Policy Forum 

# State-Based Visas: A Federalist Approach to Immigration Reform 

##### Watch the Event 

Download:

[ 

Video 

](https://fastly-unsigned-us-east-1-prod.brightcovecdn.com/media/v1/pmp4/static/clear/6039378657001/bf6e90de-1c99-4b2f-974c-8affefb3bd4f/608a71a8-1141-4583-91ac-b79a07650bea/main.mp4) 

[ 

Video 

](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2014/cpf-03-25-14.mp4) 

[ 

Audio 

](https://cdn.cato.org/archive-2014/cpfa-03-25-14.mp3) 

Join the conversation on X using [\#CatoEvents](https://x.com/hashtag/CatoEvents). Follow [@CatoInstitute](https://x.com/catoinstitute) on X to get future event updates, live streams, and videos from the Cato Institute.

Date and Time 

March 25, 2014 12 - 1:30 PM EDT 

Location 

Hayek Auditorium 

Share This Event 

##### Featuring 

Featuring **Brandon Fuller**, Deputy Director and Research Scholar, NYU Stern Urbanization Project; **Reihan Salam**, columnist and National Review Institute policy fellow; and **Shikha Dalmia**, columnist and Reason Foundation Senior Analyst; moderated by **Alex Nowrasteh**, Immigration Policy Analyst, Cato Institute. 

The immigration reform debate is increasingly polarized and has policymakers looking for new and innovative reform options. State- or regionally managed guest-worker visa programs, in addition to federal visas, should be considered as part of any immigration reform. Under such a system, individual states could manage and experiment with different guest-worker visa systems designed to suit their particular economic circumstances. Canada and Australia have regional visa programs that have worked well, aided economic growth, and slowed population decline in some areas. Their approaches could be adapted to the United States. This panel will address the potential economic, political, and legal issues that come with regionally managed visas. Please join us for an in-depth discussion of the costs and benefits of state and locally managed guest-worker visas.

[![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) 
This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).