Census: net international migration into the U.S. last year was one-quarter what it was in 2016
Washington, DC – An NBC News story lays bare the economic consequences of the Republican embrace of nativism. The damage wrought by President Trump and Stephen Miller over their four years in power has been fully embraced by the GOP. With precious few exceptions, the Trumpified Republican Party opposes efforts to modernize and reform our dysfunctional immigration system. Whether it’s proposals to legalize essential workers, or proposals to expand legal immigration channels, or repair refugee and asylum systems decimated under Trump and Miller, the GOP answer is Hell No.
The NBC News story, “Slowing immigration worsens job shortages,” notes:
“One of the biggest stories in the U.S. at the start of 2022 is what has been called the Great Resignation: people of all ages and occupations walking away from their jobs in the Covid-19 pandemic, leading to worker shortages.
The forces behind the shortages are complex, from fears of infection to child care needs to worker burnout, but one factor that may be overlooked is that fewer new Americans are coming into the country. Immigration has dropped sharply in the last few years, and the declines have had real impacts on the worker pool. The impacts can be seen by looking at the most basic measure, net international migration into the U.S. According to the census, that figure last year was one-quarter what it was in 2016.
…There may be some questions about the 2021 number, because data collection occurred during the pandemic, when reaching survey respondents was difficult. The challenge around data collection remains the biggest unanswered question about the 2020 decennial census. Just how reliable was the tally? But the trend of declining immigration numbers began long before the pandemic started. The net international migration figures have been falling every year since 2016. So even though the pandemic has almost certainly played a role in the last few years, policy changes also seem to have had an impact. And all those declines since 2016 mean there would have been millions more immigrants in the country today if migration had kept at a steady pace.
…The pandemic has caused major disruptions to the U.S. economy in a long list of areas. Many workers are re-examining the courses of their lives and trying to chart new ones. Supply chain issues have wreaked havoc. And the sheer uncertainty around the coronavirus and the ‘return to normal’ has left businesses and investors playing a perpetual game of ‘let’s see what things look like next month.’
But the drop in immigration and the workers it provides has played a role.”
According to Douglas Rivlin, Director of Communication for America’s Voice
Nativism has become the animating force of the Republican Party. The GOP’s rabid embrace of anti-immigrant politics is now taking priority over America’s economic interests. By opposing recovery plans that include immigrants, slashing legal immigration, and blocking immigration reforms to modernize our immigration system, including legalizing workers and expanding refugee protections, the Republican Party’s nativist political push is harming our economic recovery and limiting our economic potential. This is a perilous time when we need every worker we can get in order to get our country moving again, but the Republican Party is opposed to certain workers working legally, and we all pay a price for that.
