Commentary Even as the foreign-born become an ever-greater portion of American’s population, Washington’s immigration policy looks increasingly confused and contradictory. The government held the northern border with Canada tightly closed for an extended time and promptly repatriated any Cuban refugees wherever they are found back to their communist “paradise.” In the meantime, the southern border with Mexico and by extension all Central America seems to be simultaneously open and closed but certainly very dangerous. What the administration hopes to accomplish with this mélange is murky at best. Both the foreign- and native-born citizens and residents of this country deserve better. Two recent academic works can perhaps offer guidance on the way the country might deal coherently with newcomers, to improve their economic prospects and those of the nation as a whole. The first of these studies, by C. Arkolkis, S. Y. Lee, and M. Peters, though produced recently, examines an …