Are Libertarians Wrong to Favor Open Immigration?
I talk with The Brownstone Institute's Jeff Tucker
Like most libertarians, The Brownstone Institute's Jeff Tucker has long been a proponent of open borders. So have I. But we both feel that events of the past few years require a more thoughtful response than the standard anti-state-border rhetoric. Including, perhaps, admissions that we've been wrong all along.
Have we?
Jeff and I explore some of the complexities of the current crisis along the southern border of the US, the Texas standoff, and immigration more generally. What's happening at the border goes well beyond what we generally think of as "immigration", and Jeff and I talk about what's behind that, and the ways in which immigrants are being used to further political agendas and disrupt the democratic process. We also talk about ways in which the post-9-11 tightening of immigration restrictions have exacerbated the problem.
I talk a little about my experience living in Japan – a country with strict immigration controls, and a strong, cohesive culture that I don't think many Americans can relate to. And as much as government management of immigration has created problems and allowed for immigration to be weaponized, it's not entirely clear that a stateless society would have the ability to produce or protect cultural cohesion in this way. (Although, to be fair, in most of the world, the state fails at this too.)
SPOILER: We don't come away with any answers. But we both agree that these are questions that need to be wrestled with, and we will continue to wrestle.
Related: My recent conversation with Bob Murphy has some insights on the stateless society that are relevant to this conversation.
the thing is, that illegal immigrants now get all kind of benefits. If they didn't get anything, no housing, no food, no health care, no money, no help, how many would come do you think? Then you could indeed have open borders. But it all started with bribing people to come (like after WW2 the mine workers in Belgium and later Polish metal workers etc). If they are given nothing at all and have to build up from the ground, things would be very differint IMO. Well, that is what I had to do and I am a legal immigrant.
You touched on the big aspect for me when you talked about subsidies.
The U.S. doesn't have an open border; it has a *subsidized border*.
And government subsidies interfere with both the natural human right of migration and the natural human right of private property. The problem -- the evil -- is government subsidization, not migrants as such.