Confronting the Immigration Paradox

This paper argues for a complete revamping of the U.S. immigration system based on the sale of immigration slots at a fixed price of $80,000 per slot. Most existing visa categories, including family, employment, diversity, and EB-5 investor visas would be eliminated. Refugees and international students would be exempted from the proposed new system. At current rates of immigration, the government would raise $67 billion by selling green cards to immigrants. The new system would enable many more skilled immigrants to enter the U.S. Indeed, the author, a professor of business at Texas A&M University, believes the U.S. could scale up its annual rate of immigration ten-fold, increasing the windfall from immigration to $670 billion. Unlike the current system, which admits many immigrants based on family relationships, the proposed new system would admit them on a “fair and equal basis.” Even undocumented immigrants in the U.S. would be able to purchase legal status. Immigrants would also be permitted to finance their purchase of legality over time through bank loans, and employers could cover the costs of highly skilled immigrants. The author believes that such a program will provide a huge boost to immigrant productivity over time, while generating impressive new revenues for the government.

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