Tossing reality aside, James Ledbetter of Slate offers "Give Us Your Tired, Your Poor. Really. We Mean It /Economists are making the case politicians are afraid to: Immigration is great for the U.S." (slate.com/id/2265974).

Here are a few ways Ledbetter isn't in touch with the reality that the rest of us share:

1. He makes the misleading claim that "If you pay attention only to politics, you'd be forgiven for thinking that the current debate about immigration in America is limited to how severely it should be restricted - whether we need only to seal the border or actually change the birthright citizenship clause in the Constitution." Practically every mainstream media article about this issue is a counter-example; almost all contain increasing immigration, enabling illegal immigration, or smearing opponents of massive/illegal immigration as a subtext. For very clear examples, see the entries on the PIIPP page, or see the topics listings. Some politicians are truly opposed to massive/illegal immigration, but theirs is a constant fight against the establishment which takes the opposite position. And, the birthright citizenship "debate" is one we shouldn't be having at this time and Lindsey Graham admits he started it as a political ploy (he might also have intended it as a sneaky way to help the media strike against his opponents).

2. Ledbetter references the Giovanni Peri Federal Reserve study, but doesn't mention the issues raised at that link or by others.

3. He thinks Kevin Drum is an "economic blogger", linking to [1].

4. One of Ledbetter's sections is entitled "Immigrants will solve our housing crisis" and contains "So, goes the argument, let's open the borders to immigrants who promise to buy a house". Which is close to the definition of insanity since immigrants buying houses may have played a major role in the housing crisis (link).

5. Another section is entitled "Immigrants are needed to replenish the American workforce" in which he says "If there aren't enough native-born Americans to fill jobs, they will be filled by immigrants." In the long run that might have some slight validity or it might not. However, most recent immigration is of the low-skilled variety and due to that and cultural issues new immigrants might have problems doing the same jobs that Americans are currently doing. It's also perhaps worth noting that in our present reality, there's a 5-to-1 job seeker-to-jobs ratio, with a teen unemployment rate of 25.5% as of August 2009.

[1] motherjones.com/kevin-drum/
2010/08/how-immigration-increases-your-pay