The Good, the Bad, the Undocumented

President Donald Trump is deporting immigrants -- 11,000 last month.

Some people are unhappy about that.

Last week a judge ordered a stop to Trump's removal of Venezuelan nationals. (Deportation happened anyway.)

I definitely want immigrant criminals deported.

Trump says migrant crime is "happening at levels that nobody thought possible!"

But that's not true.

Researching my new video, I learned that immigrants are actually less likely to get into trouble than native-born Americans.

Texas, the only state that tracks immigrant crime, compares convictions per 100,000 Americans. Score: illegal immigrants, 782; legal immigrants, 535; native-born Americans, 1,422. It's the opposite of what most of us have heard.

But even if immigrants are less likely to commit crimes, there are other reasons to object to immigration:

1) Immigrants take jobs away from Americans.

2) They freeload off our welfare system.

3) They threaten our culture.

I'll take them point-by-point.

Tucker Carlson complains, "These new rivals compete primarily with the very Americans most likely to have lost their jobs."

He's right. Migrants take jobs from some Americans, and some Americans are out of work. But unemployment is relatively low: 4.1%. It was 8.8% when I was first hired by ABC.

Today, companies complain that they can't find enough people willing to show up on time and work.

In addition, "Every serious economic study," says Yaron Brook of the Ayn Rand Institute, shows immigrants "create more jobs than they destroy. You might lose your job, but you live now in a society that has ... more opportunities, because many immigrants are entrepreneurs."

They sure are. Immigrants started Space X, eBay, Instacart, Uber, NVIDIA, SanDisk, etc.

"We benefit enormously from our interaction with immigrants," says Brook. "Who has the right to stop us from that interaction?! ... It's like saying: 'I have a right to stagnate and to force all of you to stagnate with me.'"

What about the second point? Immigrants freeloading off welfare? Illegal immigrants actually don't qualify for most benefits, but some politicians give tax money away anyway. Some give migrants credit cards. Also, immigrants' kids often attend public schools, hospitals treat them for free (seems cruel not to) and they benefit from public services available to everyone in America.

"The way to deal with that is not to restrict immigration," says Brook. "Deal with that by restricting the goodies."

Why not restrict immigration?

"Immigrants are a massive benefit to Americans," he says.

It's true.
Trump says, "Legal immigration. I like it. We need people."

But even illegal immigrants are a net gain. Not just because they harvest our food, do construction, etc., but also because Social Security and Medicare taxes are deducted from their paychecks. That's money they never get back, because they're not legal.

As a result, undocumented immigrants pay more into our economy than they get back.

Some Americans say, "I support immigration, but migrants should get in line and obey the laws."

But for most migrants, that's almost impossible.

Under our current rules, many would have to wait more than 100 years!

"Legal immigration is unbelievably complicated," says Brook. "It's almost impossible to come here."

Trump proposes selling a type of green card for $5 million.

Maybe that's a good idea.

Brook says, "Let in anyone with a job offer." That's a good idea.

But then there's concern number three: "We are bringing in peasant cultures," complains pundit Ann Coulter.

Brook replies, "There are good people in every culture. When (the) Irish came, they were accused of being barbarians. Every wave of immigrants has been accused of the same thing. The fact is ... they assimilate quite well, no matter where they come from."

I push back, "Some are Muslim fundamentalists who bring in ideas we don't like. Some are socialists."

"Yes," Brook answers, "But if we are confident in the ideas that we have, individual rights ... capitalism and liberty, we should fight for those ideas. It's Americans who teach at our universities that the Founding Fathers were terrible human beings."

By contrast, most immigrants like America!

Let more in.

Every Tuesday at JohnStossel.com, Stossel posts a new video about the battle between government and freedom.

COPYRIGHT 2025 BY JFS PRODUCTIONS INC.

See Other Political Commentaries.

See Other Commentaries by John Stossel.

Views expressed in this column are those of the author, not those of Rasmussen Reports. Comments about this content should be directed to the author or syndicate