Immigration Reimagined: Why Abundance Beats Scarcity Every Time
America’s immigration crisis isn’t about too many people—it’s about mindset. Hosts Dave and Jerremy argue for an abundance approach, where economic integration trumps walls and restrictions. They expose flaws in U.S. foreign policy, debunk myths about immigrants and crime, and propose bold, humane solutions that could reshape the system. Tune in for a thought-provoking challenge to conventional views.
Timestamps:
- (00:00) Solutions Unveiled: Bold Ideas for Immigration Reform
- (00:25) Global Perspective: How Other Countries Tackle Immigration
- (12:34) Foreign Policy Failures: The U.S. Role in Global Migration
- (13:33) Economic Solutions: Integrating Immigrants for Growth
- (15:10) Historical Lessons: What Past Policies Teach Us
- (16:04) Economic Impact: The True Cost of Immigration Policies
📢 Solving America’s Problems Podcast – Real Solutions For Real Issues
Transcript
"Ever driven through Utah and thought, ‘We’ve got space for days’?
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:Dave and Jerremy say that’s just
the start—America’s immigration
3
:woes might not be about too many
people coming in, but how we’ve
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:stirred the pot beyond our borders.
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:In this episode, they unpack U.S.
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:foreign policy’s messy fingerprints
and pitch an abundance mindset
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:that could flip the script—think
economic wins over walls."
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:Jerremy: I think the problems I
hear about presently in the media.
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:And I think a lot of the listeners,
you know, we have a very, very
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:culturally diverse group of listeners.
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:Very large audience I would
also say is they probably feel
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:or see from media drugs, right?
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:Like, sure.
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:This is the, that's how most of
the drugs come into this country.
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:Now, my opinion is that it's not.
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:Immigrants that bring in drugs.
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:It is drug runners that
bring in drugs, right?
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:Like, it's not the mom and dad from,
Poland that want to come to the US or
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:Mexico or Honduras or Chile that want to
come to the US and they do it illegally.
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:They're not bringing drugs, right?
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:Yeah.
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:They want to get here and they want all
the greatness that America provides.
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:Now, I think, can we have different
border restrictions and should we really,
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:really be careful about who we let in
just because it's a nation and there
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:should be some level of due process.
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:Sure.
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:But we gotta remember a
little bit of history, right?
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:The reason that there are.
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:Tens of millions of Mexicans in California
is because California used to be Mexico.
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:Right?
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:Like we, and that like, they're
just, they're home really.
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:We went over there and was
like, yeah, it's ours now,
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:you know, in the 18 hundreds.
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:And so like, talk to people love, just
like, no, they can't come over here.
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:I'm like, we took it from them guys.
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:So you gotta, but that's the truth, right?
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:That there's a lot of those little
components that people love to kind
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:of just slip around and forget about.
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:And I think the ironic part of that, Dave,
is California as a state is like the, if
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:it was a country, it would be like the
53rd most wealthy country in the world.
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:It adds, I think $4 trillion to the
gross domestic product of us by itself.
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:Yeah.
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:And a lot of people are
like, california sucks.
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:My thought is it can simply be better.
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:It's not that it sucks.
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:Yeah.
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:It's like it can just become
better than it is now.
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:So the documentation process and the,
the awareness process for me, I'm
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:almost like, listen guys, I think
most politicians really do a great
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:job of providing scarcity based
mentality to the American public.
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:And that scarcity based mentality
is we don't have enough land.
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:They're taking all of our land.
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:They're taking all of our jobs.
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:Dave: Yeah.
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:Jerremy: We gotta keep the immigrants out
and they're bringing in all these drugs.
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:Right.
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:Where my version, much more
abundant, much larger mindset is I.
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:We have so much land.
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:It's crazy.
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:Mm-hmm.
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:First of all have you seen Utah?
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:Like we have so much land.
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:I mean we're, Nevada, California, Arizona.
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:I'm in Tennessee right now.
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:There's, there's acreages
everywhere for sale.
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:Lots of jobs.
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:Dave: Lots
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:Jerremy: of land.
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:We got lots of land.
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:So much land.
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:Yeah.
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:We have so much opportunity
for building, for construction,
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:for new creations to happen.
