The Libertarian Case for Open Borders

The free market case would compel me to argue for open borders, as I believe in the free movement of goods, labor, and capital.  Freedom means being able to employ capital where and how you choose, working when and where you choose, and being free to employ other resources in a manner you think best for your personal satisfaction.  This means being able to cross borders to do so.  Except that having open borders for labor does not work when the people coming here have the intention of killing me and others in our society.  This may be beneficial for their satisfaction but will certainly infringe on mine.  Libertarianism is freedom, each individual is free to pursue life, liberty, and happiness in whatever fashion they desire, but they are not free to impinge on the freedom of others who are attempting to do the same.  All this simply means is that free movement of people is still okay as long as they are screened to make sure they are not terrorists.

The great supporter of liberty, Milton Friedman, argued that having open borders is a good thing, except that you cannot have open borders and a welfare society.  Promising people welfare benefits when they arrive lowers the standard of living for everyone, new immigrants can receive several types of social benefits without having paid anything into the system, receiving the benefit without any of the cost.  The Obama administration is actually advertising our social benefits in other countries trying to encourage people to move here.

With the large number of baby boomers now retiring, and workers being asked to support ever increasing numbers of retirees thru Social Security, bringing in new skilled labor from outside the country makes good sense, increase productivity, GDP, and be able to pay social security.  The statists are not encouraging highly skilled immigrants though, they are encouraging low skilled immigrants from south of the border in the belief that all of these people will then vote for them.

The progressive’s case for allowing immigrants into this country without going through the proper legal process, is ill founded as is the recent political case by some Republicans to do the same. Their claim is one of compassion, letting people come for better opportunity, to prevent breaking up families, etc. In reality they are trying to influence the election with fraudulent votes from undocumented workers. Not to mention pandering to the large Hispanic voter group. 

In most states, illegal immigrants (or even legal immigrants, who have not yet paid anything into the system) and their children, can receive scholarships for tuition, healthcare (significantly greater healthcare benefits under Obamacare), and other forms of assistance, without paying any taxes or other payments into the system. A significant portion of their monetary transactions are by cash – which is not a problem in itself, but a large amount generally flows out of the country to help relatives who have remained behind.  While the rest of us are paying taxes of all sorts to help pay for these payments, a large portion of them are not.  So once again, even after arriving, these immigrants can be receiving benefits they are not helping to pay for.  Dismantle the welfare state and screen for terrorists, and open immigration makes economic sense.