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Sometimes I just can’t help but be amused by defenders of America’s socialist system of immigration controls. They point to the large number of migrants who are crossing America’s southern border and to all the migrants who are overwhelming governmental facilities in various cities.
And then what is their response?
“We need to secure the border!” they excitedly cry.
Well, duh!
That’s the whole purpose of America’s socialist system of immigration controls, isn’t it? Hasn’t “securing the border” been the goal of this system since the time it was enacted?
Isn’t that why there is an immigration police state along the border?
Isn’t that why there are tens of thousands of Border Patrol agents, ICE agents, DEA agents, and U.S. soldiers along the border?
Isn’t that what America’s version of the Berlin Wall is all about?
Isn’t that why immigrants are not permitted to work without a “green card”?
Isn’t that why it’s a criminal offense to hire an illegal immigrant?
Isn’t that why it’s a criminal offense to transport or harbor an illegal immigrant?
Isn’t that why there are warrantless searches of people’s ranches and farms along the border?
Isn’t that why there are warrantless highway checkpoints along the border?
Isn’t that why there are warrantless roving Border Patrol checkpoints along the border?
So, what are immigration control advocates complaining about? Haven’t officials been “cracking down” on illegal immigration all of our lives?
Although they will never admit it to themselves, what they are complaining about is that their beloved socialist immigration-control system hasn’t worked. No matter how much officials have “cracked down” in their attempt to “secure” the border, it just hasn’t ever worked.
Why can’t immigration-control advocates see that?
And if it hasn’t worked for more than 70 years, what in the world makes them think that officials are suddenly going to start making it work?
Nonetheless, they scream and they flail, calling on officials to “do something” to “secure” the border, ignoring the quite obvious fact that officials have been “doing something” during the entire existence of this socialist system.
What they also don’t want to see is that all the immigration crisis, chaos, death, and suffering is the direct consequence of their beloved socialist immigration system.
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Consider, for example, the large number of migrants that are illegally crossing the border. Why is that happening? It’s happening because the immigration-control system is based on the core socialist principle of central planning. Studying market trends in the United States, the government’s immigration central planners make an arbitrary determination of how many migrants will be permitted to enter the United States.
But the central planner cannot possibly plan something as complex as America’s labor market. In this case, the planners’ arbitrary number of migrants is way too low. The planners cannot repeal the laws of supply and demand. The migrants ignore the arbitrary number of the central planners and come anyway. Thus, it is the “fatal conceit” of the central planners that brings about this “planned chaos.”
Many migrants head to big cities, where they would love to work and where American employers would love to hire them. But it’s illegal for them to work. Remember: No green card! So, city officials then spend tax money to place them into subsidized housing and give them food.
Of course, none of this crisis and chaos exists in a free market. People would simply cross the border, retain their citizenship, travel north, get jobs, find housing, buy things, and save money. Many of them would undoubtedly return home on a seasonable basis. No federal or state governmental agency would need to do anything to take care of them. They would take care of themselves. No one would know who was an American citizen and no one would care. People would deal with people simply as human beings, just like most people do today in their everyday transactions.
The free market harmonizes people’s interests. It brings peace and tranquility to people’s interactions. It doesn’t produce death, suffering, crisis, chaos, and violence, as America’s socialist system of immigration controls does.
If we can only get immigration-control advocates to accept personal responsibility for the consequences of their socialist immigration system, that would be a gigantic step in the direction of restoring the free market, peace, prosperity, and harmony to America’s immigration arena.