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Record-high inflation has wreaked havoc on an economy already struggling to recover from COVID-19. The Federal Reserve is aggressively hiking interest rates, but its too little, too late. When too much money chases too few goods, rising prices are inevitable. Since the start of the pandemic, the monetary base has risen 60 percent and the M2 money supply 40 percent, outpacing the uncertainty-induced spike in liquidity demand. If we want to tame inflation, we need to stop running the printing presses. But we also need bold supply-side reforms.

Its time to liberalize immigration policy. Making it easier for people to come here and work increases the availability of labor. That would boost the goods supply relative to the money supply. While its not a panacea, immigration can ease pricing pressures. Making green cards, visas and even citizenship easier to obtain makes economic sense, and it offers humanitarian benefits as well.

In the long run, living standards depend on supply-side factors. These include the amount of labor and capital, technological progress and a supportive regulatory environment. The White House, Congress and the Federal Reserve have focused too much on the demand side. While demand stimulus can temporarily cushion falling incomes and wealth, it isnt sustainable. Policymakers quickly run into the fundamental constraint: how much the economy can produce.

Augmenting demand leads to higher prices, but augmenting supply leads to lower prices. The secret to broad-based prosperity is making goods and services more abundant, and therefore cheaper. Supply-side economics isnt fundamentally about tax cuts, and theres no reason conservatives should have a monopoly on it. Liberals can profit from this agenda, too. Immigration reform is the place to start.

Many people worry that increased immigration will lower current workers wages, already eroding because of inflation. While its true prices are rising faster than wages, immigration wont make things worse. In fact, it could make things better.Most studies find no effect on wages for current workers. Some find wages increasing as a result of immigration. After all, immigrant labor complements existing domestic labor, raising everyones productivity. When productivity goes up, so do wages.

If more immigration wont lower wages, and might even raise them, how can it help whip inflation? Material abundance is the key. Wages are an important price the price of rented labor but still just one price. Curbing inflation means slowing down price growth across the whole economy. If liberalizing immigration policy results in a temporary surge of workers, that will stabilize the bottom-out point of dollar depreciation. We could even get a durable inflation slowdown if the worker boost is long-lived, buttressing productivity over many years. Whether we get a one-time benefit or a flow of benefits depends on immigrants decisions to live and work here. Either result is welcome. With prices rising 9 percent per year, we shouldnt be picky.

Despite falling production and rising prices, the unemployment rate is still very low at about 3.6 percent. Employers consistently report having great difficulty finding workers to fill vacant openings.The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in May, there were 11.25 million job openings and a total of 5.95 million people unemployed. There are almost 1.9 job openings for every unemployed person, up from 1.7 in March, when Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell described labor markets as tight to an unhealthy level. Burnout afflicts many workers. Streamlining the immigration process so that new workers could quickly fill vacancies would reduce the degree to which current laborers are overworked.

Finally, increased immigration comes with humanitarian benefits. Many millions of intelligent, hardworking people around the world are struggling to make ends meet under oppressive regimes and severely dysfunctional economies. In fact, as Branko Milanovic describes, over 80 percent of global income inequality is determined by a persons country of origin.Granting these people easier access to American labor markets would remove them from the immediate dangers they face while also alleviating extreme poverty. Apart from economic considerations, basic human dignity impels us to welcome those seeking better lives.

Handing out green pieces of paper can make us wealthier, so long as theyre permanent resident cards and not dollars. Taming inflation means giving supply every possible chance to outpace demand. If were serious about restoring an inclusive and prosperous economy, we should welcome more immigrants.

David James Hebert is an associate professor at Aquinas College. Alexander William Salter is an associate professor in the Rawls College of Business at Texas Tech University, a research fellow at TTUs Free Market Institut, and a senior fellow at AIERs Sound Money Project.

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Immigration reform is the supply-side liberalism we need - The Hill

Democrats are preparing for a series of difficult votes on anti-immigration amendments likely to be offered by Republicans during the next step of the budget reconciliation process, which Democrats are using to pass the climate, health care, and inflation bill.

Budget reconciliation can be used in some situations to pass a budget, along with other policy changes or provisions, with a simple 50-vote majority in the Senate rather than the 60-vote majority normally required. The reconciliation process requires a series of procedural steps, including review by the Senate parliamentarian to make sure the bill complies with Senate rules, and a step known as vote-a-rama, during which Senators can offer a virtually unlimited number of amendments to the bill.

Senator Joe Manchin, D-W.Va and Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., reached an unexpected deal on the climate and inflation bill last week, which Democrats hope to pass through the reconciliation process to avoid a Republican filibuster. The final Democratic holdout, Senator Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., agreed to a revised version of Manchins bill Thursday night.

