October 2007

Blowing in The Wind of Immigration

By Robert Stephens

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One of the hot-button topics “on the street” is that of immigration. Regardless of whom you talk to, you rarely find anyone with no opinion whatsoever. The main issue is that of the thousands of illegal immigrants coming into our country through Mexico. While the majority of these immigrants are Mexican, there are also Hondurans, Salvadorans, Panamanians, and others from South America as well.

I am somewhat bemused by the fact that, for most of us, we don’t have to go back very many generations to find an immigrant of our own. My own great-great-grandmother McKee came over from Ireland during the famous and deadly Potato Famine there.

You’ve heard all the arguments against the entry of these immigrants, beginning with “they’re illegal” and running through the gamut to “they don’t pay taxes” to “they don’t speak English” to “they’re going to steal our Social Security” to “they’re taking our (presumably American) jobs.”

What most of the critics are forgetting or, more likely, ignoring is the fact that workers migrate to where jobs are. We have seen this in our own country as millions of young people abandoned the family farms to move to where the industrial jobs were. A sort of reverse migration occurred as we lost manufacturing jobs in the industrialized northwest after unionization all but stifled change and those jobs moved to the predominantly union-free southern states. Workers abandoned what is now called the “Rust Belt” and moved to where the jobs were.

For the last forty-five years, we have been engaged in an increasingly diverse global economy. So, it is only logical that as borders become more porous in terms of currency flow, so too will those same borders see more and more flows of workers. This is occurring in Europe and Africa as well as the United States.

We all understand that, in meteorology, atmospheric currents will move from areas of high pressure to areas of low pressure. This creates what we call wind. The same phenomenon happens in terms of jobs and workers.

As Libertarians, we probably better than anyone understand the desire to better ourselves, to stand on our own feet, and to provide for our families and children. We also know that increased federal activity in this area will—as always—be counterproductive. The original Constitution calls for the federal government to “provide for the common defense” which means securing our borders. That accomplished, the feds should get out of the immigration issue and allow the free market to work.

Our own Platform states: “Borders will be secure, with free entry to those who have demonstrated compliance with certain requirements. The terms and conditions of entry into the United States must be simple and clearly spelled out. Documenting the entry of individuals must be restricted to screening for criminal background and threats to public health and national security.”

In other words, once the prospective immigrant has been screened as described above, he or she should be able to travel to jobs, find housing, raise his or her family, pay those onerous taxes like the rest of us, and live life as Americans.

Now, let’s go back to the arguments that were enumerated above. The first one of “they’re illegal” will simply go away if the federal governments does its thing as described in our Platform—there will be no question of legality or illegality.

As for the argument regarding not paying taxes, for the most part, Libertarians don’t want to pay taxes, either. However, this problem exists only because of the number of undocumented immigrants in the country. Again, if the borders were secured and the proper checks carried out, there would be no undocumented workers and they would be paying those much-maligned taxes like the rest of us.

How about the “they don’t speak English” argument? True—most of the immigrants arriving these days don’t speak English. However, studies have shown that for every wave of migration we’ve had in our history, the first generation rarely spoke English. However, by the second and most definitely by the third generation, English was the language of choice and the usage of the native language was waning. Just look at the Germans, the Chinese, the Koreans, and—in most of our lifetimes—the Vietnamese. All have become actively participating members in our society. Isn’t that what we want?

As for the Social Security question, that one will disappear with the proper documentation of the immigrants. If they work, they pay—just like most of us. And, I suspect, after a few years of paying those taxes, some will join the Libertarian Party and be arguing against reduced government size and involvement—just as we do.

And finally, “they’re stealing our jobs.” Recently a neighbor hired a local company to re-roof his house in the aftermath of a major ice storm back in January. For some reason, I was surprised to see the entire crew to be comprised of immigrant workers. I talked to the crew leader for a few minutes and found that they had advertised for over seven weeks in the local paper for roofers or people to learn roofing and got only two applications. So, whose jobs are actually being stolen? Presumably those who would rather complain about illegal immigration than to climb a ladder and apply roofing shingles in 90-degree heat.

So, the next time we see those same video clips that the national media shows us during every story on immigration (I think I’ve seen the same 10-15 people climb the fence and run across the street several times already!), let’s ask if we’ve really framed the question properly. What does the Constitution demand of the federal government? Are those requirements being carried out properly?

Securing our borders and providing quick and simple documentation to protect us from criminals and from threats to public safety—that’s the job for the federal government. If that were done, then all the winds of immigration—which is so much hot air moving from a high pressure area (politicians) to a low pressure area (a news microphone)—would die down.