Libertarians favor LEGAL immigration. We do not favor borders that look like swiss cheese, which is pretty much what we have along Mexico. If people from other countries want to emigrate to this country- no problemo! Follow the rules and come on over. If you sneak in, or are smuggled in, you are a criminal and you should be sent back.
Some people are beginning to see the presense of the Minutemen as a problem. From an AP story:
"We do not have the time nor the patience for anyone attempting to turn this situation into a three ring circus," Cochise County Sheriff Larry Dever said in a statement.
The Minutemen wouldn't even be there if the border was effectively being patrolled. Problem managed, no circus. Comprende?
3 comments:
I don't know, brother. I tend to look at immigration laws as arbitrary and illegitimate. If Juan wants to come across some arbitrarily defined political border, and someone here wants to rent him an apartment or give him a job, it's none of the government's business. So long as Juan isn't criminal, the government can honk off.
On the other hand, there really are problems with this. Security concerns since 9/11 have particularly given me concern. So, I'm not quite so sweeping in my outlook there as I would have been a few years ago.
Still, I'm inclined to think that the proper libertarian presumption is that laws restricting basic human freedom of movement are simply illegitimate unless there is some compelling reason.
I was never completely sold on the open borders argument even before 9/11. Mainly, I agree with you if someone is coming to the US to creat a living for himself and his family that's one thing. Unfortunately, they way it's set up, that person can as easily come to the US and proceed immediately to medicare and other programs. Remembering that my wife is a midwife who speaks fluent Spanish and delivers many a baby of Hispanic descent, she sees first hand how frequently this occurs.
Close off all welfare to non-US citizens *and* address national security concerns, and I'm inclined to send out the welcome wagon myself.
Also, it would be really difficult to cut off social spending for illegals. You might cut off more direct welfare, such as food stamps. However, it would be almost impossible and probably not wise to cut off access to education and health care. Somebody shows up at the emergency room, are you just going to tell them to take their pneumonia or broken leg elsewhere?
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