Bernie Says Immigration Threatens the Social Safety Net. Research Shows Otherwise [View all]

[George II]

Bernie Says Immigration Threatens the Social Safety Net. Research Shows Otherwise

The Vermont senator shares the same zero-sum mindset on immigration as his Republican counterparts, including Donald Trump.

JACK HERRERAAPR 11, 2019

Since the beginning of April, President Donald Trump has centered on a new message as he attempts to raise alarm about immigration on the country's southern border: "Our country is FULL!" he tweeted on Sunday, repeating claims he made to Border Patrol agents in in Calexico, California, that Friday.

Though Trump's new messaging is likely more of an emotional appeal than a demographic argument, reporters quickly fact-checked the president's claim: the New York Times ran a data-heavy article explaining how, in many parts of the country, shrinking towns and industries actually need more people. (Trump's claim "runs counter to the consensus among demographers and economists. ... They see ample evidence of a country that is not remotely 'full,'" the Times reported.)

The question of whether the country is indeed full aside, Trump's underlying assumption that the country could become "full" is a claim some of his most vociferous opponents on the left seem to also believe. On the same day Trump tweeted, Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders explained in an Iowa town hall why he's against open borders: Too many poor people would come to the United States, Sanders explained, and the country could not afford to pay for policies like universal health care or free college.

"If you open the borders, my God, there's a lot of poverty in this world, and you're going to have people from all over the world," Sanders said. "And I don't think that's something that we can do at this point. Can't do it."

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https://psmag.com/news/bernie-says-immigration-threatens-the-social-safety-net-research-shows-otherwise