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:I think it's like, listen, open it up,
and come up with a really cool process.
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:Say, Hey, listen, we can have
as many immigrants as we want.
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:Bring them in.
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:Yeah, but let's get 'em documented.
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:Let's make them citizens and we
can sign on the dotted line where
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:someone a really beautiful, well-paid,
well-trained representative, gives
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:them the ability to stamp and say,
Hey, you just passed the test.
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:Which is, I think reasonable.
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:Man, like if you come to
the US to live here sure.
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:Pass some level of tests, some
level of, basic knowledge, basic
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:education slash ba, basic language.
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:Go through that, oh, now you're a citizen.
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:Awesome.
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:And now you can pay taxes, right?
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:That's really what the
country wants or needs.
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:And, and I think, man, looking at
some of these numbers the economic
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:impact, immigration can add 9 trillion
to the GDP:
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:Over that decade, 1.2
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:trillion in federal taxes.
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:Yeah, they could cut deficits by
900 billion Immigrants currently
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:pay 652 billion in taxes yearly,
including almost a hundred billion
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:from undocumented immigrants.
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:You find a really good flat tax,
which again, I'm kind of a huge fan
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:of everyone pays this amount done.
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:Don't worry about the IRS anymore.
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:Oh, you're alive.
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:Cool.
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:You pay this amount.
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:High five.
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:If you're making 30,000,
300,000 or 30 million, you pay
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:this amount, Hey, high five.
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:There's no way to get around it.
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:There's no way to, buy
depreciation or have write offs.
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:It's like, nope you're
an American citizen.
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:You pay this amount.
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:So now that, that collective revenue
is incredible among immigrants, and
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:again, I just think we just have a,
a much better due process because I'm
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:really, truthfully, in my personal
opinion of the world, not afraid.
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:I'm not afraid 'cause that's what
built dude, that's what built America.
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:Like if you do any level of history,
any level, our railroads, Manhattan,
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:built by immigrants, right?
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:Our entire transportation system out
to the Midwest, built by immigrants.
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:Like we have so much of this country
to think directly to those that
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:flooded this nation from traveling
because of what we can be and how big.
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:And how expansive it was.
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:I mean, shoot, dude, we
came here as immigrants.
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:Dave: Yeah,
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:Jerremy: We came over here, you
know, good old stories of Mayflower,
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:christopher Columbus we came
here and, and forged our own way.
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:So I think there's a, I think there's
a better way to approach this.
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:I think there's some type of really
interesting solution, and I'm not
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:the whole, oh man, America, the
immigrants are bringing in drugs.
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:It's like, no dude, immigrants
aren't bringing in drugs.
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:Drug people are bringing drugs.
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:They're coming here and leaving here and
it's not the immigrants that are bringing,
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:Dave: well, I want to tease that
apart a little bit because it
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:goes to some of my feelings on
undocumented or illegal aliens.
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:I guess one of the things I have
a problem with is this system of.
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:The drug cartels getting
people into the United States.
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:They make billions of dollars getting
people into the US and then these
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:folks become indentured servants.
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:They have to send money to the
cartel every single month, or bad
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:things happen to their families.
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:Mm-hmm.
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:I mean, this is human trafficking.
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:You can't go very long here in
south Florida about, another
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:prostitution ring, broken up.
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:And you know, the human suffering
that is around the undocumented
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:aspect of this is insanity.
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:And I think it causes a lot of.
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:I, I mean, I, I, I think that that
is a moral, a moral imperative
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:to be like, okay, look, you
can't come in the United States.
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:You are going to be deported.
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:This is a line in the sand.
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:Because what this does is
creates this underclass of people
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:That are, subject to the most violent,
extreme, awful human beings on the planet.
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:And then they're essentially put into
slave labor here in the United States.
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:That's the other side of this, which
is I don't get how American companies
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:and that includes, farm corporations,
that includes construction companies.
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:Like, like I don't, I
look, I don't get it right.
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:I mean, if you are working a fair
job in the United States, you
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:should be getting a fair wage and.
