Inequality and Division of an Immigration Tariff
Term paper Philosophy
9 may, 2022
Philosophy of Administration Studies
Word count: 2715
, Introduction
Nowrasteh (2019) argues that the current U.S. immigration system favors non ‐ economic immigrants
in his piece “The Case for an Immigration Tariff: How to Create a Price-Based Visa Category”.
Nowrasteh provides a wide variety of reasons in favor of an immigration tariff. In this essay, I will
evaluate one of his arguments in-depth, namely the argument he makes as a counter-argument to his
piece, claiming that it would not be unfair for the low-skilled immigrants to pay a higher rate. I will
mainly express my concerns about that it is not fair and even will create division and inequality. Not
just for the low-skilled immigrants, but immigrants as a whole and the country of origin. When a rate
will be implemented, I provide additional interventions that will improve this idea, whereby everyone
is treated equally.
I will do this, by first setting out the general arguments and then addressing the aspect of
creating inequality and division. Second, I will evaluate the argument by introducing three critical
concerns. Thereafter, I will raise an objection to my arguments and provide solutions for it. Lastly, the
conclusion will provide a comprehensive overview of the essay.
An Immigration Tariff brings economic benefits for all
Nowrasteh (2019) states that “The congress should create an additional visa category that would
allow foreigners to work and live legally in the United States after paying a tariff.” Immigrants would
pay a fee that would give them a “gold card”. This does not directly lead to citizenship, but allows the
immigrant to work and live legally in the United States. The reason the writer believes there should be
a gold card is because currently 81% of new immigrants are relatives of residents in the U.S. and only
5% are green card holders. The system works in such a way that people who were born in other
countries than in the U.S. will be able to work under a green card or temporary visas. A green card
holder is someone who is allowed to live and work permanently in the U.S. The visas are divided into
family, workers and diversity migrants, the vast majority of which are for family. However, this group
is working and getting more and more skilled, but this is not a requirement in order to get a green card.
The cards for specific groups of workers such as seasonal agricultural and non-agricultural workers are
highly regulated or very limited. Compared to other nations such as Canada, Chile, Australia and New
Zealand, the US significantly allows less skilled workers and other entrepreneurs (Nowrasteh, 2019).
Nowrasteh gives a large number of arguments why a tariff should be implemented on immigration,
namely in the United States.
First, the current system extracts resources in a more destructive way than a tariff would. This
is because applying for a green card can incur a $35,000 attorney's fee. Also, the lines are longer to
receive a visa and if they are in visa limbo, they have trouble buying a house, sending children to
school or making investments. Second, by making immigrants pay a fare it will give them the chance
to get out of the “Green Card Block” earlier, i.e. get out of line earlier. It will also ensure that those
