Switzerland Shows America How to Handle Immigration Right
Switzerland's referendum rejecting immigration caps demonstrates serious national debate on migration policy that remains absent in the U.S., where outdated laws prioritize family ties over merit.
Swiss voters on Sunday overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to limit the country’s population to 10 million by restricting immigration, according to New York Post. The vote itself, however, demonstrates something Washington has failed to deliver: a serious national conversation about who enters the country and why.
Switzerland has experienced population growth exceeding 25 percent since 2000, driven largely by workers from neighboring European nations rather than migrants from the Middle East or Africa. The right-leaning Swiss People’s Party championed the immigration restrictions, warning that rapid demographic expansion strains housing, social services, and national identity.
Opponents countered that limiting the flow of Europeans would endanger Switzerland’s vital relationship with the European Union, which purchases more than half of Swiss exports. They also highlighted how Switzerland built prosperity without natural resources by welcoming foreign innovators, including immigrants who founded corporate giants like Nestle, Swatch, and Novartis.
The United States must stage its own immigration reckoning, but American laws should serve American interests, not simply mirror Swiss conclusions.
Welfare Dependence and Broken Policy
The current Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 has created a system that undermines economic growth and saddles taxpayers with unsustainable costs. A shocking 47 percent of households headed by noncitizens collect welfare benefits such as food assistance or Medicaid, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. That figure nearly doubles the 28 percent dependence rate among households headed by native-born Americans.
American immigration law inexplicably prioritizes family connections over job skills, education, English proficiency, or commitment to civic life. This backwards framework invites newcomers who require public assistance rather than those positioned to contribute economically.
Nations like Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Singapore have adopted merit-based immigration systems that strengthen their economies and protect taxpayers. Congress must scrap the 1965 framework and follow suit.
The Biden Border Disaster
The 2021 to 2024 border crisis under the Biden administration dramatically worsened the welfare dependence problem. The surge brought in migrants far less educated and capable of self-sufficiency than previous arrivals. The number of newcomers with no education beyond high school more than doubled from 2019 to 2023, as New York Post reports citing Center for Immigration Studies data.
These immigrants are not lazy. Most work, and they are actually more likely to be employed than native-born adults. But minimal schooling condemns them to low earnings and creates a permanent dependent class. Adult male immigrants now earn just 52 percent of what American-born male workers earn, down from 62 percent in 2019, because of the Biden influx of unskilled, poorly educated migrants.
This wage collapse will eventually force down compensation for low-skilled American workers as well, creating a race to the bottom that benefits no one except employers seeking cheap labor.
The Moment for Reform
President Donald Trump has demonstrated that border security can be achieved without major legislation, despite Democratic insistence that comprehensive immigration reform was a prerequisite. The border is now closed.
A recent Harvard/Harris poll identifies this as the ideal moment to overhaul immigration policy. The public ranks it as the most pressing issue after affordability and the economy, far ahead of healthcare, foreign conflicts, the environment, or education.
Political polarization appears to be softening. A slim majority of Democrats, 52 percent, now acknowledge their party opposes open borders. Republicans, who face potential losses in midterm elections, should redirect the national conversation away from polarizing deportation debates toward merit-based immigration reform that serves national prosperity.
Who America allows in will determine how America prospers. The Swiss held that conversation. It is long past time Washington did the same.
With information from New York Post