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:Yeah, we shouldn't be paying people
less money because they're undocumented
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:or saying, Hey, we're going to,
turn you over to ice if you demand,
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:basic benefits or a living wage,
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:these are people who are providing
tremendous value to the United
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:States and to you and I, but it's
artificially keeping wages low when
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:they should be making great money
and I got a big issue with that.
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:Human trafficking, prostitution,
underclass, not getting,
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:Jerremy: think the underclass
that we should figure out is just
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:the criminals, dude, that's it.
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:There's gotta be a really,
really great way to bifurcate
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:and distinguish who's here.
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:'cause they want to be here and they're
really doing their best to add to the
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:world and add to America as a positive.
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:Dave: Yeah.
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:Jerremy: Or those who
are here to be negligent.
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:There is definitely a way to distinguish
that and to just deep, oh, you're here and
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:you didn't get your stamp of approval yet.
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:You haven't gotten your green card.
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:We, it's gonna deport you.
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:Dave: Yeah.
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:Jerremy: And it doesn't
matter who you are.
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:I, you know, I kind of really liked
the, um, and I forget the exact name
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:and I apologize if I mess it up,
but like, I think it was under Obama
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:when if you're Cuban and you made
it to the beach, touch the sand.
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:You're, you got it right.
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:Hey, good job.
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:You survived.
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:You made it right in Florida.
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:Dave: Was and
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:Jerremy: cu was that way.
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:Dave: No.
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:George W.
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:Jerremy: Bush did that one.
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:Yep.
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:You know, and I kind of think in
that perspective where it's like,
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:Hey, the prize is to live here.
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:If you get here, and we can easily,
like we build centers, just like you
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:have military recruitment centers, you
have immigration centers all across the
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:country, because I've never seen one.
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:This might be pure ignorance and
I'm just a moron, but driving around
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:than any other city I've never seen,
oh, here's an immigration center.
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:They're, they're not just places where
like, Hey, you wanna come to America?
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:Cool.
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:You got here.
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:However you got here, I don't
know how you got here, but come
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:here, fill out these forms, take a
test, get a green card, well done.
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:Go pay your taxes.
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:Mm-hmm.
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:And those are people that are not going,
99% of them are not going to be criminals.
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:That's like saying, oh, we should deport
all of them because they're illegal.
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:It's like the amount of people that are
in the US that are illegal, documented,
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:born here, bred here, people that
terrorize people and commit murders
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:is probably just as high as whatever.
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:Someone from a different country did it.
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:So you can't just stipulate anyone who's
illegal alien is automatically a murderer.
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:I think that's, I think that's
an insane propagandist piece
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:that was thrown out there.
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:Dave: I hear you.
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:And I also, what are the
causes of all this immigration?
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:Because we're talking about,
you know, like there's about a
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:million people, and it's been
about the same for about 50 years.
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:About a million people come into
the United States, quote unquote,
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:legally, they have green cards.
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:They, you know, either lottery or
they're sponsored by a business
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:and, you know, they have a marriage.
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:And then, you know, like that's
what I'm exploring right now.
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:And because the laws are so byzantine
and haven't been really been touched
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:in like 30 years, you know, I need a
lawyer in order to help figure this out.
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:You know, it's not simple,
but when I think about it.
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:There's a reason, there's
a push and a pull.
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:There's, you know, like there's issues
going on in a person's home country.
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:There may not be economic opportunity.
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:It may be violent, it may be, unstable.
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:And, you know, like here in South Florida,
you know, huge number of folks from
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:Haiti, from Cuba, and from Venezuela.
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:I mean, it's massive, right?
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:Those countries are in pretty bad
shape directly because of the stuff
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:that the United States has done,
like, you know, the French and the
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:United States have been, shaking.
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:Haiti for the better part of 120 years.
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:Venezuela has had, so many issues.
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:I think we've toppled that
government one or two times.
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:Uh, who knows?
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:Like, we have had it, you know, under
some sort of, uh, economic restrictions
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:for as long as I can remember.
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:And, uh, you know, Cuba is Cuba.
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:Like we, I've been to Cuba
and like we've had our foot on
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:the neck of that country for.
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:Since the 1950s, since way
before, you and I were born.
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:And so like, there's a reason why
people are leaving their countries.
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:And in some stance I'm thinking like
I wouldn't wanna leave my country, you
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:know, like, it's my country, right?
