The Reality-Based Economics of Immigration, with Jenny Hunt
Jenny Hunt is a Rutgers University professor, the former Chief Economist at the Department of Labor, and a key contributor to the gold-standard, 600-page consensus report on the economic consequences of immigration. Economists agree that immigration makes native-born Americans wealthier on average, expands the U.S. economy, and has positive long-term effects on government budgets. The main debate is over the impact of immigration on the wages of Americans without a high school education – and they would be helped far more by a stronger social safety net than by restricting immigration. So what’s the anti-immigrant movement really about…?
News Digest: Green Card Chaos, Hunger Strikes, and Stern Dad Energy
We dive underneath the latest immigration headlines to make sense of the senseless. Why did the Trump administration threaten to shut down U.S. green card processing? Why did the press believe that Markwayne Mullin would be a kinder, gentler DHS Secretary than Kristi Noem? Why is Marco Rubio’s State Department promoting the expulsion of people like Marco Rubio? Plus a 30-second new play and a beautiful story from the steps of the Supreme Court.
The Truth About ICE, with Jason Houser
From calls to abolish ICE to deeply held misconceptions about immigration and criminality, few agencies generate more heat and less light than Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Jason Houser served as ICE Chief of Staff and joins us to sort out truth from fiction: Why is the Trump administration redirecting criminal law enforcement agents to civil deportation work? Is that akin to defunding the police? How many ICE officers actually need to be armed? And what should the future of this agency look like?
Who’s Afraid of the H-1B?
The H-1B is a white-collar work visa, essentially unchanged by Congress since 1990 – before the birth of the first text message, the first website, and 40% of our population. Is the H-1B program an essential step on the far-too-difficult road from international student to new American? Is it a fair object for good-faith criticism and reform? And is it an increasingly loud dog-whistle for ugly nativist rhetoric? Yes. We’ll also take the shine off Trump’s Gold Card scheme, explain why Elon Musk did not in fact “go to war” on the H-1B issue, and field a few excellent questions from our kids.
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