The Texas Tribune reports that two Texas Republicans in Congress have filed legislation to push for more "border security."
The article says the bill would "mandate that agents on the border set a goal of apprehending 90 percent of the people who enter the country illegally."
The fixation on "border security" is a great excuse for continuing anti-immigration policies. Conservatives often say things like "We can't open up immigration until we secure the border." That creates a nice catch-22 that helps preserve bad laws motivated by protectionism and often xenophobia.
Liberals often secretly oppose immigration too, because of their alliance with protectionist labor unions.
Here's the upshot: American employers should be able to hire whoever they want, regardless of what country the person was born in.
Unfortunately our laws usually prohibit that, so American employers often hire foreigners illegally. It turns out to be a good thing that they do: productive workers are helpful, not harmful, to our economy. But we'd all be better off if they could hire foreigners legally and openly.
It's time to re-legalize immigration. Let's elect Libertarians who will do that.
The article says the bill would "mandate that agents on the border set a goal of apprehending 90 percent of the people who enter the country illegally."
The fixation on "border security" is a great excuse for continuing anti-immigration policies. Conservatives often say things like "We can't open up immigration until we secure the border." That creates a nice catch-22 that helps preserve bad laws motivated by protectionism and often xenophobia.
Liberals often secretly oppose immigration too, because of their alliance with protectionist labor unions.
Here's the upshot: American employers should be able to hire whoever they want, regardless of what country the person was born in.
Unfortunately our laws usually prohibit that, so American employers often hire foreigners illegally. It turns out to be a good thing that they do: productive workers are helpful, not harmful, to our economy. But we'd all be better off if they could hire foreigners legally and openly.
It's time to re-legalize immigration. Let's elect Libertarians who will do that.
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