Two Stories of Immigration and Human Capital

By Jerry Kammer on October 15, 2013

Two stories last week in El Diario de El Paso, a Spanish language newspaper in that city, illustrate one of the most salient features of immigration to the United States: the fact that it brings us many people who have an abundance of what social scientists call the "human capital" to become productive members of society, and many more who do not.

One story was a brief report from AFP, the French news agency, that appeared under the headline: "Three foreigners adopted by U.S. win".

The story was about the three immigrants who have been named as winners of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. One is from Israel. Another came from England. The third is from Austria.

The other story was a longer piece reprinted from the Mexican newspaper Milenio. It was the story of illegal immigrant women from Central America who are in desperate financial circumstances as they make the journey northward.

The headline summarized the sad news: "Migrant women pay their expenses on the way to the U.S. with their bodies." The lede paragraph said that the women "cover expenses for lodging, food, and official documents – among other things – with their body."

According to a priest who provides aid to the women, seventy percent of the women, who are primarily from Honduras, are covering the journey's expenses with "la body card." "They don't have education, nor bank accounts nor a profession," said Padre Flor Maria Rigoni. "They have their body as an investment."

The padre added this alarming detail: "Now more than ever those who are coming to us are single women with all of their children."

The unfortunate reality is that the number of immigrants who have what it takes to make great contributions to U.S. society is being dwarfed by the number who are poorly equipped to be constructive members of our society.

Now, if the story is accurate, the difficulties these newcomers will face if they make it to the U.S. will also include the trauma of serial sexual exploitation.

That trauma will likely also affect their children, who would already be facing considerable challenges without it.

It has long been known that the children of poor, single women face enormous obstacles in the United States. Many of the boys are drawn into gangs. Many of the girls become single mothers themselves.

I have long said that I favor the DREAM Act because I believe that many of the Dreamers – those who are getting a good education – will become fine, productive members of American society. I believe we should facilitate their success. Their success would be our success. Their failure would be our failure.

But our inability to check illegal immigration has brought us a large new underclass. It is growing silently and with little attention in the U.S. press. It is a phenomenon fraught with risk.