I routinely get into arguments (in Texas, this is a serious issue) with people who seem to think that there is some way the government can control immigration; as in, the government can somehow stop native Americans who were born South of the Rio Grande from moving North of the Rio Grande in search of work. I was dreading having to write up a long winded rant on the hows and whys of the impossibility of stopping the immigration that white America seems to think is such a threat (Such as, you build a fence across the entire southern border, and then what? They swim around in the gulf? Sail around on the Pacific coast? What about the rest of the coastline, are we going to patrol that as well? Do you hear the sucking sound of billions of poorly spent dollars being flushed down the toilet? I do.) Luckily, I don’t have to spend the time; and you don’t have to read the flaming diatribe. Phillippe Legrain has stepped forward and penned the wok for me (and he’s much more civil in his discourse than I would have been) Here’s an excerpt from an interview with TCS daily:
Illegal immigrants are not the problem, they are the symptom of the real problem: immigration restrictions that are economically stupid, politically unsustainable and morally wrong. Far from protecting society, immigration controls undermine law and order, just as Prohibition did more damage to America than drinking ever has.
For those of you who would rather watch or listen to an interview, CATO has Audio and Video on their site.
(There’s also a Daily Podcast at CATO on the subject)
Or you could just buy the book. I know I’m going to. I might buy several of them and hand them out to my friends the next time the subject comes up. My doctor would probably appreciate that. He’s always more worried about my blood pressure than I am…