With the vote-a-rama scheduled for Saturday, Republican senators intend to force vulnerable, moderate Democrats to take votes on divisive immigration topics, such as attempting to codify Title 42 or restart former President Donald Trumps border wall.

Some Democrats fear that if Republicans can force votes on these poison pill amendments to the package particularly on immigration it could divide Democrats and possibly put the entire bill in jeopardy. Democratic Senators facing tough reelection campaigns, like Senators Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., or Catherine Cortez Masto, D.-Nev., might feel pressure to vote for the amendments to keep their seats.

Others who might vote for the possible amendments include Senators Manchin and Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. All these Senators are co-sponsors of a bill that would make Title 42 permanent. Since the Senate is evenly divided, Democrats cannot afford to lose any votes.

Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J., a long-time champion for immigration reform, warned Democrats against voting for Republican amendments on issues such as immigration that could threaten the overall reconciliation legislation. Adoption of amendments that would end access to asylum or expand Trumps border wall will not repair our broken immigration and will put reconciliation at risk, Menendez tweeted on Monday.

Of course, the passage of any of these anti-immigration amendments would also be a bad outcome by further dismantling the already decimated asylum system, further militarizing the southwestern border, and generally further damaging the immigration system.

There are no procedural measures to prevent the vote-a-rama, which could take place as soon as this weekend. Its not yet clear how Senate Democrats will respond, though they expect to work through the weekend and potentially delay the August recess.

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Climate and Health Bill Could Contain Immigration Poison Pills - Boundless

The Biden administration has created an unprecedented border crisis affecting our entire nation. This has galvanized public opposition, creating a united front of state and local governments, former immigration officials, and public interest groups demanding that the administration stop its sabotage of border and interior immigration enforcement.

Thankfully, Republican leadership has answered this growing chorus, releasing a border security framework for day one of the Republican-led House, assuming the GOP wins control in the November elections. The framework represents a comprehensive plan to bring our borders under control, end abuse of the asylum system, curb abuse of executive authority, and address the growing threats of fentanyl, crime and terrorism crossing our borders. The framework also categorically rejects the idea of amnesty for illegal aliens.

Barring an epic rebound from the Biden administration on numerous fronts over the next three months, it appears almost certain that voters will place the GOP in a position to make good on these promises. Republicans are likely to regain control of not only the House but possibly the Senate as well. For decades, Republican lawmakers talked a good game but legislated timidly when it came to border and interior enforcement. However, the recent GOP framework constitutes a written promissory note to the American public that will come due on Jan. 3, 2023.

House Republican leadership promises the legislation will be ready to go on the first day of the 118th Congress. It would include many obvious fixes to the border crisis. It would mandate completion of the border wall, which the Biden administration now concedes is both effective at controlling illegal immigration and essential to the Democratic Partys efforts to save Sen. Mark Kellys Arizona seat.

The promised legislation would include measures that have proven to be effective at deterring illegal migration deterrence being the most humane way of regaining control of lawlessness at the southern border. Reinstatement of Migrant Protection Protocols, an expansion of Title 42, reform of our asylum system, and imposition of mandatory E-Verify make it clear that crossing our borders illegally no longer will be rewarded with a bus or plane ticket to your preferred destination within the United States, as the Biden administration has been doing.

Equally as important, the framework pledges to rein in the Biden administrations exercise of what amounts to retroactive veto power over immigration laws. Through President Bidens executive orders and policy memoranda issued by Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, the administration essentially has nullified nearly every immigration statute signed into law by previous administrations, including many for which Biden voted during his decades in the Senate.

A Republican-controlled Congress or House, at least cant force Biden to sign a border security bill he doesnt like. But they would have the power to hold him and his political appointees accountable for their refusal to carry out immigration laws on the books, including impeachment of officials who do not uphold their sworn oaths of office.

No longer would Mayorkas be able to come before a Congressional committee and assert, under oath, that our borders are secure while a quarter-million people are breaching them every month. And, with the power of the purse, the 118th Congress could prevent funds designated for immigration enforcement from being co-opted for schemes such as handing illegal aliens newly-minted ID cards in lieu of statutorily mandated detention.

Until recently, both parties routinely promised to secure our borders and enforce immigration laws, only to forget those promises as soon as Election Day was in the rearview mirror. That is why our coalition and American voters will be there, come January, to make sure that the new congressional leadership makes good on its commitments.

Perhaps, ironically, the utter disaster wrought by the Biden administrations handling of the border, and our immigration system overall, will finally give Republicans the political fortitude to act decisively. The American public has gotten a taste of what its like to live in a nation without borders and they dont like it. Its time to deliver for them.

Dan Stein is the president of the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR).

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House GOP immigration framework would be a promising start - The Hill

Even as the latestbusload of migrantsfrom Texas arrived in D.C. late Tuesday night with a total of at least 5,100 migrants and leaders like theMayor of New Yorkand theMayor of DCcomplain about the influx of immigrants in their cities, the Biden administration does not seem to find its footing on the issue of immigration.

