Dean Johnson Interviewed on Economics of Child Immigration Crisis
Dean Kevin R. Johnson was part of a panel of experts invited by the financial information website Wallethub.com to share perspectives on the economic implications of the recent child migrant surge.
"In the larger scheme of things, the migration is unlikely to have any major impacts on the American economy," Dean Johnson said. "In the short term, there will be costs for detention and removal. However, given that the numbers already seem to be decreasing, the short-term detention and removal costs seem rather inconsequential and do not suggest that there will be much of a long-term impact on the American economy."
Dean Johnson also noted that "there is an argument to be made" that in addition to addressing the problem domestically, the United States "should foster economic development through investment in immigrant-sending countries."
Kevin R. Johnson is Dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o studies at UC Davis School of Law. He is an internationally recognized scholar in the fields of immigration law and policy, refugee law, and civil rights.