The recently released Rutgers Regional Report called attention to negative trends in New Jersey's "net internal migration" with suggestions of hard times ahead as US-born, high-earning people leave the state without an offsetting increase in fresh native-born arrivals. The report barely mentioned the role of international migration - a key driver of New Jersey's economy.

In our globalized world, and in a state that for generations has acted as a staging area for new arrivals from abroad, any population analysis that doesn't factor in international migration is incomplete and perhaps unduly alarmist.

Let's remember that New Jersey has been the source of westward population flows from the earliest days of the nation. During the first half of the 19th century, New Jersey was referred to as the "Garden of Eden," because it was the birthplace of so many transplants to the Ohio Valley.

As the first state in the nation approaching "build-out," i.e. the absence of developable land, it's only natural that some portion of the population, seeking the 21st century version of the "wide, open spaces," will move to other states. Likewise, in our shrinking world, significant numbers of New Jersey residents will seek employment or retirement opportunities in other countries.

Indeed, one can argue that internal movements of people within the United States, emigration from the United States, and immigration to the United States all involve people weighing income, opportunity, and lifestyle differentials and acting according to their perceived self-interest. To disregard any one dimension gives a distorted picture and may signal a devaluing of the immigrants and other foreign residents who are ensuring our continuing economic vitality

The recently released Department of Homeland Security data for fiscal year 2006 showed that 65,934 new legal immigrants listed New Jersey as their state of intended residence, the largest one year total for the last ten years. As usual, New Jersey's immigrants display a diversity rare elsewhere in the country. The five largest groups in size order are: Asian Indians, Dominicans, Colombians, Filipinos, and Ecuadorians. New Jersey's immigrants also mirror the socio-economic breakdown within the general population, from people with advanced degrees to those with a grade school education.

New Jersey's diversity is an asset of immeasurable importance to the state, giving us fresh perspectives on ourselves and our world, the ability to understand and communicate with people around the globe, and an environment attractive to young and creative minds, whether born in the United States or overseas.

As political scientist Richard Florida has shown, immigrant-attracting cities and regions of the world tend to be centers of innovation and economic success. One of these cities is hip and dynamic London, whose foreign-born population has now reached 30%. It's no coincidence that the economic performance of Great Britain has outpaced that of other European Union countries in recent years. And interestingly enough, Great Britain has experienced an average annual net native migration loss of 67,500 for the last 39 years!

So while concern for high housing costs and property taxes in New Jersey is not misplaced, let's not forget that high housing costs are often a sign of an appealing environment and a revitalized economy, as evidenced by our newest arrivals from abroad.

Originally written on October 12, 2007
What I'm about to write may seem strange, especially considering the attention given to our "broken immigration system" since September 11.

However, many Americans may have lost sight of what was right about that "system," and in our haste to remake it, we may be weakening the very foundations of the free, open and dynamic society that Americans have worked hard to create over the course of our history. The "house we all live in," recalling Frank Sinatra's classic song title, could come tumbling down if we fail to maintain it.

This thought came to mind as I read about the repercussions in Germany from the recent arrests of home-grown would-be terrorists.

For years Germans devoted little attention to the plight of their Muslim, largely Turkish, immigrant population. As long as they did the work that Germans didn't want to do, stayed in their place, and lived in their own neighborhoods, Germans pretended that these "guest workers" would return home to Turkey one day. Most of the workers did, but many did not.

Now Germany is playing catch-up, realizing that you can't expel or limit opportunities for immigrants and their children, treat them with disrespect, without undermining social unity and igniting the fires of extremism.

Throughout Europe, the challenge of building "social cohesion," the phrase currently in vogue, is very much on the minds of policy makers and public officials. The European Union, as well as member states and units of local government, are making substantial public investments in programs to promote immigrant integration, including finding creative approaches to making publicly-funded services accessible to immigrants, forming immigrant leadership councils to advise national governments, allocating funds for language and citizenship education, legalizing unauthorized workers, and setting up new programs to combat racism and promote equal employment opportunity.

The majority of Europe's immigrants come from the Islamic countries of North Africa and the Middle East. Although there are some nationalist groups and parties that decry this influx, most public officials are taking a more enlightened approach. The Council of Europe recently issued a statement condemning Islamophobia. In Great Britain, a new organization called the Forum Against Islamophobia and Racism works to counter distorted views of mainstream Islam.

As I write this blog, I am currently attending the 14th annual Metropolis Conference in Melbourne Australia, where almost 1000 delegates from around the world are exploring the impact of global migration on developed and developing societies around the world. Embarrassingly, few Americans are participating in this conference!

As Europeans try to learn how to deal with immigration, in part by emulating the policies of traditional immigrant receiving countries like Australia, Canada, and the United States, we in the United States seem to be abandoning those policies. The vitriol directed at immigrants, in particular Mexican and central American immigrants, on the pretext of rooting out illegal immigration, is reaching alarming levels. By targeting "illegals" ("what about illegal do you not understand?"), American nationalists have found a way to legitimize race hatred and restrictionism by depicting certain immigrants as criminals because they followed the dictates of the economic market. The level of public investment in immigrant integration, whether on the federal or state level, is very low. Instead of encouraging immigrants to become citizens and participate fully in our society, we seem to be creating new barriers, such as stiff application fees, voter identification laws, and more challenging tests.

It is encouraging, however, that the Corzine administration seems to be taking a different approach in New Jersey. Through the formation of a Blue Ribbon Panel on Immigrant Policy, the state is seeking to promote the full participation of immigrants in our society. Let's hope that New Jersey can set an example for the rest of the country.