A Compendium of Recent Academic Work Showing Negative Impacts of Immigration
By Jason Richwine on June 19, 2025
[Editor's Note: This is the fifth and most up-to-date edition of the compendium. It was originally published in 2019 and then revised in 2020, 2022, and 2023.]
Introduction
Have scholars reached a consensus that immigration has no downsides for the United States? Listening to advocates and their allied media, one might assume so. Vox once ran this headline: “There's no evidence that immigrants hurt any American workers”. The Cato Institute similarly claims “there is no evidence that immigrants weaken or undermine American economic, political, or cultural institutions”. A writer for Forbes has declared that immigration restrictionists “are on the wrong side of history and the wrong side of social science”.
The purpose of this compendium is to dispel such self-serving myths. The truth is that the costs and benefits of immigration are routinely measured, weighed, and debated in academic journals. No fair reading of the literature could conclude that immigration is an unambiguous good. What follows are my own summaries of 72 recent academic works showing negative impacts of immigration in areas ranging from labor markets to health. Each summary focuses on the immigration aspects of the work, draws out policy implications, and links to related CIS research whenever helpful.
Table of Contents
1. Labor Market
1.1. The National Academies’ 2017 Report
1.2. Recent Studies
1.2.1. General Wages & Employment
1.2.2. Crowd-Out
1.2.3. High-Skill Immigration
1.2.4.Technological Change
2. Assimilation
2.1. General
2.2. Modern Challenges
2.3. Cultural Persistence
3. Community
3.1. Housing
3.2. Fertility
3.3. Ethnic Enclaves
3.4. Schools
3.5. Crime
3.6. Health
https://cis.org/Richwine/Abundance-New-Academic-Studies-Find-Negative-Impacts-Immigration
