Welcome to the roundup of notable coverage and announcements from the Niskanen Center for the week of Friday, August 21.
IMMIGRATION
Niskanen Center’s David Bier wrote an article for the Foundation for Economic Education on what he sees as the top 5 inaccuracies from Donald Trump’s recently released policy paper on immigration. Mr. Bier outlines a series of claims ranging from the number of immigrants and guest workers coming into our country to Mr. Trump’s false claims on immigration’s impact on the workforce.
Mr. Bier’s critique of Donald Trump’s immigration policy paper continued in an article for the Huffington Post where he outlined five graphs that show the ways in which Mr. Trump is incorrect on immigration.
The Niskanen Center was also cited alongside the Cato Institute in a press release from the National Immigration Forum. In the release, the National Immigration Forum uses a Niskanen Center study as evidence to critique Donald Trump’s recently released policy paper on immigration.
Niskanen Center’s Matthew La Corte wrote an article for Townhall describing the progress the GOP has made on immigration, despite the inflammatory remarks from Donald Trump. Mr. La Corte states candidates like Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Carly Fiorina support legal status for people currently in the United States illegally. The fact that these top-tier candidates support immigration reform, Mr. La Corte states, exemplifies the progress the GOP has made on immigration.
CIVIL LIBERTIES
The Niskanen Center’s Ryan Hagemann penned an article in The Hill on a recent ruling from the International Trade Commission on the importation of digital files. In the article, Mr. Hagemann points out that the ITC’s ruling stepped beyond its bounds and the ruling should not be applied to such cases.
Mr. Hagemann also wrote an article for Watchdog, where he discusses the implementation of facial recognition software in law enforcement agencies. Mr. Hagemann likens the use of such software to an Orwellian idea, with the government invading its citizens’ privacy without their knowing. Mr. Hagemann recognizes the potential benefits of such software, but worries about the cost to our civil liberties and our democracy.
DEFENSE
In Townhall, Niskanen Center’s Matthew Fay wrote about the GOP’s problem with increased defense spending. That op-ed was co-authored with Pete Sepp from National Taxpayers Union. Recapping the recent Republican debate, Mr. Fay and Mr. Sepp noted that many candidates talked about increasing the size and spending for the military, but offered very few feasible ways to fund the increased budgets for these programs.