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:Mm-hmm.
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:And like, if those countries were amazing.
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:Nobody would be wanting to even come here.
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:I mean, isn't there something to be
said that the policies of the United
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:States should be like, okay, not only is
it like make America great again, it's
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:also make Venezuela great again and,
you know, stop like throwing it down a
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:flight of stairs or make Cuba great again.
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:You know, like, these countries just
because we don't like the governments,
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:it's like we deal with countries that have
terrible governments all over the planet.
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:Like Saudi Arabia is not like a
bastion of human rights, you know?
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:Like it is not a good place.
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:Right.
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:And yet, you know, like we're all sunny
about Saudi Arabia and it's like, it is
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:not, I'll probably get some hate mail
for this, but Saudi Arabia is, is very
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:low on the human rights world, right?
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:Correct.
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:Oh yeah.
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:But like, we're all thumbs up.
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:Right?
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:We could be doing the same with those
countries in our own hemisphere.
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:And like, I don't get that, you
know, like, maybe this isn't an
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:immigration thing, it's a, stop
screwing with other countries thing.
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:Jerremy: What do you think?
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:Yeah, very well could be like, you
know, beefing up the essentially
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:ambassadors or the Secretary of State or
other aspects of where we can, I don't
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:know, teach other governments, right.
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:Help give them guidance, help teach
them how to think, play, construct,
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:build, liberalize, theorize, create,
make opportunities, uh, rather than
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:continually punishing citizens.
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:'cause yeah, everyone's
coming here, right?
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:Honduras doesn't really have a
huge immigration problem and it
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:has a bunch of countries around it.
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:Brazil isn't facing a
huge immigration problem.
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:It's got a bunch of
countries bordering it.
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:Dave: Yeah.
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:Jerremy: We only have really two.
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:Mexico and Canada, and, Canadians
don't flood down here either.
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:Dave: Mm-hmm.
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:Jerremy: So we also have to kind of
think about like, all right, well
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:the countries that are coming here,
is there a way to your point, right?
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:Is there a way that we can work with
them weekly, monthly, quarterly, to say,
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:Hey, listen, your country kind of sucks.
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:Like, is there a way that you
guys can figure it out where
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:everyone doesn't leave in droves?
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:Dave: Let's stop invading with, uh,
with government, contractors with guns
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:and start invading with Coca-Cola.
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:Mm-hmm.
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:And let, mm-hmm.
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:Let's, let's, you know, let's
let's get great American
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:businesses in these countries.
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:Yeah.
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:Um,
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:Creating jobs and, making sure that
folks do have a good standard of
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:living and that, you know, like we,
we, we have, we have overturned most
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:of the governments in Central and
South America over the last hundred
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:years, and it hasn't worked out well,
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:I'm of a proponent of
invading economically.
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:That's what I think we should do.
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:Jerremy: It's fascinating.
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:I think ultimately one of the really,
really cool solutions that I'm
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:very fascinated to dig into is just
gonna be the border thing, right?
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:Like, that's, that's the one that
trump's like, Hey, I don't think
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:a lot of people are gonna do it.
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:They haven't really brought it up.
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:I mean, Obama was big on immigration.
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:Some people, people love painting
Obama as this, like super peaceful.
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:Dave: Oh no.
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:Jerremy: Crazy loving.
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:He did everything correct, kinda.
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:He,
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:Dave: he was actually called
the deporter in chief.
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:He, that I know, dude, a lot of people.
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:He deported,
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:Jerremy: he kicked out
all kinds of people.
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:Dave: He deported more people than
any other president in modern history.
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:Like period.
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:Yeah.
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:I mean, like, it was crazy.
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:It was like 5 million people.
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:Actually.
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:George w he, he did 10.3
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:million and Obama did 5.3
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:million.
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:You'd think Trump in his first
administration was this huge.
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:Now he did 1.9
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:million.
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:Uh, so it was actually the lowest one.
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:You know, Biden got a lot of grief
and he should have, you know, it
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:felt like the borders were wide open.
337
:Mm-hmm.
338
:Uh, and that goes to some
of the economic cost.
339
:You know, in the research
it came up that on average.
