Immigration is a benefit

I have talked about immigration extensively on this blog. That is why I was so interested to see this story from Slate:
"Give Us Your Tired, Your Poor. Really. We Mean It.
Economists are making the case politicians are afraid to: Immigration is great for the U.S."
http://www.slate.com/id/2265974/?from=rss

The root question is: are people a benefit or a burden? I don't think there is a clear answer to that question. I believe it depends on what type of immigrants we attract and which we allow into the country. It depends on the individual. If he comes for the right reasons, rather than to take advantage of the system, I don't have any problem with immigration. I have said this in previous posts on this blog, most notably this one: "Address the root cause of illegal immigration," June 14, 2010.


Interestingly, John Morton (Assistant Secretary, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement), recently issued a memo essentially saying that not all illegal immigrants will be subject to deportation.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/36524371/John-Morton-Memo

Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) has a good take on this news:
"ICE Chief Morton to Field: See No Illegal Aliens" by Jessica Vaughan
http://cis.org/vaughan/see-no-illegal-aliens

"Morton has already implemented a 'catch and release' policy, whereby ICE catches removable aliens in jails or through local arrests, and then releases all but the most serious offenders from custody."

"But this policy goes farther, stipulating that ICE will not even take a look at the illegal aliens who expose themselves to law enforcement by committing a traffic violation. And, neither will those local officers who have discovered lots of illegal aliens in the course of enforcing traffic laws."


I'm not sure what to make of this memo. I'm no fan of John Morton, and neither are the people who work for him, apparently:
"Head of ICE receives unanimous no-confidence vote from own agents...accused of de facto amnesty"
http://www.examiner.com/immigration-reform-in-national/head-of-ice-receives-unanimous-no-confidence-vote-from-own-agents-accused-of-de-facto-amnesty

But I think that this memo just formalizes how we feel as a country. I think the majority of us do not begrudge people who come here for honest work, to make a better lives for themselves. So why don't our laws reflect this reality? And why do our social policies tend to attract too many people who do not come here for honest work? Incentives matter.