The Impacts of Immigration on Sending Countries

From the Edward Trammell blog:

The ongoing debate about immigration reform usually focuses on whether or not immigration is good for the United States Comparatively little ink has been spilled about the other side of the coin: how does U.S. immigration policy affect other countries? Do our largely open door policies benefit or harm the rest of the world? Unquestionably, many individual immigrants benefit– at least in the short run–by coming to the United States. Although the economic differentials between America and the rest of the world are often exaggerated to audiences abroad, there is still more opportunity here than just about anywhere else. Open U.S. immigration policy also benefits foreign countries when its citizens funnel dollars to their home countries. Several Latin American nations are now heavily dependant on dollar transfers from expatriate workers in the United States. In 1999, the tiny South American nation of Ecuador dropped all pretenses and even made the U.S. dollar its national currency.

The commentary proceeds to discuss the “Brain Drain.”  Click here for the full commentary.

KJ