This is the third in as series of posts about opinion pieces by supposed "experts" that are not just wrong, but clearly erroneous.
This time, the opinion is offered on the same Bloomberg News which was the source of the first two bogus opinion pieces. Today's subject is immigration and the "expert" is Noah Smith, a professor at Stony Brook University. Here is the key quote from Smith's article:
"Illegal immigration to the U.S. ended a decade ago."
I'm not making this up. This expert actually says that studies show that there has been no illegal immigration into the USA for the last ten years. What utter nonsense. I guess professor Smith must have missed those pictures of thousands of children who came across the border in the last two years. He probably also missed all those pictures of people walking across the border in the Southwest only to be apprehended by ICE and then let go under Obama's catch and release program. Indeed, maybe Smith can explain why there would be a catch and release program in the first place; if there's no illegal immigration, then there's no one to catch.
Now it may be that Smith is just confused in his writing. Maybe he means that there is no net illegal immigration, although that is not what he said in his column. That would be the case if the same number of people were coming into the USA illegally as well as leaving the USA to go to their home countries. The problem with that view is twofold. First, there is no accurate way to know how many illegals have left the country in a particular year or years. The government makes no real effort to count people here illegally who then leave the country. Second, even if this were the case, it does not mean that there is no need to cut off illegal immigration. Just imagine that for the last ten years illegal immigration had been cut off. That would mean that as all those illegals supposedly leave the country, the totals here would drop rapidly. If the number of illegals were cut in half, it would represent a massive reduction in the problem, a major decrease in the need for government spending and a strong move towards the resolution of the problem.
This time, the opinion is offered on the same Bloomberg News which was the source of the first two bogus opinion pieces. Today's subject is immigration and the "expert" is Noah Smith, a professor at Stony Brook University. Here is the key quote from Smith's article:
"Illegal immigration to the U.S. ended a decade ago."
I'm not making this up. This expert actually says that studies show that there has been no illegal immigration into the USA for the last ten years. What utter nonsense. I guess professor Smith must have missed those pictures of thousands of children who came across the border in the last two years. He probably also missed all those pictures of people walking across the border in the Southwest only to be apprehended by ICE and then let go under Obama's catch and release program. Indeed, maybe Smith can explain why there would be a catch and release program in the first place; if there's no illegal immigration, then there's no one to catch.
Now it may be that Smith is just confused in his writing. Maybe he means that there is no net illegal immigration, although that is not what he said in his column. That would be the case if the same number of people were coming into the USA illegally as well as leaving the USA to go to their home countries. The problem with that view is twofold. First, there is no accurate way to know how many illegals have left the country in a particular year or years. The government makes no real effort to count people here illegally who then leave the country. Second, even if this were the case, it does not mean that there is no need to cut off illegal immigration. Just imagine that for the last ten years illegal immigration had been cut off. That would mean that as all those illegals supposedly leave the country, the totals here would drop rapidly. If the number of illegals were cut in half, it would represent a massive reduction in the problem, a major decrease in the need for government spending and a strong move towards the resolution of the problem.
No comments:
Post a Comment