“Migrants” Are Not Poor
January 25, 2025
“HISTORICALLY, the poorest of the poor are rarely, if ever, the ones who migrate from poor countries to rich countries. Quite frankly, the poorest of the poor are so undernourished, and physically disabled, that they don’t have the stamina to migrate. It’s those who don’t share these characteristics who migrate.
“This observation is backed up by the social science. Oxford economist Paul Collier has spent much of his career studying the poorest people on earth. A summary of his work found that ‘Those who seek entry to wealthy countries are rarely the poorest of the poor; they are those with the resources and skills necessary to migrate.’
“This is certainly the case with those who have been crashing our southern border.
“Migrants who are truly poor can’t afford cell phones. But many of those who have made their way to the U.S. come with them. If they don’t have one, U.S. taxpayers pay for them: we are spending over $100 million a year supplying hundreds of thousands of illegal aliens with a smartphone. Moreover, if these migrants owned ‘nothing,’ as the pope says, why is it that millions of them have money to pay the drug cartels, gangsters who exploit them in their quest for entry?
“If these migrants were as poor as the pope thinks they are, why is it that most of them (54 percent) have a high school education or beyond? According to statistics provided by Migration Policy, 24 percent of ‘the unauthorized population’ have a high school diploma or equivalent; 12 percent have some college or associate’s degree; 18 percent have a bachelors, graduate, or professional degree.”
— Comments —
Veronica writes:
In 2022 a truck carrying more than 60 illegal immigrants was found abandoned in San Antonio in the heat of June. More than 50 eventually wound up dying. I do not mean to belittle such a horrific event, but when the stories started coming out about the fatalities I couldn’t help but shake my head.
These two did not exactly fit the bill of people who were starving. I also wondered What ever happened to “They are going to do jobs Americans won’t.” I thought we produce more than enough college graduates in marketing and economics.
