When reading through the first two chapters of George J. Borjas’ We Wanted Workers, I found myself intrigued by Lennon’s Utopia and Borjas’ suggestion that this is a game of imagine. He presents an especially clear argument in order to expose the fact that the utopia that is said to arise from immigration is not a reality. He suggests that this is because immigrants are not robots of all the same value, instead they are real people, and people make choices that influence countries. While I concede with this idea, Borjas goes on to make the statement that receiving countries of immigrants are being strategic and from what I gathered from his book, smart when they refuse an open-door policy and decide to build a wall in order to keep immigrants out. This statement made me uncomfortable because while I do understand where he is coming from, I do not believe that building a wall around our country, whether legitimate or metaphorical, will solve any of the issues that are being faced as a result of both legal and illegal immigration. I also believe that this suggestion violates many of the values of the country, as well as my own person values. We are a country that values individualism, freedom, equality, and work ethic. These ideals make up our national identity as we have discussed in class and discovered through Huntington’s Who Are We?. In my view, building a wall in order to keep potential immigrants out does not coincide with these values.
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