If You Want to Send a Messsage, Use Western Union

The editors of the Washington Post gently chide the Biden Administration for sending “mixed messages” to prospective migrants:

An estimated two-thirds of undocumented immigrants have been in the United States for more than a decade, and many in that cohort arrived at least 15 years ago. It is preposterous to think that deportation agents would target those long-term unauthorized residents, the vast majority of whom pose no threat to public safety or national security.

Yet in announcing new deportation guidelines Thursday, the Biden administration left ambiguous the question of whether its arrest priorities would exclude most noncitizens who have spent years in U.S. communities as neighbors, workers, and, in some cases, owners of businesses and homes. In effect, the guidelines amount to an ill-defined, ongoing negotiation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the government’s deportation arm. With good reason, it will leave many unauthorized migrants concerned about their foothold in this country.

The message isn’t that mixed. When you align their words and their actions, the takeaway is that not much will be done to deter illegal migrants so why the heck not give it a try?

The editors rather clearly buy into the hoary “jobs Americans won’t do” trope. Reality is more complex. a reliable stream of new workers allows employers to keep wages lower than would otherwise be the case. A significant number of such workers allows them to substitute unskilled labor for capital investment-requiring automation. Lots and lot of these migrant workers looks okay until you realize that these are people, they have costs associated with them, and there’s no way that the taxes they’re able to pay will pay for the services they use.

Meanwhile in her Wall Street Journal column Mary Anastasia O’Grady advises:

A proactive approach to global migrant flows would address both push and pull factors. On the pull side, a greater supply of U.S. work visas are needed to resolve a labor shortage that acts as a magnet for eager foreign workers.

Pushing the migrants is a dearth of employment, a problem that can be addressed by the resumption of a robust U.S. free-trade agenda. Now is the time to do it because companies want to move away from China in favor of “near shoring” in Central America, the Dominican Republic and Haiti, particularly in textiles. The key is to eliminate trade barriers that make the manufacturing of apparel in these countries uncompetitive.

As a general matter I favor doing a lot more of our trade with our neighbors than we do. I also favor more substantial migrant worker programs but however expanded those need to be vigorously enforced. I see little stomach for doing that in the present administration.