CRAIGforCONGRESS

Missouri's 7th District, U.S. House of Representatives

  
 

 

 

Congressional Issues 2010
INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC POLICY
Immigration



Changes in the Libertarian Party Platform


Since 9/11 there have been some significant changes in the Libertarian Party Platform on the issue of immigration. These changes reflect a move away from liberty and toward "security" in an effort to curry favor with non-libertarians who have been fooled by 9/11 into demanding more surveillance and security from the federal government. (That is not a neutral and un-biased statement of fact; it is an opinionated jab at the revised Platform.)

Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety
deserve neither Liberty nor Safety

Previously, "Immigration" was under the broader category of "Individual Rights and Civil Order." It is now under "Foreign Policy." This is a move away from Libertarian principles. The right to travel and to work is a fundamental and unalienable individual right, and should never be subservient to an imperialistic foreign policy. Libertarians should stand for a return to a global economy free of passports, ID cards, checkpoints, and obstacles to freedom.

Notice how the old Platform was much more Libertarian, while the new Platform is less concerned with Individual Rights and more concerned with "security." This is the same kind of thinking that led many libertarians initially to support the War in Iraq. "9/11 Fever" was very contagious, but it plays into the hands of an empire with an insatiable lust for power. We should be able to see now that libertarian support of "the war on terror" was short-sighted. We are the Party of Principle, not the party of paranoid promotion of an imperial presidency.

We must return the Libertarian Party to a forthright defense of individual liberties and repudiate the demands of the Leviathan State.

Adopted in Convention, May 2004, Atlanta, Georgia

I. Individual Rights and Civil Order

Immigration

Adopted in Convention, July 2, 2006, Portland Oregon

IV. Foreign Policy

Immigration

The Issue: We welcome all refugees to our country and condemn the efforts of U.S. officials to create a new "Berlin Wall" which would keep them captive. We condemn the U.S. government's policy of barring those refugees from our country and preventing Americans from assisting their passage to help them escape tyranny or improve their economic prospects. The Issue: Our borders are currently neither open, closed, nor secure. This situation restricts the labor pool, encouraging employers to hire undocumented workers, while leaving those workers neither subject to nor protected by the law. A completely open border allows foreign criminals, carriers of communicable diseases, terrorists and other potential threats to enter the country unchecked. Pandering politicians guarantee access to public services for undocumented aliens, to the detriment of those who would enter to work productively, and increasing the burden on taxpayers.
The Principle: We hold that human rights should not be denied or abridged on the basis of nationality. Undocumented non-citizens should not be denied the fundamental freedom to labor and to move about unmolested. Furthermore, immigration must not be restricted for reasons of race, religion, political creed, age or sexual preference. We oppose government welfare and resettlement payments to non-citizens just as we oppose government welfare payments to all other persons. The Principle: The legitimate function and obligation of government to protect the lives, rights and property of its citizens, requires awareness of and control over the entry into our country of foreign nationals who pose a threat to security, health or property. Political freedom and escape from tyranny demands that individuals not be unreasonably constrained by government in the crossing of political boundaries. Economic freedom demands the unrestricted movement of human as well as financial capital across national borders.
Solutions: We condemn massive roundups of Hispanic Americans and others by the federal government in its hunt for individuals not possessing required government documents. We strongly oppose all measures that punish employers who hire undocumented workers. Such measures repress free enterprise, harass workers, and systematically discourage employers from hiring Hispanics. Solutions: Borders will be secure, with free entry to those who have demonstrated compliance with certain requirements. The terms and conditions of entry into the United States must be simple and clearly spelled out. Documenting the entry of individuals must be restricted to screening for criminal background and threats to public health and national security. It is the obligation of the prospective immigrant to demonstrate compliance with these requirements. Once effective immigration policies are in place, general amnesties will no longer be necessary.
Transitional Action: We call for the elimination of all restrictions on immigration, the abolition of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Border Patrol, and a declaration of full amnesty for all people who have entered the country illegally. Transitional Action: Ensure immigration requirements include only appropriate documentation, screening for criminal background and threats to public health and national security. Simplifying the immigration process and redeployment of surveillance technology to focus on the borders will encourage the use of regular and monitored entry points, thus preventing trespass and saving lives. End federal requirements that benefits and services be provided to those in the country illegally. Repeal all measures that punish employers for hiring undocumented workers. Repeal all immigration quotas.

Webpages in this series:

1. Immigration Homepage
2. Immigration in a Division of Labor Economy
3. Why Immigration Enhances Our Culture
4. Why Immigration Increases Our Technology
5. Positive Effects of Population Growth through Immigration
6. The Case for Free Immigration
7. Refutation of the Arguments Against Free Immigration
8. Why Immigration Increases Capital
9. Why Immigration Raises Real Wage Rates
10. Legalized Immigration Does Not Destroy Our Culture
11. A Biblical Discussion about Immigration with Chuck Baldwin
12. The Downward Shift in the Libertarian Party Platform, 2002-2006
13. Why Anti-Immigration Laws are Unconstitutional
Recent Blog Posts:
Ann Coulter on Immigration
Immigration and the LP Platform
Welfare and Immigration
Immigration and Gun Control
Greene County Libertarians: Immigration
Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them
Immigration and Health Care
Immigration and the War on [Some] Drugs
The Criminal Culture of Immigrants
The Benefits of 40 Million Illegal Aliens
The Immigration Issue Takes to the Streets
 
Ozarks Virtual Town Hall
Ozarks Virtual Town Hall - May 12, 2007
Ozarks Virtual Town Hall - May 19, 2007
Ozarks Virtual Town Hall - June 09, 2007
Ozarks Virtual Town Hall - June 23, 2007

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In the Next Two Years, Congress should:
  • expand, or at least maintain, current legal immigration quotas;
  • increase permanently the number of H-1B visas and deregulate employment-based immigration to facilitate the entry of skilled immigrants;
  • remove the new one-year time limit on filing for political asylum and reform the "expedited removal" laws;
  • repeal employer sanctions;
  • stop the move toward a computerized national identification system and the use of government-issued documents, such as birth certificates and Social Security cards, as de facto national ID cards; and
  • reduce restrictions on the movement of workers within the North American Free Trade Agreement area.
By the end of the decade, Congress should:
  • Abolish all anti-immigration laws.

As soon as possible, America should:

  • Create a vast network of voluntary social service agencies to meet all immigrants at the borders or piers and ensure their literacy and familiarity with American values.
  • Commit to on-going transmission of American values to immigrants in all areas of life. Read more about this.

Julian Simon:


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Introduction
Raico, Ralph
Are There Grounds for Limiting Immigration?
Simon, Julian
A Libertarian Argument Against Opening Borders
Hospers, John
A Libertarian Case for Free Immigration
Block, Walter
A Libertarian Theory of Free Immigration
de Soto, Jesus Huerta
Immigration Into A Free Society
Machan, Tibor R.
The Sanctuary Society and its Enemies
North, Gary
The Case for Free Trade and Restricted Immigration
Hoppe, Hans-Hermann

next: Immigration in a Division of Labor Economy