David Frum on Immigration

Thoughts about David Frum's article in the April 2019 issue of the Atlantic about immigration policy:

Nice, even-handed presentation of the pros and cons of immigration - both how it benefits America and also causes problems (if it was simple and straight-forward, we would have addressed it long ago!)

I don't think that he makes enough of a distinction between legal and illegal immigration in some of his discussion.

I wish that he had included sources for the data he included. I question his information on the financial contributions of immigrants - he says that they cost more in benefits as they age than they contribute. This is certainly true of citizens, but I have heard the opposite is the case with immigrants, especially illegal immigrants, who are not eligible for many types of benefits. I wonder about his source for these assertions.

Very eye-opening (and credible) assertions regarding the impact of immigration on political attitudes, especially that Trump's hard line is both a result of liberal attitudes and is reinforcing liberal attitudes (and probably making liberals more extreme).