U.S. immigration policy has a beneficent intent. However, recent work suggests that the signal it sends internationally - that emigration can be relied upon to relieve local (Third World) population pressure - tends to maintain high fertility rates in the sending country. This effect is counter-productive because high fertility is the primary driver of rapid population growth. In addition, it appears that the relatively open U.S. immigration policy has resulted in a rate of domestic population growth that threatens both the well-being of American labor and cherished environmental values.

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