What if the USA ended all immigration?

[Travis]

If certain political elements are accommodated and all immigration is ended in the United States along with concurrent block by block sweeps to evict (and deport) people that don't look American enough what would be the effects on the nation headed forward? How would this effect ethnic demographics and birth rates? What would be the economic consequences? Or cultural consequences? Might there be international diplomatic effects as well?

 

[geno5150]

Interesting question

Off the top of my head, I would make a few assumptions:

1. The birth rate would go down as we reduced the percentage of minorities in the US.

2. This has a big economic impact for both the US and the countries of origin of those evicted. Both legal and illegal immigrants fill a hole providing skilled labor that can't be filled by existing Americans and providing unskilled, low-cost labor for jobs Americans won't perform. To fill these jobs, the price of labor will have to increase, which increases cost all the way around.

In turn, you send back a large amount people to various countries with no job and no way to earn the same amount of money they did while in the US. This increases the labor supply in those countries and depresses wages.

3. Culturally and internationally, I can't imagine anyone being too happy if the US imposes something like this.

 

[WildCat]

Who's demanding an end to all immigration?

 

[Cavemonster]

Off the top of my head, I would make a few assumptions:

1. The birth rate would go down as we reduced the percentage of minorities in the US.

2. This has a big economic impact for both the US and the countries of origin of those evicted. Both legal and illegal immigrants fill a hole providing skilled labor that can't be filled by existing Americans and providing unskilled, low-cost labor for jobs Americans won't perform. To fill these jobs, the price of labor will have to increase, which increases cost all the way around.

In turn, you send back a large amount people to various countries with no job and no way to earn the same amount of money they did while in the US. This increases the labor supply in those countries and depresses wages.

3. Culturally and internationally, I can't imagine anyone being too happy if the US imposes something like this.

On the whole, yeah, nobody would be too happy. But there would be some serious long term benefits. Right now there is something of a brain drain to the US. The most talented in many fields, from medicine to music come to the US. By ending this, it would either redirect all of this either to Canada or somewhere in Europe, and those beneficiary countries would get all the extradordinary doctors, physicists, engineers, and artists who currently flock here. Probably to our long term detriment and their benefit.

How that stack up against the much larger issue of the labor pool, I can't say, but it would become a factor.

 

[WildCat]

Both legal and illegal immigrants fill a hole providing skilled labor that can't be filled by existing Americans and providing unskilled, low-cost labor for jobs Americans won't perform. .

Really? This crap again?

We have tens of millions of able-bodied people on welfare and other public aid in the US, we certainly do not have a shortage of unskilled labor. We do have a shortage of Americans willing to work at poverty wages, but so long as there is a steady supply of illegal immigrants to exploit (and it is exploitation) there will be no upward pressure on wages and benefits.

A permanent underclass living in poverty is not good economic policy.

 

[Ranb]

If certain political elements are accommodated and all immigration is ended in the United States along with concurrent block by block sweeps to evict (and deport) people that don't look American enough.....

I was not aware that any political elements were actually demanding the deportation of people (including actual American citizens?) that do not look American enough. I am aware that there are individuals who believe that the only true Americans are the descendents of the white folks who sailed over to kill the natives. But are there actual groups of people organized enough to call them political blocks saying this?

The USA would after a while become stale with zero immigration. The round up of people, who did not fit the American stereotype of the racists enforcing the law, would be very ugly and violent.

Ranb

 

[Zelenius]

If certain political elements are accommodated and all immigration is ended in the United States along with concurrent block by block sweeps to evict (and deport) people that don't look American enough what would be the effects on the nation headed forward? How would this effect ethnic demographics and birth rates? What would be the economic consequences? Or cultural consequences? Might there be international diplomatic effects as well?

From an environmental perspective, it would do a lot to help keep U.S carbon emissions flat or at least not go up as much, since immigration is the main driver of U.S population growth. According to the latest Census, the population of the U.S went up by 27 million over the past 10 years, mostly due to immigration and the children of immigrants. Think of how many more schools, houses, apartments, and power plants had to be built to accommodate that population growth. Then think of how much more will need to be built to accommodate even further growth, about 30 million more people per decade. Where are all the so called "environmentalists" when it comes to immigration?

Freezing immigration might also help many American workers who won't have to compete with foreign imported labor who usually work for less. At the same time, restricting all immigration will hurt several different economic sectors if not the economy as a whole, while resulting in an even more rapidly aging population. But I think the economy can eventually adjust to such changes after a certain amount of time. We simply don't need more unskilled workers.

As an environmentalist, I happen to support reducing immigration(legal and illegal), but very strongly support immigration when it comes to the best and brightest from around the world(as a % of immigrants, the best and brightest should go up, while immigration as a whole should be significantly reduced).

