Immigration

Beyond the DREAM Act

by Fergus Hodgson January 23, 2012

We’ve all heard of the policy centerpiece for immigration-reform proponents, the DREAM Act. The battle over this legislation, which would offer a path to citizenship for some illegal immigrants, has labored on for more than a decade now; but, rather than being enacted, the bill has failed repeatedly. Sadly, the legislative battle has stoked animosity instead of intelligent dialogue ...

Frustrated with Immigrants? Just Wait until They Leave

by Fergus Hodgson December 20, 2011

The enforcement of laws against illegal immigrants remains a bone of contention between states and the federal government (and on the GOP presidential campaign trail), and the U.S. Supreme Court has now agreed to weigh in on the issue. There is, however, an irony to this battle that appears to be lost on deportation proponents: many people ...

What Immigration Problem?

by Sheldon Richman November 11, 2011

Arizona, Alabama, and Georgia have each enacted stringent laws aimed at curbing illegal immigration. Before saying more, lets be clear about the alleged problem. What is an illegal immigrant? Its simply a person possessing natural rights, mind you who comes to the United States without the permission of the U.S. government. Now isn't it curious that in this country, ...

Immigration Chaos

by Fergus Hodgson July 27, 2011

The presence of illegal immigrants in the United States continues to generate ineffectual political initiatives, from employment verification mandates to referendums against in-state tuition access. These fail to resolve the underlying causes for the presence of illegals, such as the arbitrary (see the immigration lottery), expensive, and humiliating immigration process (and I speak from ...

Migration Affirms Hunger for Freedom

by Fergus Hodgson June 14, 2011

The Mercatus Center has just released a tantalizing ranking of freedom for the American states, including individual state profiles and a feast of data analysis. Most compelling, though, is the insight that people know where freedom is, and they’re migrating to it. Over the 2000 to 2009 period, the difference between a state ranked in the bottom third, ...

Immigration Restrictions: A Solution in Search of a Problem (video)

by Bryan Caplan September 17, 2010

On September 13, 2010, Bryan Caplan gave the following speech at The Future of Freedom Foundations Economic Liberty Lecture Series. The speech can viewed below in its entirety.

Immigration Socialism versus Freedom and the Free Market

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 7, 2010

Let me begin by making a very simple, direct point: There is one — and only one — solution to the so-called immigration crisis: freedom and free markets. Every other measure, including the recently enacted immigration law in Arizona, will accomplish nothing more than continue the “crisis” and actually exacerbate it. After all, how many times have we been here ...

Immigration, Civil Liberties, and the Drug War

by Sheldon Richman May 4, 2010

Arizona’s horrid law empowering cops to demand that people show their “papers” when suspected of being in the country without government permission holds an important lesson for both so-called progressives and conservatives. It’s a lesson about a seemingly separate issue: drugs. Concern about illegal immigrants along the Mexican border would undoubtedly diminish if the “war on drugs” ended. (It’s not ...

Liberalism Is the Enemy of the Poor

by Jacob G. Hornberger May 1, 2010

I was a liberal back in my late 20s. I was practicing law in my hometown of Laredo, Texas, where I was serving on the board of trustees for the local Legal Aid Society, a government agency that provided free legal services for the poor. I also served as the local representative for the ACLU. I believed that government’s ...

Alienating the Inalienable

by Hannah Hoffman December 1, 2009

The freedom movement is inspiring in many ways. It promotes a peaceful, liberated society in which people can be free to pursue their own ideas. Yet I find it ironic that while most involved in the freedom movement recognize the idea of personal liberty, many still hold an anti-liberty, anti-immigration view. When it comes to inalienable rights with which all ...

Borders, Socialism, and the Free Market

by Jacob G. Hornberger July 1, 2008

There are two important things to keep in mind with respect to the immigration crisis: first, the crisis is rooted in socialism and interventionism and, second, the only solution to the immigration crisis lies in open borders and free markets. Any attempt to resolve the crisis by resorting to more socialism and more interventionism only pushes the United States ...

Open Borders Work, Part 2

by Philippe LeGrain April 1, 2008

Part 1 | Part 2 Opponents of immigration marshal a battery of objections to opening up borders. They claim that it would cost jobs, pose a huge welfare burden, and threaten Americans’ way of life — even their security. Yet these fears are mostly nonsense. Critics argue that low-skilled immigration is harmful because the newcomers are poorer and ...