Immigration to the US via Latin America is already slowing, according to demographics. New research by economists at the San Diego University of California shows that the desire for a wall on the border between the US and Mexico is an anachronism and that the real issue facing the country is how to prepare for a future of low immigration.
The paper was presented by its authors, economists Chen Liu, Craig McIntosh, and Gordon Hanson at a conference at Washington’s Bookings Institute yesterday. It suggests that countries south of the US now have a much lower growth of labor supply, the result of which will be a rapid decline in the immigration of low-skilled young immigrants to the US, regardless of US immigration policies.
The building of a wall on the border between the US and Mexico was one of the key campaign promises made by President Donald Trump last year. He has kept the promise by ordering its construction, despite protests from immigrant advocates and Democrats. Other factors in the reduction of immigration to the US include the intensifying of border enforcement and steady economic growth in several nations in the Western Hemisphere, causing the income gap between those countries and the US to shrink.
The economists say the fall in low-skilled labor supply will likely cause a greater degree of investment in automation, moves that could see the kind of jobs filled by low-skilled foreigners permanently replaced.