If population growth leads to more carbon emissions which cause global warming, pollution in general and environmental destruction, then we need to address the main cause of U.S population growth before the U.S starts becoming more like India and China.

 

[bookitty]

The cost of rounding people up, sorting them out and sending them back to their native country would be prohibitively expensive. Plus there would be secondary expenses/costs like lawsuits for the rights of American children of immigrants, a reduction in funds paid into medicare and social security, increased industrial costs, the occasional mishap (ICE brutality, person sent to wrong place,) and the decimation of entire neighborhoods (with associated domino effect.)

Internationally, it would just prove that the US is a bully that cares nothing for human rights. Makes it harder to pull off that whole "Defending democracy around the world!" shtick.

Reform makes sense, wholesale deportation is the pipe-dream of small minds.

I agree with Zelenius that U.S. carbon emissions need to be kept in check but solutions go beyond population growth. Moving one group of people would not significantly reduce their worldwide carbon footprint. Increasing the cost of consumer items by paying a living wage would result in less consumption, less industrial waste and less landfill.

 

[Region Rat]

Who's demanding an end to all immigration?

I'd like to know that also.

 

[geno5150]

That was the point I was trying to make, but maybe not worded eloquently or thoroughly enough.

Really? This crap again?

We have tens of millions of able-bodied people on welfare and other public aid in the US, we certainly do not have a shortage of unskilled labor. We do have a shortage of Americans willing to work at poverty wages, but so long as there is a steady supply of illegal immigrants to exploit (and it is exploitation) there will be no upward pressure on wages and benefits.

A permanent underclass living in poverty is not good economic policy.

 

[Corsair 115]

...and providing unskilled, low-cost labor for jobs Americans won't perform.

Correction: jobs Americans won't perform for that rate of pay. Increase the salary, and I'm sure jobs that didn't seem attractive before will start to become attractive.

 

[pipelineaudio]

Again with the strawman that someone who is supporting enforcing existing laws is somehow supporting ending immigration.

Try this real slow...

Rape is a crime, consensual sex is not

Calling them both "sex" does not mean that anything that applies to one applies to the other

 

[Doubt]

Well, if we stop legal immigration, we will run out of engineers.

 

[Travis]

Who's demanding an end to all immigration?

Certainly there is no major political movement for this at the moment but I have heard people murmur about this. And there were concerted political movements for this idea in the past so they could reappear in the future.

Again with the strawman that someone who is supporting enforcing existing laws is somehow supporting ending immigration.
Try this real slow...

Rape is a crime, consensual sex is not

Calling them both "sex" does not mean that anything that applies to one applies to the other

Where did anyone say that?

 

[Beerina]

The legal Ponzi scheme that is the Social Security situation (pay off older investors with investments from new investors, rather than actually investing in anything) will collapse that much faster.

They need Latinos to come in by the tens of millions to help keep it afloat for the baby boom retirements.

 

[ThunderChunky]

If certain political elements are accommodated and all immigration is ended in the United States along with concurrent block by block sweeps to evict (and deport) people that don't look American enough what would be the effects on the nation headed forward? How would this effect ethnic demographics and birth rates? What would be the economic consequences? Or cultural consequences? Might there be international diplomatic effects as well?

It would be slightly better in the short term, but worse in the long term, than if certain other political elements were accommodated and we stopped regulating immigration all together.

The best solution would be to regulate immigration as an economic and population policy. What labor do we want decrease wages for (gardeners, construction workers, or maybe doctors)? Let's let more of them in and not people with labor skills that we want to increase wages for. What do we want our population to be in x years? Set a number and create the regulations to meet that number.

 

[USEagle13]

If certain political elements are accommodated and all immigration is ended in the United States

The problem is with illegal immigration (the ones who are not paying in on SS and Income tax).

along with concurrent block by block sweeps to evict (and deport) people that don't look American enough

Well that would be a bad idea. Americans come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. The better thing to do is ask for their SS card or Birth Certificate and check to see if its authentic.

what would be the effects on the nation headed forward?

If they did it the way you stated we would have an internal war amongst people whom fit your vague description of American and non Americans. Which would give more influence to terrorist organizations

How would this effect ethnic demographics and birth rates?

The ethnic demographics would be hard for me to ponder on given the vague description you gave as to "what a true American is supposed to look like. The birth rates would go down most likely though due to the mass amount of people moved. And due to the fact that most immigrants aren't gay.

What would be the economic consequences?

More jobs for the people left behind.

Or cultural consequences?

Less anti Americanism within our own borders.

Might there be international diplomatic effects as well?

Yes. Americans would find out the hard way that the UN really runs the show once they start seeing "peace keepers" rolling in enforcing the ludicrous world policy that America is the whore of the world and everyone is allowed to come into her as they please.

No Pun intended

 

[Eddie Dane]

Who's demanding an end to all immigration?

David Duke? 9/11 Investigator?