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:You know, immigrants do, you know,
provide a lot more to the United States
341
:than they take in services, right?
342
:However, you know, that is different in
Florida, in Texas, and in California.
343
:California right now has
a huge budget deficit.
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:It may be like the ninth largest
economy on the planet, but they, they're
345
:running a massive deficit right now
that they're trying to balance out and
346
:they have really high, uh, high taxes.
347
:So they're trying to figure it out.
348
:That's a, you know, that's a state
that provides all sorts of services.
349
:And so like they're struggling with that.
350
:They're trying to figure it out.
351
:Here in Florida?
352
:Same.
353
:Same.
354
:You know, like there's, there's
a lot of money that goes into
355
:the infrastructure, whether it's,
schools or healthcare or housing.
356
:Yeah.
357
:You know, like there's, there's a lot
which is very different than say New York.
358
:And that's, you know, that was some of
the shenanigans that we saw, you know,
359
:last administration where, you know, uh,
governor Abbott would like bust people
360
:into San Francisco or they'd bus them
into LA or bus 'em into to New York.
361
:And there was a change in attitude,
and particularly in New York City
362
:where it was like, oh my God.
363
:And so like, there was a bit of a
out of sight, out of mind for folks.
364
:It's like, it's easy to say
immigrants are awesome when.
365
:It's not in your face, and it isn't
like a serious sort of issue that is
366
:expensive and time consuming and changing,
sort of like the fabric of things.
367
:So I, I think it, you know, if we're,
we're thinking about immigration,
368
:we think about it as a nation as a
whole, not as like, it's just really
369
:a problem for the border states.
370
:Jerremy: Yeah.
371
:Yeah, I agree.
372
:But I think the border states, I mean.
373
:Dude, Arizona, New Mexico.
374
:Yeah.
375
:It's called New Mexico.
376
:Hello.
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:Dave: Gulf of America.
378
:Jerremy: What happened to
379
:Dave: that is, is the whole Greenland, uh,
Gulf of America are we done with that now?
380
:Jerremy: No, Gulf America has happened.
381
:That is an executive order.
382
:It's on Google Maps.
383
:They're putting it in the schools,
they're updating into books.
384
:It's kind of hilarious.
385
:And where did that
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:Dave: come from?
387
:I'd be like, I,
388
:Jerremy: In, in the random, uh,
rabbit hole of Gulf of America.
389
:I believe it was because
of an energy rite.
390
:That has been signed for the last
30 years that prohibited Trump or
391
:any American president from doing
something in the Gulf of Mexico.
392
:So he said, oh, well, I'll just
change it to Gulf of America now.
393
:The law no longer supersedes
what I want to do.
394
:Dave: IIII love that we're
kind of run by a toddler.
395
:It's like the greatest
thing ever, you know?
396
:Yeah.
397
:Jerremy: It's like, we'll
just change the name.
398
:Dave: I'm like,
399
:Jerremy: okay.
400
:He's a billionaire, toddler who knows how
to break all laws and get away with it.
401
:Dave: There is a subtle brilliance to it.
402
:Jerremy: He is like, let me break the
law and I can't be in trouble because it
403
:doesn't apply to me a subtle brilliance.
404
:So that, that's real.
405
:The Gulf of America is
now an actual thing.
406
:It's on, if you pull up a
Google map, Dave, on your phone.
407
:Oh, come.
408
:It'll say Gulf.
409
:I swear.
410
:Pull it up real quick.
411
:After, after pulling up
412
:Dave: Panama, we were
gonna invade Panama too.
413
:We stopped talking about that one.
414
:Jerremy: Yeah, we stopped talking about
that Greenland that kind of went away.
415
:'Cause people told Trump, Hey
bro, there's nothing there.
416
:Just go away there, there's
nothing in Greenland.
417
:It's not a real place.
418
:Like there's like five pounds of oil.
419
:Leave it alone.
420
:Alex: "We’ve hashed out big
ideas—economic shifts and global
421
:fixes—but what’s it like on the ground?
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:Next time, we’re peeling back the
curtain on immigration courts drowning
423
:in 4,500 cases per judge and a
billion-dollar detention setup that’s
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:got us asking: is this really the answer?
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:Stay with us."
