Crop harvest is a clear example of a case where we DON’T need more immigrants: countries like Australia have no problem executing the obviously-better-in-the-lo

Crop harvest is a clear example of a case where we DON’T need more immigrants: countries like Australia have no problem executing the obviously-better-in-the-long-term strategy of improving agricultural production with automation alone. The amount of land we dedicate to farming does not increase significantly over time. Furthermore, we do not currently have a shortage of relatively unskilled homegrown labor. If a few especially-labor-intensive crops become unviable, so be it; some business models lost viability when we ended slavery, too. In contrast, high-skill immigration to Silicon Valley has been a crucial contributor to American tech dominance over the last several decades. (Though I wonder how much of this is the negative effect of brain-draining top talent from potential competitors... well, I guess we now have a natural experiment where China is no longer being effectively drained.)