The Case for Open Borders

by John Washington

Despite the sharp economic downturn at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, in 2020 remittances sent from the United States to Mexico actually increased. Remittances nearly doubled in two years, according to a report from the Inter-American Dialogue, to over $3.5 billion, emphasizing the strength of supra-national ties. So-called brain drain—when people with high levels of education emigrate, allegedly leaving their home countries drained of intelligence—is less a reality than an unfounded xenophobic riposte. The most commonly cited example of brain drain is that opening doors to more immigrants from poor countries would empty those countries of essential doctors and health care professionals. While the argument is reductive, and health care workers’ experience abroad can be hugely beneficial to their native countries’ healthcare, there is cause for concern. As one study noted, “Africa bears over 24 percent of the global disease burden with only 3 percent of health workers to take care of the sick.” But walls won’t solve the problem.

No. It's not a xenophobic riposte. In Nigeria, for instance, almost everyone who studies nursing today does it with the intention of taking advantage of USA's generous work visa for nurses. Only very smart nurses from relatively rich families can afford to pass the NCLEX and travel to the United States. What does it leave over there? Well. Why don't you ask Nigerians the state of their healthcare. Doctors are leaving Nigeria and a lot of other poor countries to work as nurses in the US. If that is not a brain drain, I wonder what it is. Now, I don't think people who oppose immigration do it to avoid brain drains in poorer nations. But that doesn't mean that those who advocate open borders should deny that there is a brain drain.