Immigration Debate PB

Isbister's third book (after The Promises Not Kept and Thin Cats) is an impressive, eloquent and engaging exploration that effectively debunks many widely held myths about the nature of immigration in America. It is both a coherent analysis of argument and statistics and a deeply personal essay. (When Isbister was a teenager, his father was Canada's Deputy Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, and Isbister himself emigrated to the U.S. in 1964). Among his insights: both sides of the debate think the opposite side is ""not only unprincipled but better organized."" Despite opponents who characterize today's immigration levels as massive, Isbister argues that in the context of artificially imposed controls on immigration from the 1920s through the 1960s, current immigration is average. The economic advantage of immigrants is not primarily the oft-cited exploitative one of ""cheap labor,"" but rather the work ethic of risk-takers willing to brave the hard work and fluctuations in fortune inherent in entrepreneurial endeavors. Isbister, an economics doctorate from Princeton who teaches at UC Santa Cruz, even calls the Wall Street Journal to his defense, quoting an editorial that posits, ""The problem is not too many immigrants but too few."" (Feb.)