Limit Migration to Save Migration

In Reihan Salam’s new book, Melting Pot or Civil War? A Son of Immigrants Makes the Case Against Open Borders, he argues U.S. immigration policies need to become more restrictive—but not, as one might think, for the sake of already advantaged Americans, but instead for the sake of the migrants themselves and their descendants. Salam—the executive editor of National Review, a conservative magazine—is himself a second-generation American.

In his book, and on today’s podcast, he argues that migrants have a much better chance of assimilating, economically and culturally, to mainstream American life if the size of their ethnic group doesn’t continually grow. He also offers a potential compromise on immigration policy that he hopes will bring the two sides of the country’s bitter debate back together.