Immigration

TGIF: Unjust Immigration Law Is Not Law

by Sheldon Richman November 21, 2014

So President Obama is going to defer deportation of five million people without government papers, mostly parents of children whom the government deems citizens or legal permanent residents. Under his executive order, most will get permission to work. Obama will also increase the number of “dreamers” — children brought here illegally by their parents and raised in the United States ...

The Libertarian Angle: Immigration Socialism

by Future of Freedom Foundation September 22, 2014

FFF president Jacob Hornberger and FFF vice president Sheldon Richman discuss the hot topics of the day. This week: immigration. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. Go to the podcast.

Borderlands: What’s Happening to America?

by Sheldon Richman July 30, 2014

A man, an American citizen, sits in his car as a U.S. Border Patrol agent insists that he roll down his window. He refuses. Agents use battering rams to smash the windows. Still, the driver refuses to leave his car, so he is hit with a Taser from two sides. He screams. It would be bad enough if this scene, ...

The Libertarian Angle: Obamacare, Contraceptives, and Immigrant Children

by Future of Freedom Foundation July 7, 2014

FFF president Jacob Hornberger and FFF vice president Sheldon Richman discuss the hot topics of the day. This week: the Hobby Lobby ruling and the influx of immigrant children on the southern border. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly. Go to the podcast.

The Libertarian Angle: Immigration and Open Borders

by Future of Freedom Foundation October 14, 2013

Jacob Hornberger and Sheldon Richman discuss the always contentious topic of immigration. The Libertarian Angle airs weekly.

What the Immigration Bill Overlooks

by Sheldon Richman July 9, 2013

In passing the monstrosity known as immigration “reform,” the Senate overlooked a few things of importance. This is unsurprising. A bill on immigration that is backed by leading Republicans and Democrats, big business, and government-co-opted unions is bound to have missed some things. The bill, whose fate in the House is uncertain, would appropriate $40 billion over the next decade ...

Did President Obama “Radicalize” the Tsarnaevs?

by Sheldon Richman April 30, 2013

If the Brothers Tsarnaev’s bombing at the Boston Marathon is an argument against immigration, then Tim McVeigh’s bombing of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City is an argument against reproductive freedom. Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev came to the United States from the Caucasus as youngsters. On what grounds should they have been barred from the country? That their family ...

Nativism, the Citizenship Union, and Barriers to Movement

by Fergus Hodgson April 3, 2013

The day is rapidly approaching when the epithet “nativist” will carry as much power as “racist.” Not only is nativism — the practice of favoring the established inhabitants of a country over recent immigrants — hateful and based on a fallacy; its destructive consequences are becoming more apparent by the day. Nativism, and its manifestation in debates over American citizenship, ...

Immigration, the Constitution, and Liberty

by Tim Kelly February 19, 2013

Immigration is one of those intractable wedge issues. It is, for the most part, a problem created by government meddling — and therefore any “solution” implemented by the government is more likely to aggravate the situation than improve it. First, let me state that I believe the federal government to have no authority over immigration except to create uniform laws ...

Deportations Guarantee Injustice

by Scott McPherson November 29, 2012

This country’s immigration laws are a travesty. Americans boast that their country is a free and open society, with a long history of immigration and a dedication to fairness and opportunity. They then support laws that arbitrarily limit the number of people allowed to live, work, and pursue their happiness within our borders. Such laws create unfair burdens on businesses, interfering ...

Republican Reconsideration of Immigration

by Sheldon Richman November 15, 2012

“Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others.” — Groucho Marx Apparently Groucho has been elected chairman of the Republican National Committee. Mitt Romney’s loss to Barack Obama has so shocked the Republican Party that it now is willing to question long-held positions. If defeat prompts Republicans to abandon anti-freedom convictions, that’s all to the good — ...

What Part of “Illegal” Really Matters?

by Scott McPherson July 2, 2012

The mantra of some in the anti-immigration movement in this country can be found in the following question: What part of “illegal” do you not understand? It is regularly featured on protest placards; it’s in their widely circulated emails. Most anti-immigration types will not say they are anti-immigration, of course — they’re just anti–illegal immigration, they ...