Mark Krikorian (Wikipedia) is the Director of the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) (page about them on the Open Borders website, official website), a think tank that advocates reduced immigration to the United States and publishes academic studies that provide intellectual support for this position. The tag line of the institute says “Low immigration, pro-immigrant”, and Krikorian has defended this position in his writing and public appearances.
Video
Krikorian was on the “against” side in the debate Should America Open Its Borders? conducted by Reason TV. Resources related to the debate are available on the debate page. Krikorian debated against Bryan Caplan and Alex Nowrasteh.
Below is video of a Bloggingheads debate with Shikha Dalmia:
Books
- The New Case Against Immigration: Both Legal and Illegal (Amazon hardcover)
Pages on this website that quote Krikorian
A lot of Krikorian’s writings have been quoted on this website as they provide comprehensive and competent summaries of mainstream restrictionist positions. Links are below:
- Citizen preference for reduced immigration
- Overpopulation and environment
- Skills mismatch
- Emotional assimilation and patriotism
- Cheap labor leading to a technological slowdown
- Public schools for immigrant children
Blog posts responding to Krikorian’s views
Responses to Krikorian’s views about immigrants and the labor market.
- Efficient or artificial? Restrictionists versus open borders advocates by Vipul Naik, May 9, 2012. This post contrasts Krikorian’s view of migration as artificially distorting labor markets, and contrasts it with Jason Riley’s view, that sees the restrictions in the status quo as artificially distorting labor markets.
- Immigrants Did Not Take Your Job by Alex Nowrasteh, November 2, 2012. Nowrasteh examines some of Krikorian’s empirical assertions about the effect of immigrants on the labor market prospects of US natives.
Responses to Krikorian’s framing of his position as “pro-immigrant”:
- “Pro-immigrant” restrictionists — the fine print by Vipul Naik, October 25, 2012, uses Krikorian’s writing on the “low-immigration, pro-immigrant” position to dissect the position.
Responses to Krikorian’s view that we should start from a zero-immigration presumption and then justify each category of immigration:
- Do we need immigration? by Chris Hendrix, May 12, 2013, challenges Krikorian’s view, as expressed in an interview to National Public Radio, that the burden of proof should be on those who propose a nonzero level of immigration to demonstrate that it is needed.
See also the blog posts linked on the debate page Should America Open Its Borders? These include many blog posts by Bryan Caplan responded to Krikorian’s views and critiquing his logical and argumentative style.