This is the Cato Daily Podcast for Friday, May 24, 2024.

I'm Caleb Brown.

Today marks 100 years of our modern immigration system.

Cato's David Beer describes how one big change in how immigration happens

has infringed Americans' rights and made the US less wealthy

and far, far less welcoming.

So Dave, we're marking this anniversary that you say sort of this moment in 1924 that sort of crystallized, broadly speaking,

the immigration system that we have now.

Can you talk about the immigration system that existed prior to this date a hundred years ago in the United States?

Right, from the founding of the United States all the way up until 1924, the immigration system of the

United States presumed that you had the right to move to the United States and that any American could invite someone from another

country to come live with them or work for them or whatever the case might be.

And that presumption could only be overcome

by the government presenting evidence

that you fell into an excluded category.

And so the burden of proof,

the evidence that needed to be presented was on the government.

And so they had certain categories,

people that could be excluded, criminals, what they called paupers or homeless people, people

who would go and live in government housing.

These were people who could be excluded, but the government had to show the burden of proof

to show that they would be excluded and the way I look at it you know May 24th

...