New research from National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) economist Madeline Zavodny shows that enrolling more international students "does not crowd out U.S. students at the average American university and leads to an increase in the number of bachelor’s degrees in STEM majors awarded to U.S. students."
As Stuart Anderson writes in his latest Forbes column, the study also finds "a drop in international students will not mean more seats are available for U.S. students since, with limited exceptions, there is plenty of capacity at U.S. colleges and universities."
Zavodny concludes that "any international students are potential STEM professionals and their presence prompts more U.S. college graduates to become potential STEM workers as well, two important benefits of U.S. universities admitting international students." And as Anderson points out, those benefits rely on more welcoming U.S. immigration policies.
The research further supports what we see time and time again when looking at the economics of immigration: In higher education, as in many other industries, there is not a trade-off between native-born Americans and their foreign-born counterparts.
Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of Noorani’s Notes. I'm Joanna Taylor, Communications Manager at the Forum and your NN host this week, filling in for Ali. Seen a story you think we should include? Send it to me at [email protected].
OUR HEMISPHERE — Border challenges won’t be fixed at the border, former Obama official Cecilia Muñoz said in an interview with NPR' s Rachel Martin. "This is a refugee crisis in our hemisphere, and you're never going to be able to fix a refugee crisis with the measures that we take at the border." The solution? Longer-term investments in regional development — and updated immigration laws. Sustainable improvements
will take time, Muñoz notes, but "[a]t the end of the day, this is our hemisphere. We live in it and we are reaping the effects of disinvestment over a long period of time. We are seeing the effects of failing to fix our own immigration laws over a long period of time. They haven't been updated since the '90s, and had we done that we wouldn't be seeing nearly the scale of problem that we're seeing now." Related: Ali recently spoke to Michael Bluhm with The Signal [paywall] about what’s driving migrants to the U.S. and the practical solutions needed in Congress to address these challenges.
VOLUNTEERS — Faith-based agencies like Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service (LIRS) are calling for volunteers and donations as they care for the hundreds of children arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border each day, report Emily McFarlan Miller and Jack Jenkins for Religion News Service. Trump’s anti-immigrant policies, coupled with pandemic-related
restrictions, left the organizations with dramatically reduced resources and capacity, leaving them unable to prepare for an increase in unaccompanied children and making volunteers "crucial to fill their shortfalls." While the challenges for these groups are formidable, leaders see it as a step towards more humane policies: "The Biden administration has recognized the humanitarian imperative to allow children into the country rather than sending them back to the same dangers they fled," said LIRS President and CEO Krish O’Mara Vignarajah.
INTEGRATION POLICY— As the U.S. immigration debate focuses on what’s happening at the southern border, what’s missing is a broader conversation about "how newcomers should be integrated into American life," writes Francisco Lara-García in an op-ed for The Los Angeles Times. "For a nation obsessed with the politics of immigration and the effects immigrants have on society, the U.S. puts very little effort into integration
policy," Lara-García writes. "[A]ny help we offer newcomers is patchwork at best; it varies from hostility in some locales to decent programs in others." Developing a national integration policy (Lara-García notes that the Biden-backed U.S. Citizenship Act of 2021 includes provisions for this) "could begin to remedy our laissez-faire approach to inclusion" and help newcomers put their skills and education to better use. Ultimately, he concludes, policymakers must look beyond determining whether and how to let people into the country, but "how we want immigrants to interact with American
society once they are here."
MIDWEST FARMER OF THE FUTURE — When you think of a Midwestern farmer, you more than likely picture a middle-aged white man growing commodity crops like corn or soy. But the Midwest farmer of the future, Andrew Hazzard writes for Sahan Journal, looks different. Hazzard profiles Rodrigo Cala, 47, a Mexican immigrant who "has turned his 46-acre vegetable farm in western Wisconsin into a showcase for sustainable, small-scale
farming." Not only is organic farming good for the soil and for consumers, Cala notes, but it’s also an accessible way for emerging farmers to enter a stable, growing market. While small-scale organic farming presents an opportunity for immigrants and people of color to take ownership in an industry historically dominated by white farmers, Hazzard points out that immigrant farmers also fill key gaps in an aging workforce. "They are helping the community to survive," Cala said.
CHRISTOPHER — Ten-year-old Christopher Garcia left his home in San Pedro Sula, Honduras unaccompanied three months ago "at an age when street gangs that dominate his neighborhood had started to recruit him." Christopher left his family and headed north in the hopes of reuniting with his great-aunt, a U.S. citizen living in North Carolina, carrying her phone number written on the back of his birth certificate. In a Los Angeles
Times piece with photographs by Carolyn Cole, Molly Hennessy-Fiske details Christopher’s journey and his U.S. family’s struggle to locate him once he was taken into custody at the U.S. border. According to Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas), it takes at minimum a month for federal caseworkers to vet family and other sponsors allowed to claim migrant children, and up to four months if a sponsor can’t be identified. Christopher’s great-aunt has been trying to claim him since the Border Patrol contacted her on March 25, Hennessy-Fiske writes, but "[a]s of Saturday, more than a week after he crossed the border, she said Christopher remained in federal custody."
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