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Scott's avatar

How about more open, e.g. Trump's suggestion that every STEM graduate of a US university get a green card?

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Sebastien's avatar

When in your opinion did America become great through open immigration?

I see protestant sects that were thrifty and literate before the Independence.

In the 19th century, wages were higher than in Europe due to labor shortage. The US was openly racist and was forbidding the immigration of "Negroes, Chinamen, and Hindoos", while illiterate Catholics be they Scott, Irish or Italians were welcome to come and try to integrate.

This influx of low social capital populations from paternalistic societies and their concentration in industrial cities contributed to the advent of the progressive era, and the development of the "Great" welfare state.

The American politician has a choice: 1) should we select immigrants to get adequately skilled, productive, and easy to integrate people, or 2) should we use immigration as a way to buy votes by increasing the number of welfare recipients and create problems that the government will be tasked to solve?

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