STEP OUT Migration

Will the immigration issue solve itself? If so, will it be before or after we run out of cliches to talk about the issue?

Calvin Coolidge famously stated that "if you see ten troubles coming down the road, you can be sure that nine will fall into the ditch before they reach you."  With the immigration bill down for the count, Robert Dunn raises the intriguing possibility that our current set of problems are likely to fade with Mexico's declining birth rate.  See here.  Of course, demographic change in Mexico could raise an entirely new set of problems -- with every rose a thorn, you know -- or is it, better the enemy you know than the enemy you don't know -- or perhaps be careful what you wish for, you might just get it.  Time will tell.       

More on refugees to Malta

Here is what the Economist is saying about the refugee situation in the Mediterranean region.

World Refugee Day

Today is World Refugee Day.  If you are in DC, there are a host of activities at the National Geographic Museum to celebrate refugees.  Tony Bennett will be there today from 10-11:30 and an outdoor concert is scheduled for Saturday from 12-4.  There are also events, hosted by UNHCR, in New York and San Francisco.  Enjoy!!

Mark Jumps the Shark

Mark Krikorian, the head of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington, D.C. think tank with a decidedly restrictionist agenda, is on the warpath.  The object of his wrath?  The phrase, "nation of immigrants."  See here.  He claims that the object of the phrase is "to downgrade and delegitimize America" before 1848 (or maybe 1880, he's not sure which).  I'd say that this is absurd and guaranteed to alienate but, commendably, his colleagues at The Corner already have.  See here and here.  Perhaps Mark could better direct his powers of analysis toward revealing the hidden "multiculturalist" agenda in "My Country, 'Tis of Thee."  Don't the lyrics -- indeed, tellingly, the very first lines, propagandize "My country, 'tis of thee/Sweet land of liberty"?  Liberty?  Can it signify anything else but a sly reference to the Statue of Liberty, the famous holder of a torch for the tired, the poor, the "huddled masses yearning to breathe free."  Talk about indoctrination!  Have at it, Mark -- our nation of non-immigrants awaits your exposure of the truth about this insidious ditty.

bragging about my terrific students

I'm not one to brag, but Young Lawyer has a great article about the work of two of my students, Gregory Cannon and Maryam Salaam, on behalf of a family of Iraqi refugees.   Maryam and Greg won asylum for the family, who was in danger because they supported the U.S. military in Iraq.

Weekend Step Out

On this Saturday night, let's broaden our horizons a bit and talk music.  Specifically, what is the best record made about Irish immigrants in America?  Why it has got to be this, the album The Man Who Built America, by the Irish band Horslips.  I'm holding the record -- yes, the record -- in my hands now -- and yes it is a shock to realize that it came out in 1979 and that I bought it soon afterwards.  But it really does hit a lot of the right notes in describing the mix of hope and depair that drives immigration.  Consider this, from the song Homesick:

Chances are for takin'/Fortune'll smile on the boldest one/Don't feel forsaken/Keep on believing your time will come and you'll see it through

Isn't that what every immigrant must tell himself?  And often there is truth in it.  But the hope of a new life is almost always preceded by a disorienting loss of hope in the old.  And the band recognizes that a great sense of loss almost always precedes a migration.  On the inside record sleeve -- when was the last time you mentioned one of those? -- is a quote fron the Irish language poet Mairtin O Direain that perfectly captures the sad resignation of the migrant.  In translation, it reads:  "we bade farewell to land, to shore/since fate had forced us to go."  The Man Who Built America is a great record because it conveys both the hope and despair, often at the same time.      

The Ugliest Migration

Here's a link to the U.S. State Department's new report on trafficking in persons.  It makes for ugly reading, but it's important.  Take a look at the report if you can.  Trafficking flourishes only in the shadows and in the dark, so the more light that gets shone on it the better.  If you haven't thought much about trafficking before, I guarantee that, once you do look into it, you'll be surprised by the magnitude of the problem. 

The Pope's meeting with Bush

The plight of Christian communities in Iraq was among the issues that the Pope raised with President Bush during their meeting on Saturday. 

More on Europe's failure . . .

European Commission's Franco Frattini called African deaths at sea a "European failure."  According to the report, the Maltese government plans to propose a burden-sharing and solidarity system on patrolling search and rescue areas of international waters.  Current law of the sea provides a general obligation to save lives at sea, but it does not assign responsibility.  Hopefully, Europe can come up with a reasonable responsibility sharing agreement before more lives are lost . . .

What, Then, Shall We Do?

Here'a a link to an impassioned interview Der Spiegel conducted with James Shikwati, a Kenyan economist.  Shikwati contends that foreign aid has been counterproductive in Africa, and has worked better at propping up corrupt and useless governments than at improving the lives of average Africans.  There is increasing scholarly support for this view, see, e.g., here, here, here, and here, but the interviewer makes a good point too -- you can't just let people starve.  Shikwati assures us that the ending of aid would lead to better trade policies and the development of market economies, and thus ameliorate the threat of starvation, but this is a long-term (and by no means inevitable) solution while starvation is a short-term problem that demands a solution NOW -- as dead people can't eat, an absence of food this month cannot be made up in a future of glorious plenty way down the road.

What, then, shall we do?  First, recognize aid has a role -- a big role -- to play in emergencies, such as a threat of widespread starvation.  Second, acknowledge aid's limitations in promoting long-term development.  Even if you believe aid is more effective than the skeptics claim -- as this report by Craig Burnside and David Dollar suggests, the truth is probably somewhere in between Shikwati's view and the rosy views of the foreign aid establishment -- the fact that many recipients of billions of dollars in aid are now worse off than they were many decades ago shows that, when it comes to development, foreign aid (at least as traditionally provided) can't be the only game in town.  The implications of this acknowledgement are two-fold.  One -- foreign aid must be delivered more effectively.  The recent movement to link the delivery of aid to good governance and anti-corruption efforts is a positive step in this direction.  Two -- the developmental ends of foreign aid are too great to be accomplished by the means of foreign aid alone.  Among other things, foreign direct investment also is necessary if developmental goals in Africa are to be achieved.

What does this have to do with migration, the ostensible subject of this blog?  Well, as we discuss in our book, migrants, especially high skill migrants, can facilitate foreign direct investment in several ways.  For example, they can influence their home country to create conditions (respect for property rights, the rule of law, etc.) that will attract foreign direct investment.  They also can influence decision-makers in their new country to invest in their country of origin, or, if at a senior level, make the decision themselves.  They additionally can add to the comfort-level of decision-makers by agreeing to return to the home country to oversee an investment.  All this is in addition to the infusion of capital that migration brings in the form of remittances, an infusion that greatly exceeds in amount the funding foreign aid provides.  The bottom line is that development is an extremely complex process, and that contributions of many different kinds are necessary to achieve it.  (Hat tip, Instapundit.)