Immigration: Moral and Practical (Header 1)
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Any nation that claims to protect individual rights--the rights to life, liberty, and property--cannot properly have anything but an open border policy with regard to immigration. To even have the classification "illegal immigrant" is to maintain that the government may classify individuals as criminals absent those individuals committing any objective crimes.
It is not a crime to seek and take a job from an employer who wishes to give it or to buy housing from someone who wishes to sell it. A government may not interfere in consensual, voluntary exchanges among individuals, regardless of those individuals' countries of origin.
Rights--as the Constitution recognizes--are inalienable, and do not exist by virtue of a person being an American: they exist by virtue of him being human. They are based on the requirements of successful human life and social interaction.
The government may not violate the rights of immigrants, much less its own citizens, who wish only to trade to mutual benefit. The government has only legal jurisdiction over its land, not ownership of it--privately owned land cannot be properly regulated by the government when it is not being used to violate rights.
There is no "we" who own "our" land and "our" jobs to keep "them" out. Only individuals own property and jobs, and can dispose of them as they see fit.
The economic ramifications of immigration are supremely beneficial to all Americans. By competing in the marketplace, immigrants encourage greater productivity. By working for lesser nominal wages, they allow employers to retain more capital, allowing them to expand their businesses and increase total output, driving real wages up. By displacing others from their jobs, those displaced can move on to better jobs.
There is always more progress to be made, more wealth to be created, more jobs to be filled. The need for productivity is limitless, so more productive workers in the marketplace can only help the economy and in the long-run, everybody involved.
But what of those who come here to take advantage of welfare services? Although they do impose a burden, the problem only exists because the government forcefully redistributes wealth in the first place. Short of the ideal of dismantling the welfare system altogether, steps to restrict welfare usage, such as the passage of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity and Reconciliation Act under Clinton, help to alleviate the burden and should be put in place.
However, that is not the real concern of the anti-immigration agenda, as evidenced by their targeting the employers of immigrants who obviously pay into the welfare system.
Another concern, overpopulation, is also not a problem. High population density has always been a boon to quality of life and economic prosperity generally. That is why individuals flock to live in large cities--they can seek out jobs in highly specialized fields and pursue interests that would not be economically efficient or possible in sparsely-populated communities.
And what of terrorism and crime? These are problems for the military and police to deal with when they arise. Quoting Dr. Yaron Brook, "International terrorism is a serious threat--but what it necessitates is not stronger borders, but stronger military action against the states that sponsor terrorism." Further, ordinary criminals are no more a threat on the national borders than on state or county borders. But more crucially, we cannot effectively treat immigrants as guilty until proven innocent.
The moral is the practical. Immigrants have the right to find jobs and housing, Americans have the right to invite them to live and work, and the benefits of introducing highly productive, industrious people into the marketplace benefits everyone.
To quote Dr. Harry Binswanger, "Immigrants are the kind of people who refresh the American spirit. They are ambitious, courageous, and value freedom. They come here, often with no money and not even speaking the language, to seek a better life for themselves and their children."
America is a country of immigrants. Throughout history, immigrants have embodied the American dream of pursuing happiness and living successful, productive lives.
Because L.O.G.I.C.'s position is so strongly for open borders, we have arranged a debate between Dr. Yaron Brook (Executive Director of the Ayn Rand Institute) and Mr. Carl Braun (Executive Director of the Minuteman Civil Defense Corps of California) to address the major concerns in the controversy over immigration.
Please join us tomorrow [2007-02-06] evening at 7:00pm in Moore 100.
Unfortunately, UCLA cancelled this event, but as of February 8, 2007, it is in the process of being rescheduled.
