The Most Common Arguments against Immigration and Why They're Wrong

by Alex Nowrasteh

This booklet attempts to answer the most common objections to immigration that I’ve heard throughout my career from policy wonks and academics as well as from ordinary Americans. Few people can devote years of their life to studying the most relevant public policy questions and evidence for any issue. However, as one who has had that extraordinary privilege, I’ve written this booklet that boils them down to the 15 most common objections and explains how I respond to them.

Genres: Nonfiction

68 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 16, 2021

Reviews

[Cheryl]

I cannot understand objections to bringing new workers and fresh viewpoints to my country. Who else is going to landscape your lawn, clean your motel room, or serve as your physician? And I'll bet you anything that your ancestors were immigrants, too.

[Walter Ullon · Rating 4 out of 5]

At just under 60 pages, this book is essentially the Spark Notes version of Watson and Thompson's The Border Within: The Economics of Immigration in an Age of Fear. It explores the same arguments, uses the same studies, analyzes the same data, and reaches the same conclusions. Weird how that works...

One of my minor nitpicks with this book is that I wish the author would have spent a little more time discussing why immigrants sometimes struggle to assimilate and become productive. Germany, France, and more recently Canada have faced significant challenges in this area. While the author touches on this briefly, it is one of the more prevalent arguments in discussions and deserves further attention.

One of the main reasons immigrants in Europe don’t assimilate as well is that European countries have more labor market regulations that make it particularly difficult for lower-skilled immigrants to find jobs, thereby slowing both economic and cultural assimilation.

Another major reason is that the process of assimilation is a two-way street. Immigrants and their descendants must take up most of the customs, mores, and values held by long-settled natives. The natives must accept the immigrants; their children; and some of their particular customs, religions, and habits as part of the cultural fabric of the country. This two-way street is more well traveled in the United States than in European nation-states that are defined by ethnic, linguistic, and cultural features that reach back millennia and that are more difficult for outsiders to join.

However, my main concern with the book is that I am not sure it will really persuade anyone deeply entrenched in nativist ideology. Then again, that is probably not the target audience.

Overall, this book is an excellent recommendation for individuals who have been exposed to soundbites, might be on the fence, and genuinely want to understand more about why immigration works and how, when managed properly, it can be a boon to the society that welcomes immigrants.

Recommended!

[AL · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is absolute garbage written for people who simply want to reinforce their delusional beliefs and not face reality. I say that as an immigrant myself.

[Christopher Hudson Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

This brief book from should be your new go-to recommendation for your conservative friends & family who remain skeptical of immigration.