A Wharton Professor Makes the Economic Case for More Immigration
Ahead of a US election focused on migrants, Zeke Hernandez’s book argues that newcomers can make the whole country richer.
Hernandez.
Photographer: Michelle Gustafson for Bloomberg Markets
In June, more than half of Americans told Gallup pollsters that they want to curb immigration, the highest share in more than two decades. The surge in southern border crossings after the pandemic put the issue at the top of voters’ minds. Former President Donald Trump, the Republican nominee for the White House, has capitalized on this dynamic—accusing immigrants of taking jobs that would otherwise go to native workers, spreading false rumors about migrants in Ohio and proposing the biggest deportation program in US history. At the same time, Democrats have tried to strike a harder tone: The outgoing Biden administration has made it more difficult for immigrants to claim asylum, while Vice President Kamala Harris is pitching border reform and blaming the GOP for striking down a bipartisan bill that Democrats say would have curbed the numbers.
With politicians trading punches and millions of immigrants caught in the middle, Zeke Hernandez, a professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, has made an effort to refocus the conversation before the election. His book, The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers, which came out in June, makes the case that the US economy can only benefit from the arrival of more people.