Immigration

America Needs a Much More Pro-Immigrant and Pro-Immigration Policy

A Government-Created Humanitarian Crisis

In January, I brought my campaign to the Arizona-Mexico border to meet with law enforcement, border patrol, ranchers and local leaders to investigate the situation ((1) Crisis at the Arizona-Mexico Border – YouTube). My assessment is that the management of immigration across our southern border is a humanitarian crisis of the government’s own making. Whenever government criminalizes activity that cannot be stopped, black markets are created. Black markets kill. In this case, it is human trafficking on both sides of the border that is killing migrants and offering them up to lives of indentured servitude – and worse.

Manage Legal Immigration More Humanely

The inhumane treatment of immigrants, including the separation of family members at the border, is a black mark on our character and a bad look for our image to the rest of the world. I would surge resources to the border to vet people into the U.S. faster to eliminate the incentive for illegal crossings. The process was 90 minutes to vet someone into the White House when I worked there in the early 1990s. There is no logical reason why it should take weeks to process someone across the border today.

Stop Human Trafficking

Reducing human trafficking is the ultimate frontier in the fight for human rights. Given the crisis that is underway, as a part of making immigration safer, I would consider completing the Trump-era border “wall,” though with more modern technology. No libertarian should put his head so far in the sand as to believe that a completely untended border is a completely safe border.

Encourage Work

I would allow immigrants – indeed, encourage immigrants – to start working right away, rather than continuing our government’s counter-productive policy of requiring a green card to work; work is not a crime. There should be no reason to separate children at the border; families are not a crime. There should be no reason to require follow-up hearings; immigration is not a crime.

Immigration Is Good for America

Immigration is one of the defining characteristics of American culture and will continue to be a source of entrepreneurialism and inspiration – if we allow it. There is no reason to believe that we would be better off by trying to freeze the population of the US, which is not a crowded nation. Immigrants take up less in public resources than they contribute. Immigrants take up less public resources than people born in the US. Immigrants commit less crime per capita than people born in the US.

I visited the border crossing at Naco, Arizona to meet with experts about the challenges we face as a result of America’s failed immigration policy.

I met with Arizonans, local libertarians and law enforcement experts about the challenges we face as a result of America’s failed immigration policy. No matter who you are, there is something about America’s failed immigration policy to dislike: Human trafficking created by the black market, civil rights disaster, lack of security, slow government processing.

I met with border patrol experts regarding the horrors of human trafficking that result from the black market created when our government criminalizes the natural behavior of immigrants seeking a better life in America.

I met with Arizonans living on the border with the reality of human trafficking spawned by our government criminalizing the natural migratory human actions of those seeking a better life in America.

I met with local law enforcement about the nightmare of human trafficking, including rape and indentured servitude, created by a black market incentivized by our government’s failed policy.

I met with local libertarians who understand that black market activity, such as human trafficking, arises when the government criminalizes natural human action that it cannot stop.