Jonathan HorowitzDec 26, 2022

I'm looking at differences in the US and Canadian immigration system and how people get employment under them right now.

The Canadian immigration system has some serious execution problems, but compared to the absolutely crazy and inhumane system the US practices it looks awfully good.

Show threadBrett HeindlDec 26, 2022
@jonathanhorowi1 agreed. I’m curious: do you have thoughts about why the two federal systems have diverged so sharply? American legislators’ ideological allergy to “big government” disappears when it means a vast expansion of detention and expedited removal.
Show threadJonathan HorowitzDec 26, 2022

@58mph There are a bunch of theories for why this happened but at least some of it has to do with the economic success of the United States and the massive population boom in the US as a result.

Up until the mid-1960s, the approaches in both countries ran parallel to each other. Northern and Western Europeans were favored, they would grudgingly take Southern and Eastern Europeans if absolutely needed, and Asian immigrants were excluded.

Show threadBrett HeindlDec 26, 2022
@jonathanhorowi1 That’s interesting. I’ve also read that US immig policy has been friendlier to family reunification while the Canadian point system has prioritized economic and employment migration. Fam reunif has had some similar econ effects in the US but in a very unfocused way. One could argue that partly animated the punitive reforms of the 90s, which greatly expanded grounds for detention and expedited removal and aside from undoc mig, was most acutely felt by fam reunif visa holders.
Show threadJonathan HorowitzDec 26, 2022
@58mph This is absolutely what everyone says. But family reunification is also a pretty big part of the Canadian system too; it's just that the sheer number of people coming in through the economic stream is dramatically higher on a proportional basis compared to family reunification vs the US.
Show threadJonathan Horowitz
@58mph And furthermore, it's worth noting that because family reunification is primarily done via people who came in via the economic stream (which is highly selected on human capital characteristics) then we also see the family stream *also* see high human capital amongst the family migrants because human capital is correlated within families.
Dec 26, 2022 at 6:53pmWeb
Show threadBrett HeindlDec 26, 2022
@jonathanhorowi1 O Canada, indeed :)