Director of the Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative Laura Collins shared what successful immigration solutions look like in the Dallas Morning News and in the Washington Examiner.
We believe in smart, skills-based immigration reform. The United States must modernize outdated immigration policy to help resolve the crisis at our southern border and to meet the needs of our vibrant, growing 21st-century economy. This week, Director of the Bush Institute-SMU Economic Growth Initiative Laura Collins talked about what successful immigration solutions look like during a panel discussion covered by the Dallas Morning News and in an opinion piece published by the Washington Examiner.
“The biggest misconceptions about immigration is that illegal entry is the problem,” said Collins in the Dallas Morning News article. “The problem is our legal immigration system. We don’t have enough legal opportunities for people.”
To read the full Dallas Morning News article, click here.
In her opinion piece published by the Washington Examiner, Collins writes:
“The United States needs a long-term strategy that would get at the root cause of why our border is overflowing and help prevent future crises. U.S. domestic immigration policies did not cause the massive wave of Central American migration cresting at our borders. But they are exacerbating the problem, needlessly endangering lives, lining the pockets of criminal organizations, and showing the migrants and the world an unkind America — an image we should not be projecting.
This crisis is a culmination of problems that have simmered for years. Our government agencies are engaged in a fruitless bureaucratic game of whack-a-mole while our political leaders fail to address the underlying issues.
For one thing, metering (a policy limiting the number of asylum seekers allowed to enter the U.S. each day) forces some asylum seekers to wait days, weeks, even months for an opportunity to present themselves at a legal port of entry. This policy only creates incentives for the large number of illegal crossings we are witnessing today.”
To read the full article, click here.
To find out more about the Bush Institute’s policy recommendations for immigration reform, visit www.bushcenter.org/immigration.
