I'll give him a pass since his views elsewhere are top notch.
He has a more traditional libertarian view on immigration and sees most of the problem as a problem of government corruption and the welfare state.
It's true that MOST immigration (legal or not) would go away if there was no welfare state, if there was no emergency services available for non citizens, if we were not spending billions on hotel rooms for illegals. Etc.
But, it wouldn't fully go away ... with massive global wage disparities ... there are people who would still take the lowest paying jobs and if they get hurt ... dying on a clean street corner is better than dying on a shit covered street corner.
The fundamental challenge for us libertarians - how can we trust the government to manage human migration if we don't trust governments to not restrict our own personal movement/freedom? As you mentioned, this is a very Rothbardian view, held by Ron Paul and other traditional librarians.
[ + ] IdentifyShills
[ - ] IdentifyShills 2 points 1 monthMar 12, 2025 20:26:06 ago (+2/-0)
It doesn't get any more complex than that.
[ + ] stillmostlyfriendly
[ - ] stillmostlyfriendly 1 point 1 monthMar 12, 2025 17:32:46 ago (+1/-0)
He has a more traditional libertarian view on immigration and sees most of the problem as a problem of government corruption and the welfare state.
It's true that MOST immigration (legal or not) would go away if there was no welfare state, if there was no emergency services available for non citizens, if we were not spending billions on hotel rooms for illegals. Etc.
But, it wouldn't fully go away ... with massive global wage disparities ... there are people who would still take the lowest paying jobs and if they get hurt ... dying on a clean street corner is better than dying on a shit covered street corner.
The fundamental challenge for us libertarians - how can we trust the government to manage human migration if we don't trust governments to not restrict our own personal movement/freedom? As you mentioned, this is a very Rothbardian view, held by Ron Paul and other traditional librarians.
But, here is an article from a well respected libertarian writer who is challenging this perspective (I personally found interesting / educational):
https://mises.org/power-market/absurdity-open-borders