Bryan Caplan on Immigration

Bryan Caplan reviews the book "Scratch Beginnings"  and states:

When Shephard ends his book with a call to action to help America's poor help themselves, it doesn't ring true. His self-experiment is another reminder that true humanitarians should focus on the world's bottom billions - and that restricting the immigration of the bottom billions for the sake of relatively poor Americans is a crime."

The premise is that Shepard spent a year proving that it is possible to start almost literally from scratch with one 8' by 10' tarp, a sleeping bag, an empty gym bag, $25, and the clothes on his back and inexactly one year possess an operable automobile, live in a furnished apartment and have $2500 in cash without resorting to previous contacts, his college degree etc. Caplan simply points out that irregular immigrants have been doing this for years.