Charles Krauthammer’s column “Anti-immigrant demagogues destroying future of America” (Commentary, July 20) was right on target. Several years ago, Wisconsin posted a sign at the Illinois border encouraging returning Illinois tourists to come and settle in Wisconsin. North Dakota and Minnesota had a similar interstate rivalry.
I have often wondered why we don’t post a sign at the international terminal of O’Hare Airport asking returning foreign tourists, “Why go back? Come settle in the United States.”
Instead we throw up every conceivable obstacle to immigration.
In the spring of 1983, I took a class at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign entitled “Economics of population, resources and the environment,” taught by Julian Simon. Simon began studying population growth because he believed it was one of the biggest threats to the welfare of mankind. Upon studying the data, he was forced to change his mind. What Simon discovered was that population growth, whether it be by immigration or otherwise, had short-term costs but long-term benefits. More people created more problems, but the additional people also contributed to the solution of those problems. Furthermore the solutions left us better off than if the problems had never existed in the first place. The costs were very small relative to the tremendous benefits.
Even though immigrants come here for their own self interest, they are a tremendous benefit to us all.
