Hoover Institution Releases Immigration Report -- February 27, 2004 -- California Capitol Hill Bulletin -- Volume 11, Bulletin 6

The Hoover Institution recently released a report entitled, "Making and Remaking America, Immigration into the United States," authored by Philip Martin and Peter Duignan. Dr. Martin is professor of agricultural and resource economics at the Univ. of California, Davis, and Chair of the University of California's Comparative Immigration and Integration Program; and Mr. Duignan is the Lillick Curator and senior fellow emeritus at the Hoover Institution.

The report posits that the United States must "respond to three fundamental immigration questions: how many immigrants should be admitted; from where and in what status should they arrive; and how should the rules governing the system be enforced?" The report argues that the immigration policies of the 1980s and 1990s to impose employer sanctions for hiring illegal immigrants actually allowed more foreigners to arrive legally and illegally, rather than slow illegal immigration. It also contents that anti-terrorism measures undertaken in the wake of September 11, 2001 have also not slowed immigration to the U.S.

After analyzing the demographics of the United States, the economic shift occurring in employment from unskilled to skilled jobs, and the integration of immigrants, the authors conclude that there is no clear winner between those who argue against all future immigration and those who argue to allow free immigrant flows. Instead, they posit that immigration should policy should shift from allowing in unskilled workers to emphasizing skilled worker immigration. In conjunction with that position, the authors argue against family reunification beyond nuclear families (i.e., father, mother, children), stating that "[r]euniting families (other than nuclear members) is not a sufficient reason to burden the U.S. economy and welfare system with elderly, unskilled, semiliterate, non-English speakers."

The authors also call for a limit on the number of immigrants admitted annually to two per thousand of the population, and suggest that no more than about 10 percent of immigrants should be allowed in from any one country in every single year. They also conclude that "[a]mnesties for illegal immigrants need to be halted to make clear that this is no a viable route to U.S. citizenship."

The Hoover Institution at Stanford University is a center for advanced study in domestic and international affairs. Founded by Herbert Hoover in 1919, it contains a large private archive and library on political, economic, and social change in the twentieth century.

To expand communications between Washington and California, the California Institute provides periodic bulletins regarding current activity on Capitol Hill that directly impacts our state. Bulletins are published weekly during sessions of Congress, and occasionally during other periods.

The California Institute for Federal Policy Research
A Source of Information on California and Federal Policy
419 New Jersey Avenue, SE, Washington, D.C. 20003
voice: 202-546-3700   fax: 202-546-2390  ransdell@calinst.org    http://www.calinst.org