America Wants Legal Immigrants | 5 Minute Video — Transcript

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1. 0:02I am the proud son of immigrants from Bangladesh.
2. 0:05I was raised in New York City, which has benefited enormously from the energy and ambition of
3. 0:10the millions of people born abroad who’ve chosen to make it their home.
4. 0:15But I also believe that America’s immigration system needs to work for America, and right
5. 0:21now, that is simply not the case.
6. 0:24We need a new immigration system.
7. 0:27So what should it be?
8. 0:29We’re often presented with two stark choices: Severe restrictions or open borders.
9. 0:35I think there’s a better way.
10. 0:37But before I offer a solution, let’s look at the usual suspects.
11. 0:41The case for open borders is, on the surface, pretty attractive.
12. 0:45Tens of millions of people around the world would be grateful to come to America for the
13. 0:49chance to live in peace and earn a decent living.
14. 0:52The vast majority of them mean us no harm.
15. 0:55Why not give them a chance to share in the blessings of liberty?
16. 0:59The simple answer is that our country is more than just a marketplace.
17. 1:03We’re a democracy based on a social contract.
18. 1:07Americans pay taxes so that, among other things, the poorest, most unlucky among us can still
19. 1:13lead decent and dignified lives.
20. 1:16If you can’t work, you might be eligible for unemployment benefits or disability.
21. 1:20If you do work but your paycheck doesn’t go far enough for you to afford medical care
22. 1:24or food for your kids, we have a safety net designed to help you stay afloat.
23. 1:29Liberals and conservatives disagree on how extensive this safety net ought to be,
24. 1:33but they all agree it needs to be there.
25. 1:36The question is, how we far are willing to stretch it?
26. 1:40A century ago, immigrants who found they couldn’t make it in America had little choice but to
27. 1:45go back home.
28. 1:46That is no longer the case.
29. 1:48These days, immigrants who can’t earn enough to support their families have access to many
30. 1:53government benefits.
31. 1:54That doesn’t make them bad people.
32. 1:57In an age of offshoring and automation, wages for menial jobs don’t go very far.
33. 2:02If we only admitted a modest number of low-skill immigrants—say, as political refugees—
34. 2:07we could easily handle it.
35. 2:09But over the past forty years, we have allowed millions of low-skill immigrants into the
36. 2:14country, both legally and illegally.
37. 2:17While highly-educated immigrants pay far more in
38. 2:20taxes than they consume in benefits, the opposite is true of immigrants with less than a
39. 2:25high school diploma.
40. 2:26Immigrant engineers working for Google, Amazon and Apple do just fine without government help.
41. 2:32The immigrant janitors and busboys who serve them struggle to afford housing and to give
42. 2:37their kids a decent start in life.
43. 2:40Without government aid, many would go hungry.
44. 2:44If we were to open our borders, the number of low-skilled immigrants would skyrocket,
45. 2:48and so too would the cost of meeting their needs.
46. 2:51Ironically, this would only exacerbate the wealth disparity that so animates the open
47. 2:56borders crowd.
48. 2:58Maybe the rich could wall themselves off in gated communities.
49. 3:02But the growing ranks of the poor and even the middle class would have to deal with ever
50. 3:07more strained social services.
51. 3:09That could provoke resentment strong enough to set off real class warfare.
52. 3:15If open borders are a bad idea, so too is severely restricting immigration.
53. 3:22For one, immigration has always been part of the American story.
54. 3:25And it continues to be an essential source of talent, from Silicon Valley to medicine
55. 3:30to pro sports.
56. 3:32Why shut ourselves off from the dynamism and energy that immigrants can bring?
57. 3:37Thankfully, there is a way to fix this problem.
58. 3:40We can modernize the system to give priority to those who have strong skills and job offers—
59. 3:46people, in other words, who will pay more in taxes than they need in benefits.
60. 3:52Today, we admit about two-thirds of immigrants on the basis of family ties and only 15 percent
61. 3:58on the basis of skills.
62. 4:00We need a course correction.
63. 4:02We should limit family immigration to immediate family members—such as spouses and minor
64. 4:07children—while greatly expanding the number of skills-based visas.
65. 4:12A skills-based points system would be a huge boon for people around the world
66. 4:18looking to live the American Dream.
67. 4:20It would give them a predictable, step-by-step guide for how to better their chances
68. 4:25at a green card.
69. 4:27Just as importantly, by prioritizing immigrants with strong skills, we’d make the safety
70. 4:32net much easier to sustain for those with low skills—whom we’d still admit,
71. 4:37albeit at a more modest level.
72. 4:40Let’s announce to the world that if you’re ambitious, if you have skills we prize,
73. 4:44the golden door is open.
74. 4:47If you can support yourself and your family, and add to our economy, we want you.
75. 4:52If we aspire to an immigration system that works, this the most realistic—and idealistic—choice.
76. 5:00I’m Reihan Salam, Executive editor of National Review, for Prager University.