A few years ago, Germany was heavily criticized for taking in roughly a million refugees from mostly Muslim countries. Today we discover that the promising Pfizer vaccine that might help to end the pandemic was developed by the children of Turkish migrants to Germany:
Admittedly, most of the recent refugees are not likely to produce important medical breakthroughs. But Şahin’s father worked in a German car factory, and I doubt that many people in Germany thought the child of one of those Turkish factory workers would someday help to save the world economy. As Bryan Caplan likes to point out, more people leads to more ideas–especially when the extra people are given opportunities denied in their home country.
Once this pandemic is over, I very much hope the US government reconsiders the ban on travel from certain Muslim countries.
READER COMMENTS
Michael Sandifer
Nov 9 2020 at 2:13pm
Yes. Immigrants see the opportunities most of us miss daily, because we’re too spoiled and complacent. They’re vastly disproportionately represented among entreprenuers, doing more than their share to keep the US on the cutting edge.
And even those who are low-skilled help us in ways Ricardo described, and usually have children who are more productive than they are.
Max
Nov 9 2020 at 2:41pm
I don’t think that there is much anyonest even among conservatives that skilled immigrants that integrate well are a boon to society. It is the 25- 30 % that are troublemakers and pose a social problem. And you cannot argue it away if you look at the French suburbs in Paris or Marseille city.
Jon Murphy
Nov 9 2020 at 3:11pm
The issue, then, is about integration. France it is notoriously difficult for immigrants to integrate into French culture and society with their various legislation that effectively prohibits it.
I agree that integration matters. But governments stand as the single largest barrier to integration.
GRC
Nov 9 2020 at 5:11pm
I don’t agree here. Integration depends heavily on the immigrant, not just the receiving country. You can see how there are groups of immigrants that assimilate better across countries and others than do worst (Muslims basically don’t integrate well in any European country and I would include Germany here, I don’t think this is a French phenomenon).
In addition, it is also important to be clear on where the responsibility lies. I am actually an immigrant myself, Spanish, that have been living in Frankfurt (Germany) for almost a couple years now. The way I look at it is that I already got the chance to come to Germany, now it’s my turn to contribute. I think it would be preposterous to be given the chance to come here and then make the Germans responsible for any lack of integration from my part (not the case, I work here, learn German, etc).
Jon Murphy
Nov 11 2020 at 8:30am
Integration is a two-way street, if course. But when there is legislation explicitly designed to keep the immigrant out of society, then one cannot blame the immigrant.
Besides, one has to ask the question: why to Muslims integrate so well in more open societies like the US and poorly in more closed societies like France?
Josh S
Nov 9 2020 at 5:00pm
Where are you getting 25-30%? In the US, immigrants commit crimes at or significantly below the rate of native-born citizens. I can imagine it might be higher in other countries, but that number seems ridiculously high, unless you have a very broad definition of “troublemaker.”
Scott Sumner
Nov 9 2020 at 5:33pm
Max, You said:
“I don’t think that there is much anyonest even among conservatives that skilled immigrants that integrate well are a boon to society.”
It’s worth noting that the Trump administration sharply reduced skilled immigration, so not all conservatives agree on that point.
And obviously the “Muslim ban” had nothing to do with skill levels.
Tyler Wells
Nov 9 2020 at 4:43pm
This might be something new to Germany but for America the only novelty is the word “Muslim”. Science and technology here has long had a very strong contribution from immigrants.
Michael Sandifer
Nov 9 2020 at 5:15pm
Also, why don’t we have open borders, but make it harder to become a citizen? Save citizenship for those who serve 4 years in the military, or who have, say some measure of higher productivity than average. But, let any non-criminal visit, stay, live, and start businesses, and invest here.
Mark Z
Nov 9 2020 at 5:52pm
I imagine many people would see the idea of having a large immigrant population living here but not being able to vote and whatnot as an outrage, perhaps worse than the status quo.
I think just requiring people to live here a few years without committing a violent or property crime or becoming dependent on the state would be adequate for citizenship (I’d rather not needlessly expand the military).
Comments are closed.