George Will, one of Washington’s most prominent establishment voices, is once again calling for more mass migration. In a recent Washington Post column, Will argued that foreign migrants—not young Americans—should be relied upon to “rejuvenate” the nation.

Migrants, he said, “could improve the nation’s dynamism, and its understanding of itself,” even as he admitted that “neither political party will seize the moment for immigration reform.”

Will, born in 1941, came of age in an era when good jobs, affordable homes, and strong families defined the American Dream. Now, at 84, he is insisting that foreign labor and low-wage workers can replace what he sees as a sluggish younger generation.

His comments arrive at a moment when millions of young Americans are struggling under economic conditions unlike anything their parents faced. Wages have stagnated, housing costs have skyrocketed, and college debt has crushed opportunities. Many recent graduates are still unemployed long after earning their degrees.

“My friend group from high school, all graduated, great degrees from great schools,” said Nalin Haley, a recent graduate. “It’s been a year and a half, and not one of them has a job — not one.”

Haley’s frustration echoes across Generation Z. A Rasmussen pollster recently noted that parents of young adults describe them as “demoralized,” unable to find stable work in a market flooded by foreign labor and automation.

Rich Baris, a pollster and director of Big Data Poll, said older Americans have no right to lecture the young about their struggles. “It’s pretty damned insulting to listen to people in older generations act as if these younger generations have all the options and opportunities they did. They do not. Boomers made sure of it,” Baris said.

He added, “In 10 years, there won’t even be an argument, and the younger generations will make sure history remembers you as the generation who inherited it all, and left nothing to be inherited.”

Will’s piece ignored the fact that mass immigration under Joe Biden has already brought millions of illegal migrants and foreign workers into the country, many taking jobs Americans once filled. H-1B visa workers from India, for instance, have displaced U.S. professionals in tech and engineering, while unvetted migrants now dominate low-skill sectors like construction, hospitality, and food service.

Will went even further, arguing that migrants can help America by filling jobs as “domestic helpers, cleaners, waiters, car-wash attendants, meatpackers and other low-skill jobs,” claiming this would “drive productivity and social dynamism.”

He suggested that migrants could even act as servants to make life easier for better-educated Americans. According to Will, “low-skill immigrants (nannies, housekeepers, meal-preparers) substantially reduce hesitation about having children.”

His view stands in sharp contrast to the real-world outcomes of mass immigration. While older Americans have built wealth through home values and investments, younger citizens are watching their earnings fall as cheap labor keeps wages low and rents high. The U.S. has imported roughly 50 million legalized, quasi-legal, or illegal migrants since the 1960s, reshaping the economy and squeezing the middle class.

Even the business world is beginning to acknowledge that endless migration isn’t sustainable. A study published by Springer found that “at medium and low immigration levels,” countries see higher productivity and per capita wealth than under mass migration.

Stephen Camarota, research director at the Center for Immigration Studies, said the findings confirm what average Americans already know. “It may be good for Wall Street, it’s not good for Main Street,” he said.

President Trump has taken a different path, pushing for automation and technology to strengthen the economy instead of importing more cheap labor. “We’re going to need robots … to make our economy run because we do not have enough people,” Trump told Breitbart News earlier this year.

Vice President JD Vance has echoed that message, saying the promise of cheap labor has become “a drug that too many American firms got addicted to.” He added, “Whether we’re offshoring factories to cheap labor economies or importing cheap labor through our immigration system, cheap labor became the drug of Western economies.”

For younger Americans now facing rising debt, fewer job opportunities, and a shrinking middle class, Will’s message felt like a betrayal. As elites champion more migration, the generation once promised the American Dream is being told they can simply be replaced.