Three Things Things I Know About Immigration, I Think

I guess you could say I'm pretty much of a wet on issues of immigration. I believe that, on the whole, immigration probably does more good to the economy than harm. I do think we should try to do more in the way of "civic education," acculturation--this is, after all, a great country (why else would they want to come?) and it is important to try to keep it functioning. Anyway, we might as well: I suspect that the debate is on the whole pretty pointless because, aside from Lou Dobbs and Tom Tancredo, I suspect there really aren't many people willing to do what it would take to maintain any meaningful controls.

Still, here are three complicating wrinkles that I believe to be true:

• I think you'd have to acknowledge that the H-1B Visa program, that brings "non-immigrants" (hah!) in for "necessary" jobs--that it's a form of indentured servitude. On the other hand, I'm one who has a soft spot for indentured servitude. I suspect that over the centuries, it has helped some people (probably including some of my ancestors) to get a chance they wouldn't have had otherwise.

• I suspect that the great zeal for foreign graduate students is motivated by the need for cheap labor to staff research labs. Whether one could add "at the expense of the taxpayer" is, perhaps, a more difficult question.

• I recognize the evidence is equivocal, but I suspect it is true that (a) immigrants have a lower crime rate than the general population, but that for the children of immigrants, the crime rate is higher.