Let the states decide

IN A rare lapse of judgment, Benjamin Franklin once complained that German immigrants “swarm into our settlements” and “will never adopt our Language or Customs”. Today, 97% of German-Americans speak only English at home. And although they are perhaps America’s largest single ethnic group—46m claim German ancestry—their neighbours barely notice them, so thoroughly have they assimilated (see article). Agreeable Teutonic customs, such as drinking beer with pretzels and watching sports on Sunday, have spread throughout the land. Tedious ones, such as reading Nietzsche, have not. The success of people who arrived poor and now prosper mightily, is evidence that the melting pot works. It is a rebuke to those who demand ever-higher fences to keep foreigners out.

Fixing America’s broken immigration system is as urgent as ever. America is generous in issuing visas for relatives of those already there, but economic migrants face huge barriers. Firms that want to bring in skilled workers find it costly, time-consuming and often impossible, thanks to cumbersome rules and a rigid cap on the number of visas. Foreign students are kicked out shortly after they graduate. Entrepreneurs are told to take their big ideas elsewhere. And roughly 11m people live in America illegally. Most will never be deported, not least because Barack Obama’s amnesty has explicitly shielded 5m or so from removal. But they have little hope of legal recognition.

Congress refuses to sort out this mess. Wise heads in both parties understand that immigrants bring talent, youth and global connections. All told, they create jobs, not least because they are more likely than the native-born to start new businesses. Highly skilled immigrants help companies grow and raise the wages of the native-born. Unskilled ones tend to do jobs that natives shun. America is built on immigration. Yet a bipartisan immigration reform approved by the Senate in 2013 has no chance of passing the House, and Republicans on Capitol Hill are putting all their energy into a futile effort to end Mr Obama’s amnesty.

Fifty ways to get a visa

If the federal government refuses to act, what about the states? Some make life nasty for illegal immigrants in the hope that they will go away: police in Arizona, for example, constantly check the papers of anyone who looks vaguely Mexican. But others—the most recent being California—issue them with driving licences. Massachusetts sponsors a scheme whereby enterprising foreigners can shelter their businesses under the aegis of universities (which are exempt from national visa caps on skilled migrants). And several struggling cities, such as Baltimore and Cleveland, welcome immigrants with open arms, hoping that they will repopulate blighted neighbourhoods and replenish empty public coffers (see article). Rick Snyder, the Republican governor of Michigan, has called for 50,000 new visas for people willing to live in Detroit.

America’s borders are a federal responsibility, but there is a case for delegating some powers. In Canada and Australia provinces and states can nominate immigrants for visas directly. If sparsely populated South Australia wants young workers or oil-rich Alberta wants geologists, they can sponsor immigrants to move there. The central government sets quotas; the regions decide how to apportion them. In Canada such immigrants are free to move around once they have earned permanent residency, but since the provinces tend to pick migrants whose skills match local demand, most stay put.

America, too, should create such a scheme, on a larger scale and in addition to existing visa quotas. California would then be able to make it easier for its tech firms to hire Indian and Chinese whizz-kids; Kansas would find more farm hands; Michigan might even find people willing to invest in Motown. Immigration is not a cure for dying cities—some are doomed to fade away no matter what. But an influx of foreign workers looking for cheap homes can sometimes turn rough neighbourhoods around, as in New York in recent decades.

State-sponsored immigrants should be free to move around the country immediately. Even if they are obliged to stay put for a couple of years it would be less restrictive than the status quo, in which not-yet-permanent migrants are often tied for years to a specific employer, and cannot switch jobs.

State governments are often more pragmatic than the federal one, and more sensitive to the needs of local labour markets. So involving the states more in immigration policy could create powerful new advocates for rolling out the welcome mat. Giving states a say in who can come to America may sound implausibly radical, but if anyone has a better idea for breaking the immigration logjam, let’s hear it.