Giving Credit to Fox News

[Teenwolf]

I will try to give a more detailed answer later when I have time, but as of July this year we had brought in ~50,000 Syrian refugees; I think that's a much bigger number than what the US has allowed in over the past few years

I saw an article today about increasing immigrants from 310K last year up to 350K in 2018. Many people were pushing for 450K, but they settled in the middle.

Immigration resettlement budget went up 30%.

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4371146

[Kevin Seitzer]

that's my response to the Brexit bunch as well, "Oh no, 100k Polish plumbers, send them all right to the Bay Area!"

I'm off the charts on Immigration, I'd like to see the US at about 400M people by 2025

Yeah, exactly. Arguing about one caravan as if it will destabilize the United States is the height of stupidity. I understand we need laws, yadda, yadda, yadda. But we also need an influx of millions of immigrants. How to get there is a problem that dwarfs the problem of what to do with one caravan. The caravan issue should be seen within the larger context of encouraging immigration, not the other way around.

[TranaGreg]

I am asking because I don’t know for sure: doesn’t Canada have much stricter immigration laws than the US? I know Australia and NEw Zealand do, I always thought Canada did too.

your question speaks to details, but in terms of numbers, as TW pointed out our current levels of immigration are 310K, going up to 340K in 2020 (the numbers I came across are slightly different from his).

by contrast, per wikipedia, "Since 2000, legal immigrants to the United States number approximately 1,000,000 per year, ...".

Keep in mind that Canada has roughly 10% the overall population of the US.

[nots]

your question speaks to details, but in terms of numbers, as TW pointed out our current levels of immigration are 310K, going up to 340K in 2020 (the numbers I came across are slightly different from his).

by contrast, per wikipedia, "Since 2000, legal immigrants to the United States number approximately 1,000,000 per year, ...".

Keep in mind that Canada has roughly 10% the overall population of the US.

Thanks for the info. Do you know how many illegal immigrants Canada has?

[TranaGreg]

Thanks for the info. Do you know how many illegal immigrants Canada has?

flippant answer: zero, our laws are so lax that everyone is legal!!!

more serious answer: no, the sites I typically go to don't seem to have this info; maybe that's a bit surprising, but generally speaking this isn't a major issue in Canadian politics. A few random pieces tho about Canada & illegal immigration:

Faced with an influx of asylum seekers from the United States, Canada is planning to substantially step up deportations of illegal migrants, Canada's public broadcaster reported Wednesday.

... the goal is to deport some 10,000 persons a year, as much as a 35 percent increase over recent years.
...
The CBC said 18,000 people, mostly failed refugee claimants, currently face deportation. So far this year 6,083 have been deported, compared to a total of 8,472 in 2017 and 18,987 in 2012.

from a 2010 study:

There are no accurate figures representing the number or composition of undocumented immigrants residing in Canada. A guesstimate of about half a million has been proposed nationally, but this number varies among other sources which suggest anywhere from 20,000 to 200,000 undocumented workers.

[nots]

flippant answer: zero, our laws are so lax that everyone is legal!!!

more serious answer: no, the sites I typically go to don't seem to have this info; maybe that's a bit surprising, but generally speaking this isn't a major issue in Canadian politics. A few random pieces tho about Canada & illegal immigration:



from a 2010 study:

Thanks for the effort—I took a brief spin around the internet and came up empty too.

[baldgriff]

isnt undocumented worker a subclass of illegal aliens? Not all of the illegal aliens are working, correct?

[TranaGreg]

isnt undocumented worker a subclass of illegal aliens? Not all of the illegal aliens are working, correct?

true but up here at least, it is likely a large majority (we have a sizable migrant worker influx each spring, largely agricultural based)

[The Feral Slasher]

Isn't it obvious they are huge positive? They are the lifeblood of new ideas, change, and growth. People who are hungry for a better life and restless or unwelcome in their old country have served as the engine for American progress for centuries.

On top of that, demographically they are a source of young workers and children. A lot of advanced economies with less immigration are facing huge issues from a graying population.

I don't think it is obvious at all. I think there are both positives and negatives. And I certainly don't think it is obvious that they are the lifeblood of new ideas and change. I do agree that has been the case for much of our nation's history, but I'm not convinced that makes it true now. Does America need more workers ? Wages have been stagnant for a long time. Do we need more people ? I see points on both sides. Maybe it's just me and it is obvious to the rest of you.

[Lurker765]

I don't think it is obvious at all. I think there are both positives and negatives. And I certainly don't think it is obvious that they are the lifeblood of new ideas and change. I do agree that has been the case for much of our nation's history, but I'm not convinced that makes it true now. Does America need more workers ? Wages have been stagnant for a long time. Do we need more people ? I see points on both sides. Maybe it's just me and it is obvious to the rest of you.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/stuartanderson/2011/06/19/40-percent-of-fortune-500-companies-founded-by-immigrants-or-their-children/#3766beb4a590

https://qz.com/1151689/216-companies-on-the-fortune-500-were-founded-by-immigrants-or-their-children/

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/05/30/us-tech-companies-founded-by-immigrants-or-the-children-of-immigrants.html

Apple founder Steve Jobs is the son of a Syrian immigrant,
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is a second generation Cuban immigrant,
Google founder Sergey Brin was born in Russia, and
Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin is a Brazilian native.

[Bernie Brewer]

flippant answer: zero, our laws are so lax that everyone is legal!!!

The snarky answer would’ve been you don’t know how many of the Hollywood elitist actually snuck across the border after trumps win.

[Kevin Seitzer]

I don't think it is obvious at all. I think there are both positives and negatives. And I certainly don't think it is obvious that they are the lifeblood of new ideas and change. I do agree that has been the case for much of our nation's history, but I'm not convinced that makes it true now. Does America need more workers ? Wages have been stagnant for a long time. Do we need more people ? I see points on both sides. Maybe it's just me and it is obvious to the rest of you.

Yes, immigrants are workers who compete for jobs, but they are also consumers who create demand and entrepreneurs who create jobs and taxpayers who help build our shared infrastructure. I do believe that our nation's history is ample evidence that immigrants on the whole give more than they take.

I firmly believe that people are the answer, not the problem. As much as people create problems (and they do), it's human creativity and drive to be better that finds the solutions to those problems. And immigrants have the creativity and drive to be better in spades. I guess it's the same reason that I believe I'm doing good in the world by having four children. Yes, my children are a burden on resources. They take living space and consume valuable resources. But I believe that they will give back more to the world than they take. I don't believe in a fixed-size pie. America has always been about making the pie bigger so there is more for everyone.

[chancellor]

Thanks for the info. Do you know how many illegal immigrants Canada has?

Depends on the point of view. I have Quebecois friends who consider everyone west of 80W illegal immigrants.

[chancellor]

I don't think it is obvious at all. I think there are both positives and negatives. And I certainly don't think it is obvious that they are the lifeblood of new ideas and change. I do agree that has been the case for much of our nation's history, but I'm not convinced that makes it true now. Does America need more workers ? Wages have been stagnant for a long time. Do we need more people ? I see points on both sides. Maybe it's just me and it is obvious to the rest of you.

No, your challenges are legitimate, especially around the labor market.

[Kevin Seitzer]

No, your challenges are legitimate, especially around the labor market.

That would be true if immigration actually significantly depressed wages. The evidence for that is slim at best.

https://www.cato.org/cato-journal/fall-2017/does-immigration-reduce-wages

Empirical methods that relax the two assumptions described above likely lead to estimates that more accurately describe the impacts of immigration on native wages and that are either very small or zero.