How Many Is Too Many?

America has been built by immigrants, a history often used as a rallying cry for progressives who fight against tightening our borders. This is all well and good, Philip Cafaro thinks, for the America of the past, but the fact of the matter is we can't afford to take in millions of people anymore. One might think Cafaro is toeing the conservative line, but here's the thing: he's as progressive as they come, and it's progressives at whom he aims with this book's startling message: massive immigration simply isn't consistent with progressive ideals. Cafaro roots his argument in human rights, equality, economic security, and environmental sustainability. He shows us the undeniable realities of mass migration to which we have turned a blind eye: how it has driven down workers' wages and driven up inequality; how it has fostered unsafe working conditions; how it has stalled our economic maturity by keeping us ever-focused on increasing consumption; and how it has caused our cities and suburbs to sprawl far and wide, destroying natural habitats and cutting us off from nature. In response, Cafaro lays out a comprehensive and progressive plan for immigration reform.
He suggests that we shift enforcement efforts away from border control and toward the employers who knowingly hire illegal workers. He proposes aid and foreign policies that will help people create better lives where they are. And indeed he supports amnesty for those who have already built their lives here. Above all, Cafaro attacks our obsession with endless material growth, offering in its place a mature vision of America, not brimming but balanced, where all the different people who constitute this great nation of immigrants can live sustainably and well, sheltered by a prudence currently in short supply in American politics.