Relax: This is not another 1986 amnesty
Source of illegal immigrants. Nearly 60 percent of illegal immigrants come from Mexico, with which we share a 2,000-mile border. But net migration from Mexico appears to have been zero since the housing bubble burst in 2007.
We don’t know whether it will resume again. But we do know (as we didn’t in the decade after our free-trade agreement) that Mexico’s economy can grow faster than ours, as it is now.
Mexico is becoming a majority-middle-class country, which reduces incentives to emigrate. I predict we’ll never again see Mexican immigration of the magnitude we saw between 1982 and 2007.
If that’s right, it means we won’t see a wave of illegals, as we saw after the 1986 law.











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Uh yeah.
What?
Bishop on January 31, 2013 at 9:02 PM
Maybe. Problem is that these things are entirely unpredictable. Less predictable than the EC the day before the election. Which Barone missed in spectacular fashion.
besser tot als rot on January 31, 2013 at 9:06 PM
True. This is far, far worse, both in terms of sheer numbers as well as the profound implications this will have in redefining the entirety of American culture and society.
Stoic Patriot on January 31, 2013 at 9:09 PM
Michael Barone and all of the other amnesty apologists want you to forget about the major drain on our country’s wealth which uncontrolled immigration causes!!!
It is even more outrageous that the Obamacrats agressively push our money out the door and down the illegal immigration rathole at a time when our grandchildren are being charged over 40 cents of every dollar spent by irresponsible Washington.
landlines on January 31, 2013 at 9:10 PM
WTF??
Oh!..I get it. Just start acting and talking like its a done deal, and *poof* it becomes accepted that it already is a done deal with just a few details to work out.
Sheep to the slaughter.
Mimzey on January 31, 2013 at 9:12 PM
Exactly…there wasn’t a GO-Zillion dollars in entitlements and hand outs laid out like a buffet table back then….
BigWyo on January 31, 2013 at 9:13 PM
Minimum wage in Mexico is less than 5$ a day.
Yes we will see the same thing and yes they will come back in a few years demanding that we do the humane thing and give more free stuff away.
sharrukin on January 31, 2013 at 9:13 PM
Michael Barone shut your lying piehole you worthless douche bag.
SWalker on January 31, 2013 at 9:15 PM
I agree with you guys.
Barone is smokin’ the choom…Again!
It perplexes me–or perhaps I’m wrong.
He talks about increasing standards of living in Mexico, though no other country on Earth gives so much to layabouts, criminals, and ne’er-do-wells.
Work in Mexico for a decent wage…or, go to America and get the same money without having to lift a finger.
Hmmm?
RedCrow on January 31, 2013 at 9:17 PM
Hey, Walk–Did you get that job?
RedCrow on January 31, 2013 at 9:17 PM
Yeah right
cmsinaz on January 31, 2013 at 9:18 PM
Right, since the 86 law granted amnesty to about 2.8 million illegals, this will be about 4 times worse.
lowandslow on January 31, 2013 at 9:22 PM
This is my QOTD:
A lie goes halfway around the world before the truth gets its boots on.
TxAnn56 on January 31, 2013 at 9:26 PM
OK Chief, whatever you say…
not
james23 on January 31, 2013 at 9:31 PM
Hope: Barack Obama stole it from your kids and gave it to someone else.
Redistributing Hope.
Meanwhile, you all need to get back to work to pay for all of this!
LilyBart on January 31, 2013 at 9:33 PM
His prediction is worth the paper the New York Times is printed on.
astonerii on January 31, 2013 at 9:35 PM
STFU Barone.
NeoKong on January 31, 2013 at 9:36 PM
11 million? Has anyone seen a realistic number? I’m guessing north of 30 million.
cptacek on January 31, 2013 at 9:36 PM
Don’t call us, we’ll call you!
FloatingRock on January 31, 2013 at 9:37 PM
Sorry, my comment above was intended for George Will’s Chris Christie thread.
FloatingRock on January 31, 2013 at 9:39 PM
But I guess my comment applies to Michael Barone, too.
FloatingRock on January 31, 2013 at 9:46 PM
Poor semi-literates in a wealthy modern nation with built-in social safety nets do not produce wealth, but simply parasitize it
TexasJew on January 31, 2013 at 9:59 PM
Yeah, and Romney’s going to win 315 electoral votes.
ddrintn on January 31, 2013 at 10:02 PM
Michael Barone: Prediction: Romney Beats Obama, Handily
Sorry Michael, I’m not buying what you’re selling.
xblade on January 31, 2013 at 10:34 PM
Based on what, you blithering idiot?
We don’t? We don’t even know if it actually stopped – which I highly, highly doubt.
LOL. Any economy can grow faster than ours. We stopped growing, moron. That’s what that little “-” in front of the GDP “growth” number means. And even aside from the fraudulent numbers, we borrow and spend over a trillion dollars to claim less than $300 billion in “growth” for all the rest of the quarters. In ordinary calculations that would be called “contraction” as the borrowed money must be paid back and is not free, as idiots like you and the leftists and GOP leadership would have us believe. If I lend you $1,000,000 this year, you can’t tack that on to your “income” and claim that you made an extra million. I know, I know … it’s a difficult concept for journalists, politicians and pundits to understand …
ThePrimordialOrderedPair on January 31, 2013 at 10:38 PM
It’s almost 15 times worse, as the 1986 amnesty estimated only 750,000 slimeball illegals (when it ended up with over 3,000,000). This one starts out with the laughable number of 11,000,000 (which would end up to be something quite a bit larger, too).
Barone, STFU and go away. You’re an idiot.
ThePrimordialOrderedPair on January 31, 2013 at 10:40 PM
Every friggin sentence this fool writes is dumber than the last. And Mexico is not the only source of illegals, anyway.
ThePrimordialOrderedPair on January 31, 2013 at 10:42 PM
Glad to her it Mikey.
In your world, I bet the second time you are raped isn’t as unpleasant either.
LegendHasIt on January 31, 2013 at 10:57 PM
It’s worse.
Now all get Obama’care’.
Open the borders to all the world’s moochers. Why not?
Schadenfreude on January 31, 2013 at 10:58 PM
He is part of the dumb party.
Schadenfreude on January 31, 2013 at 10:58 PM
Wow. I was gonna add a few words but I think the worst I could say would be a .22 bullet compared to the verbal howitzers that have already been fired.
MelonCollie on January 31, 2013 at 11:18 PM
Nope. 20 million instead of three million.
PS, how is president Romney doing?
arnold ziffel on January 31, 2013 at 11:33 PM
Um, no, Mexico isn’t becoming a “middle class country.” Mexico is becoming a failed narco state overrun by psychotically violent drug gangs that is rapidly developing into a huge security risk for the entire region. Honduras is coming apart at the seams: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jan/19/central-america-battle-drug-cartels Meanwhile, the US continues treating the cartels as a law enforcement problem rather than a developing national security risk.
And our room-temperature IQ Republican pundits and politicians want to legalize and import more of this.
Doomberg on February 1, 2013 at 1:06 AM
And, yes, this humble little device also functions as a tool for cranial surgery, doubles as a flea comb, takes barometric readings, calculates the angle of the azimuth for sailors, and makes a nifty windchime… all for the low, low price of your national sovereignty and survival, yowzah, it’s a lever for demographic suicide and ultimate oblivion!
Step right up, suckers!!!!
profitsbeard on February 1, 2013 at 2:50 AM