The Case for Free Trade and Restricted Immigration
by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
Charging Our Way to Better Immigrants
January 30, 1997
by Lowell E. Gallaway and Richard K. Vedder
"Nobel laureate Gary Becker had a great idea: Sell visas on the open market."
Freedom of Movement
by Ludwig von Mises
"Because of the enormous power that today stands at the command of the state, a
national minority must expect the worst from a majority of a different nationality.
As long as the state is granted the vast powers which it has today and which public
opinion considers to be its right, the thought of having to live in a state whose
government is in the hands of members of a foreign nationality is positively
terrifying.
. . . It is clear that no solution of the problem of immigration is possible if
one adheres to the ideal of the interventionist state, which meddles in every field
of human activity, or to that of the socialist state. Only the adoption of the liberal
program could make the problem of immigration, which today seems insoluble, completely
disappear."
How To Reform Immigration Laws
April 4, 2006
by Benjamin Powell
"A large scale guest-worker program with low administrative burdens and job flexibility
for migrants with a path to permanent residency is a real solution if it allows in enough
workers. It could enhance our economy and reduce the flow of attempted illegal crossings."
Human Smuggling Is Morally Good
January 3, 2004
by Scott McPherson
"Human smuggling, insofar as it aids people in fleeing tyranny and unfavorable living
conditions, is nothing less than an act of liberation. The dreadful circumstances
endured by illegal immigrants in order to reach our shores only proves the great
lengths people will still go to for freedom and a better way of life."
The Immigration Problem
by Lawrence W. Reed
"De-socialize society and the immigration “problem” resolves itself into a great
blessing for us all."
Immigration: What is the Liberal Stand?
August 7, 2006
Anthony de Jasay
"Those who claim that in the name of liberty they must let any and all would-be
immigrants take a share are, then, not liberals but socialists professing share-and-share
alike egalitarianism on an international scale."
Liberty and Immigration
December 1995
by Thomas E. Woods, Jr.
"Barring the establishment of a pure private-property system, the only sound libertarian
approach to immigration is thus a radical devolution of power from the central state
to the local level, and to allow individuals and communities to decide the issue
for themselves.
A facile advocacy of "open borders" gives the central state exactly
what it wants: the chance to supersede the preferences of property owners, and to
provide the pretext for further encroachments on local and individual liberty.
Such a system, in short, will make America less free. That's a good enough reason
for libertarians to rethink it."
Nationalism and the Immigration Question
by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr.
"Leftists claim that group antagonisms can be cured with togetherness, but that's utopian
nonsense. Under present circumstances, as Chronicles editor Thomas Fleming points out,
open borders would only subvert American liberty. Anyone could arrive, have his children
educated in the public schools in an alien language, be hired and promoted through
affirmative action or go on welfare, lobby for more "civil rights," and be feted by the
national media as superior to the plain taxpayers – just for showing up."
Natural Order, the State, and the Immigration Problem
by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
On Free Immigration and Forced Integration
by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
"The best one may hope for, even if it goes against the "nature" of a democracy and thus
is not very likely to happen, is that the democratic rulers act as if they were the
personal owners of the country and as if they had to decide who to include and who to
exclude from their own personal property (into their very own houses). This means
following a policy of utmost discrimination: of strict discrimination in favor of the
human qualities of skill, character, and cultural compatibility."
The Pseudo Economic Problems of Immigration
December 22, 2005
by Benjamin Powell
"The objection that immigration costs tax dollars has some merit. Since many of the
tax-funded services immigrants consume are funded at the local level and much of the
taxes that immigrants pay goes to the federal government, immigration is a tax burden
on some communities. This is fundamentally a problem of public policy, not economics.
Policy reforms could fix this by decreasing the social services that immigrants and
their children are eligible to consume."
Secession, the State, and the Immigration Problem
by Hans-Hermann Hoppe
"However, the error of the open border proposal goes further than its dire consequences.
The fundamental error of the proposal is moral or ethical in nature and lies in its
assumption. It is the underlying assumption that foreigners are "entitled," or have
a "right," to immigrate. In fact, they have no such right whatsoever."
The Benefits of Immigration
by Donald J. Boudreaux
"New York and Los Angeles are crowded but wealthy. Oklahoma and Mississippi are
sparsely populated but much poorer. This fact alone is ample evidence of the great
economic benefits of immigration."
The benefits of open immigration
by Michael Tanner
Immigrants to America create more jobs, push wages up, and consume
fewer tax dollars.
Can We Tell Those Huddled Masses to Scram? Immigration and the Constitution
November 2006
by Becky Akers
"Immigration has pitted Americans against one another for over a century now.
Intriguingly, that’s about the same amount of time the federal government has presumed
an interest in the issue. Its interference has turned the debate over immigration into
a toxic brew. But when we strain the emotion and rhetoric from it, it boils down to a
simple question: should the state regulate our comings and goings?"
