consequences of mass migration.
- Why watch? This podcast provides a masterclass overview of the various programs used to displace American workers, including H-1B, L-1, J-1, and OPT.
- Key Quote “It’s a myth that the H-1B visa brings in highly skilled workers.”
- Study Question What is the H-1B visa program, why was it started, and how has it gotten corrupted over time?
- More Want a deeper dive? Watch another episode with Kevin Lynn, “The Skilled Migration Scam (ft. Kevin Lynn)“
Academic Study | Is There Really a STEM Workforce Shortage? | Issues in Science & Technology
- Professor Ron Hira presents clear evidence that there is no pressing need to import tech workers to America. Learn about the STEM field’s wage growth, unemployment rates, and heed Prof. Hira’s cry for realistic and coherent research on these issues.
Congressional Hearing | The Impact of “High-Skilled” Immigration on U.S. Workers | Center for Immigration Studies
- A scathing critique of the H-1B Visa program. For those curious about how to correct the ills of this program, this report is a must-read, with the accompanying 2-hour congressional hearing on the subject.
Article | The STEM Graduate System Is Broken. Here’s How to Fix It. | Bloomberg
- An exploration of the Optional Practical Training program, a system similar in practice to H-1B Visas. Learn about its negative affects on the foreign labor it’s designed to help, American labor, and how to fix it.
Section IV: International Migration
Demographic Shifts will Reshape UK Politics (ft. Matt Goodwin)
Migration: Importing Third World Conflict (ft. Kevin Lynn)
BONUS: Consequences of Mass Migration to France (ft. Pascal-Emmanuel Gobry)
“The Strange Death of Europe: Immigration, Identity, Islam by Douglas Murray
- America isn’t the only country suffering from near-unlimited immigration, both legal and illegal. The Europe we once knew is vanishing, and its demographic situation offers a window as to why. Douglas Murray examines the dire situation – boots on the ground in the Old World.
Section V: Books for Further Study
“They’re Not Listening: How The Elites Created the National Populist Revolution,” by Ryan Girdusky and Harlan Hill
- Authors Ryan Girdusky and Harlan Hill illustrate how on issues like immigration, American and international elites have driven the normal population into nationalism and populism. This book is a great primer on the intersection of politics and policy as it relates to open borders, mass immigration, globalism, endless war, and more.
“Back of the Hiring Line” by Roy Beck
- Many politicians use identity politics and cheap tricks to reach out to minority voters without focusing on the root causes of the issues Americans of all creeds face. Roy Beck tackles the specific and costly effects foreign labor has on black Americans. For policy researchers, this book is a window into the general apathy our leaders have toward black Americans when it comes to the issue of immigration.
“We Wanted Workers: Unraveling the Immigration Narrative” by George Borjas
- George Borjas, a native of Cuba, explores American immigration, from migrant and nonmigrant job competition to the diverse cultures brought on by immigrants. Interested in diving deeper into the economics of immigration? This work is for you.
Book | Sold Out: How High-Tech Billionaires & Bipartisan Beltway Crapweasels Are Screwing America’s Best & Brightest Workers | Michelle Malkin
- Michelle Malkin illuminates the lies of supposedly pro-worker politicians who ignore or conceal the nature of foreign immigrant labor. Learn the truth of the replacement of American labor.
A special thanks to Brian Dan-Ding, former American Moment Fellow, for his contributions to this Study Guide.
