REIHAN SALAM: the debate about immigration and IQ.

One conceptual question for those of us with a humanitarian interest in bettering the lives of the global poor is this: should we try to rescue some trivial share of the global poor by allowing them to work and settle in the U.S., and accept that they will tend to cluster in the bottom fifth of the U.S. socioeconomic distribution while spending a significant sum of money to help them lead dignified lives in a high-cost country? Or should we devote this significant sum — or some much larger or even much smaller sum — to interventions that might benefit a much larger share of the global poor, e.g., by making investments in mitigating various environmental health risks? I can see the sentimental case for rescuing a trivial share of the global poor by allowing them to become U.S. service workers. It’s not clear, however, that this is the best strategy in terms of bang-for-the-buck....

I would ask this question: Aren't you further impoverishing the poor country by taking only its most skilled as immigrants?