Immigrants Don ’t Litter More than Native-Born Americans: Evidence from American Cities

Alex Nowrasteh andAndrew C. ForresterThere are very few new arguments in the immigration debate. For generations, people have batted around similar versions of thesame argument in favor or against different immigration policies such as how immigrants affect wages, voting, crime, and terrorism. There are other fringe arguments that crop up now and again, but we  don’t usually address them because they are so rarely argued. However, the frequency of a formerly-fringe argument against immigration is rising: immigrants should be banned or their numbers significantly reduced because they litter a lot.At the recent National Conservatism conference, University of Pennsylvania law professor Amy Wax argued in favor of restricting non-white immigration to the United States because she said theylitter more. My colleague David Bier was heckled at the Conservative Political Action Conference in 2018 and asked aboutimmigrant littering. Fox News Tucker Carlson has been bringing up immigrant littering over theyears, mostrecently with the help ofCity Journal associate editorSeth Barron.But do immigrants litter more?Fortunately, there are data available to at least partially answer this question.The American Housing Survey (AHS) is a biennial longitudinal housing survey that asks about the amount of trash, litter, or junk in streets, lots, or properties within a half-block of the respondent ’s housing unit. The answers are a “small amount of trash,” a “large amount,” and “no tra...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - Category: American Health Authors: Source Type: blogs