Recently, immigration advocatesmet with the Biden administrationat the White House, urging immigration reform. After undoing many of the security measures implemented by the previous administration, they backtracked. Consequently, according to the Biden administration, they have now authorized the closing of the gaps at the border wall at the Morelos Dam in Arizona.

During a time when hot-button Supreme Court rulings and fears of economic recession dominate political debate, immigration remains a top issue among many U.S. voters. But rather than doing something simply to appease political allies, the Biden White House, and all U.S. leaders, should address the core of our immigration crisis.

The United States is facing an immigration crisis for two major reasons: the rampant corruption in neighboring Latin American countries and failed U.S. immigration policies. First, consider Latin America today. People dont leave prosperity. The reason people immigrate from countries in the region is that they are plagued by violence and poverty as a result of corruption.

Even though many Latin American countries recognize the importance of a capitalist market for progress, fraud and corruption stand in the way of prosperity for the people. Corrupt governments become oligarchies, which, in some cases, end up becoming dictatorships.

The economic situation in Latin America is a direct consequence of corruption. These circumstances are difficult for economic empowerment, especially for women. According to the UNEconomic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, women make up a larger percentage of poor households. In 2019, for every 100 men living in poverty in Latin America, there were 112.7 women in poverty. The UN report says, This shows the lack of economic autonomy of women.

Latin American poverty cant easily be solved by foreign aid dollars: The United States has long been a major contributor of foreign assistance to countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. BetweenFY1946 and FY2019, the United States provided $93.8 billion ($194.5 billion in constant 2019 dollars)of assistance to the region. But if these governments dont eradicate their own issues of corruption, all the humanitarian aid will end up in corrupt hands and not in the hands of those who need it.

Ultimately, the best way the U.S. can address immigration is through more effective measures to protect its borders.We receive approximately 1 million migrantsfrom around the world every year in our country. We are by far the most generous country in the world. Most of the migrants that come through the southern U.S. border come from Latin America, and they claim they are searching for a better life.

In addition, if the U.S. does not project a strong position when it comes to enforcing our immigration laws, other countries in the region will not collaborate to stop the crisis. We need stronger leadership throughout the world, so that when the U.S. calls, others answer.

Regrettably, many immigrants crossing the border do not pursue legal avenues, which leads to fatal consequences. According to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), there were 239,416 illegal encounters along the U.S. southwest border as of May. In the month of June, a semi-truck filled with migrants was found by authorities in San Antonio. Of the migrants,53 died due to asphyxia, and 17 were hospitalized. Border security is needed if we want to avoid these devastating events.

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Biden Should Address the Immigration Crisis at Its Core - Independent Women's Forum

PHOENIXThere were two very different scenes Friday as Arizona's candidates for governor embarked on their campaigns.

They are political opposites with very distinctive styles. But, Democrat Katie Hobbs has been doing retail politics for years.

On the Friday after the election, she toured the River People Health Center in the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Community.

"I'm focused on what we need to do to win in November and that means continuing talking to voters across Arizona about how we bring people together to solve our biggest challenges," Hobbs said.

For Hobbs, those challenges include fixing schools, dealing with the state's water crisis and protecting reproductive healthcare.

"I'm focused on what I'm telling Arizonans are the real challenges we need to tackle." Hobbs said.

Regarding the border, Hobbs said President Biden needs to do more because it is a federal responsibility.

But, she will provide state resources to help communities impacted by immigration and push the Arizona Congressional delegation on immigration reform. "I will be 100% focused on what we need to do to keep Arizona communities safe," Hobbs said.

At the C-PAC convention in Dallas, Kari Lake took the stage to chants of "Kari, Kari, Kari."

Lake was part of a panel discussion on border security.

She told the crowd she'll secure Arizona's border using an untested legal theory that allows her to take control away from the federal government.

"We are in imminent danger. We're being invaded and time is of the essence. We can protect our own border. We don't need to wait for Joe Biden," Lake said.

Lake also said she would work with other states to deal with illegal immigration.

One thing she won't do is continue to bus immigrants to the east coast like Texas Governor Gregg Abbott and Doug Ducey are doing.

This week, Abbott began sending immigrants to New York City.

"I'm not a fan of busing people here illegally into other states," Lake said, "It makes for a cute photo-op. It takes people who shouldn't be here and moves them further in." said Lake.

Kari Lake returns to Arizona from C-PAC on Sunday.

After a stop in Yuma Friday afternoon, Katie Hobbs will appear at scheduled events in Tucson on Saturday and Sunday.

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Katie Hobbs and Kari Lake take different paths in their race for Arizona governor - ABC15 Arizona in Phoenix