Either the Cato Institute has moved far left in their Never-Trump status, or Libertarians are loons. Or they didn’t realize they had a far left moonbat in their midst, as Jeffrey Miron, director of economic studies at the Cato Institute and the director of undergraduate studies in the Department of Economics at Harvard University, calls for open borders. Though, this isn’t that out of bounds when it comes to official Libertarians, who also want all drugs legalized
Forget the wall already, it’s time for the U.S. to have open borders
President Donald Trump’s recent tweets against open borders come as no surprise. Indeed, even fervent immigration advocates worry that open borders would lower the wages of low-skilled natives, erode national security, and overburden the social safety net. Trump doubled down, tweeting that he would be “willing to ‘shut down’ government” unless Congress approves funding for a border wall with Mexico.
Trump, however, has it exactly backwards: The solution to America’s immigration problems is open borders, under which the United States imposes no immigration restrictions at all. If the U.S. adopts this policy, the benefits will far outweigh the costs.
If we have no borders, we have no country.
Illegal immigration will disappear, by definition. Much commentary on immigration — Trump and fellow travelers aside — suggests that legal immigration is good and that illegal immigration is bad. So, legalize all immigration.
Government will then have no need to define or interpret rules about asylum, economic hardship, family reunification, family separation, DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals)Â and so on. When all immigration is legal, these issues are irrelevant.
See? It’s so easy. We could totally save money!
Expenditure on immigration enforcement would shrink to nothing, because open borders means no walls, fences, screening at airports, ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), deportations, detention centers or immigration courts. A 2013 report estimated that immigration enforcement cost more than $18 billion annually, and standard indicators suggest costs have grown further since then.
And they’ll send their best!
The government’s fiscal balance could actually improve with more legal immigrants earning income and paying taxes in America. And under open borders, any added immigration will plausibly come from those with even higher skills and incomes, who faced weaker incentives to immigrate when faced with the burden of current restrictions.
And Jeffrey tells us that there won’t be any bad consequences. They won’t flood into America (though, since we have no borders, there’s no need to name the nation), the won’t put down roots, crime won’t skyrocket, terrorists won’t stream in, but,
Open borders are not without risks. Social safety nets might come under pressure, and natives will face added competition for jobs (though the evidence on this is mixed).
If it’s “mixed” now, when they’re streaming in, natives (notice he doesn’t call us Americans. Very telling) will lose, and social safety nets will crash. I wonder if Jeffrey locks the doors in his car and home? Does he have a fence?
Here’s another lunatic
I want to start a conversation about restructuring ice and granting amnesty to the 10 million plus people who are already here. Here’s the @courierjournal coverage:https://t.co/OFPwvXCPAg
— Hank Linderman for Congress KY-02 (@hank4ky) July 30, 2018