The Case for Free Trade and Open Immigration edited by Richard M. Ebeling
and Jacob G. Hornberger
reviewed by Robert Batemarco
"They are of one voice in blaming any adverse consequences of our most recent wave of
immigration on our domestic welfare state. They view calls to restrict immigration as
confirmation of Mises' claim that any hampering of the market economy creates problems
which are used to “justify” further intervention. Co-editor Richard Ebeling blames,
“licensing restrictions, . . . heavy tax burdens, . . . welfare programs, . . . government
schools with their mandatory bilingual programs,” as opposed to immigration per se,
for any threat immigration poses to our economy and our culture."
Coming to America: The Benefits of Open Immigration
by Thomas E. Lehman
"By embracing the philosophy of free immigration and free labor mobility, we benefit
from the productivity, ingenuity, and entrepreneurship not only of those within are
borders, but also of those from without. Expanding the division of labor into the
international marketplace makes available a vastly enlarged array of resources, thus
enhancing the living standards of everyone."
The Freedom to Move
by Oscar W. Cooley and Paul L. Poirot
"Our present policy toward immigrants is consistent with the rest of the controls over
persons which inevitably go with national socialism."
Freedom works: Illegal immigration
November 3, 2007
by Alan W. Bock
"The most effective and just way to regulate immigration is through market forces.
Actual employers know how many workers are "needed" in the country better than any
bureaucracy in Washington, and they adjust to changing conditions."
A Free-Market Case Against Open Immigration?
by Donald J. Boudreaux
". . . even if some coherent justification could be given in the abstract for restricting
immigration, it is curious in the extreme that any proponent of liberty is willing in
practice to trust government with the power to pick and choose which foreigners we
domestic citizens will be permitted to deal with on our home shores. There is no reason
to suspect that government will exercise this power more prudently and intelligently
than it exercises other powers."
Ideas and Consequences: "The Immigration Problem"
October 1994
by Lawrence W. Reed
"De-socialize society and 'the immigration problem' resolves itself into a great
blessing for us all. Foreigners will come - the best and hardiest of them - because
of the abundance of opportunity a free society represents."
I Do Not Fear The Immigrant: A Critical Response to Hans-Hermann Hoppe and Ilana Mercer
by Perry de Havilland
Imagining a Free Society Part 1: Wealth and Immigration
by Mary Ruwart
The potential to create wealth in a free nation will attract
immigrants, but the private property system would prevent the
nation from being overrun.
Immigration
by Dr. Mary Ruwart
The good doctor answers tough questions about immigration in a free society.
Immigration: An Abolitionist's Cause
January 2002
by Ken Schoolland
Immigration: Controversies, Libertarian Principles & Modern Abolition
by Ken Schoolland
"I wish to say in the strongest terms I can muster, emboldened by the courage
and fortitude of immigrants throughout the world and throughout history, that
we should not be debating reasons for keeping people under the thumb of
tyranny. We should not be devising schemes and rationalizations for the
restriction of immigration."
Immigration: Friend or Foe?
by James E. McClure and T. Norman Van Cott
"Prior to the welfare state, however, Lady Liberty’s “golden door” did not open to
a golden gravy train. Immigrants worked, and in the process proved a blessing to
their American hosts. Immigration is a win-win proposition when people are responsible
for their own economic destiny."
Immigration—The Wages of Fear
May 19, 2006
by Alvaro Vargas Llosa
"Among the objections that form the rationale for anti-immigration legislation, two
stand out: Immigrants threaten American jobs and erode American culture. Both are based
on unwarranted fear."
In Defense of Free Immigration
by Richard Ebeling
A Libertarian Case for Free Immigration
by Walter Block
Open the Door!: The Case for Abolishing All Immigration Laws
by Adam Chacksfield
Private Domains and Immigration
by Gene Callahan
". . . giving more power to the state, based on an arbitrary set of ideals as to who
should be allowed to come to the US (or any other country), ideals that are divorced
from any actual entrepreneurial judgment, is not the answer to these problems. True
freedom is the only answer."
Prof. Hoppe still wrong on immigration
by Joshua Holmes
"Unfortunately, those who desire and need most to benefit from a relatively free-market
economy - the poor, the oppressed, the downtrodden, the minority, etc. - continue to be
thought of as parasites."
Some Thoughts on Immigration: The Property Rights Connection
by Robert W. McGee
The article concludes that utilitarian
approaches, which includes the balancing of interests argument, suffer from
fatal defects, as does the public policy argument. The real solution to
immigration problems must be found in a policy that recognizes and respects
property rights.
There's No Such Thing as an 'Illegal Alien'
by Marc Stevens
"While "illegal aliens" are not real, violent, anti-social men and women pretending
to be "states" are. Buying into the illusion that there are "states" and "nations" only
diverts attention from what these professional parasites are doing, i.e., killing,
stealing and lying."
What About Immigration?
January 1986
by Julian L. Simon
"We do not need to balance the gains to them against the sacrifice to ourselves.
We do not even need to raise the ethical issue of drawing a boundary around our
nation and saying that those lucky enough to be born within are entitled to
opportunities that we deny to others. Immigration is good for ourselves at the
same time that it is good for the immigrants."
Why Open Immigration?
by Ken Schoolland
"Let us be a part of the drive for liberty today. Let us champion the millions of
immigrants who are seeking liberty in the same manner that we would if we were in
their shoes."
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This page was last updated on January 1, 2008.