By Wayne Pac
Most libertarians agree that having an open border policy is best for the rights of individuals. Most libertarians agree that an open border policy would be the best thing to do in regards of immigration. Although sometimes, when we talk about libertarian policies, we don’t take into account whether it’s pragmatic or not. In a sense we could institute an open border policy and it would be pragmatic, but in our current situation of government and economics, it’s not the best idea.
When you want to execute, there has to be setup. A lot of libertarians don’t pay attention to that. If you want to execute the plan of having an open border, you have to make sure the situation is best fitted for it so it doesn’t backfire and turn into a mess. Our current situation of government is not good for an open border policy. More specifically, we live in a welfare state. An outstanding portion of the populace receives government benefits. Along with that, many immigrants who come into the country illegally can still receive state benefits in places like California. This puts an amount of stress on our system that was designed to help those in need, but instead it helps those who don’t actually need help.
If we have government benefits, it should be only to help those that are truly in need, and not just people that want to surf the system. Something that is not recognized by a lot of people is that a large portion of these immigrants coming into the US from Mexico happen to surf the system, rather than actually try to contribute to the workforce or economy.
Open borders is the goal, over time it can be achieved, but to institute open borders when our current situation will set the policy up for failure is a foolish thing to do. What we have to do as libertarians when trying to institute libertarian policies is to recognize if the situation allows for it to go smoothly. We should take care of the welfare state, and more, then make policies for open borders. That way, in the future, when people want to come to America, they don’t come for free handouts. Immigrants should come here for a better life and contribute to the American society.