David J. Bier

The White House Council of Economic Advisers claims mass deportation pays for itself because illegal immigrants impose such huge fiscal costs. What are these costs? It doesn't say, so I figured out what CEA did to invent them... www.cato.org/blog/white-h...

But it gets crazier! CEA wants to say that "amnesty" will impose *even more costs*, so it then suddenly remembers that actually illegal immigrants are NOT eligible for federal benefits, and it'd be expensive to open up their eligibility. So it then appears to count them AGAIN

The White House Council of Economic Advisers claims mass deportation pays for itself because illegal immigrants impose such huge fiscal costs. What are these costs? It doesn't say, so I figured out what CEA did to invent them... www.cato.org/blog/white-h...

Illegal immigrants do generate fewer taxes because their incomes are lower and some evade taxes. But the drop in revenue is far smaller than the drop in benefits! Most work under borrowed IDs, get taxes withheld, and pay sales, property, and excise taxes directly or indirectly.

The White House Council of Economic Advisers claims mass deportation pays for itself because illegal immigrants impose such huge fiscal costs. What are these costs? It doesn't say, so I figured out what CEA did to invent them... www.cato.org/blog/white-h...

The first clue is that CEA cited a paper by the Manhattan Institute (MI), which I know well since I wrote a paper explaining many of the problems with that exact paper. So how did MI's Daniel DiMartino discover these high costs to illegal immigrants... cato.org/sites/cato.o...

ICE agents shot a man in front of his 5-year-old child during yet another botched traffic stop. Via @noahhurowitz.bsky.social

Fox calls Cato a "notoriously pro-immigration think tank," which is hilarious and great but also unfair, since being pro-immigrant is an indirect, ancillary consequence of our pro-liberty mission, not the mission itself. We're just libertarians.

The next administration needs to clearly define what successful immigration looks like: 1) Legal 2) Peaceful 3) Orderly 4) Self-sufficient And just implement that system. If Republicans stop it, then the chaos will be on them. But it's the system most people want to see.

Trump's South African refugee program shows it is possible to have a much more liberal understanding of persecution and fast-track the process. We need to be far more creative than we've been in the past. After 4 years of bans and deportations, the demand will be massive. We need legal paths.

"Not everyone was thrilled with the decline in legal immigration from this demographic, including David J. Bier, who is the director of immigration studies at Cato and who took credit for the research behind the graph." www.foxnews.com/politics/rep...

American crowd cheers as DHS trespassers can't get their guys. Why is it so hard to find crowds of Americans cheering like this when hard-working immigrants get dragged away from their jobs, removing labor competition? It's almost like they don't believe in zero-sum economics.

When conservatives like L0m3z declare that they need no reasons for backing policies to enforce ethnic homogeneity in America, they feel the need to spontaneously fake-apologize for it to the Cato Institute. Why? Because Cato stands for reason. www.cato.org/blog/sorry-c...

"Sorry to you people at the Cato Institute or wherever. I don't owe you an explanation for this. I just prefer this. However impolitic Bo French's tweet is... they no longer care about moral and social pieties that prevented them from expressing a preference" for homogeneity

Mullin is lying. These were not identified as "high-risk" nations, and it was not "tougher vetting" that cut entries. The absolute number of denials is LOWER now than under Biden. They just aren't even processing applications, and you owe every American sponsor an answer.

As I point out in my article, the real reason is absolute bans on all arrivals, not "tough vetting." Several of these bans have already been found illegal, yet the administration refuses to comply with court orders. www.cato.org/blog/legal-i...

Trump has cut legal immigration from majority-Muslim countries by 96% from 21,096 legal immigrants and refugees in Dec. 2024 to 808 in Feb. 2026. Far more severe than anything in his 1st term, falling disproportionately on spouses of US citizens and skilled immigrants... www.cato.org/blog/legal-i...

Immigrants from majority-Muslim countries are more highly educated, work in higher-skilled occupations, and have reduced federal, state, and local deficits by $1.1 trillion over the last 30 years. cato.org/blog/legal-i...

Trump has cut legal immigration from majority-Muslim countries by 96% from 21,096 legal immigrants and refugees in Dec. 2024 to 808 in Feb. 2026. Far more severe than anything in his 1st term, falling disproportionately on spouses of US citizens and skilled immigrants... www.cato.org/blog/legal-i...

About 28% of refugees from these countries were Christians or other non-Muslim religions. cato.org/blog/legal-i...

Did you know that DHS is authorized by Congress to intentionally defame private individuals all day, every day and it cannot be sued for defamation? Now that you know that, does it make you more or less likely to believe anything it says? (Oh, he didn't illegally enter)

The District Court stays 3 illegal and unconstitutional DHS policies targeting Hispanic Americans: 1) warrantless entry to private construction sites without warrants, 2) preemptive detention of employees without suspicion, and 3) guilty-until-proven innocent detention