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Immigration is good, actually
By BirdTheWord303 ·
Immigration is good. Change my mind.
1. Economy
Immigration is a net positive economically, absent excessive welfare. Even in that case, immigrants in the US contribute more in taxes than they acquire in social services. Regardless, let's say they didn't, the solution is to abolish welfare. Not to prohibit immigration.
2. Wages
More people doesn't suppress wages. The only way to survive in a market economy, absent welfare, is to provide more than you consume (from the perspective of your trading partner) lest no transaction takes place. A growing population means a growing division of labor, more entrepreneurs, more investment, more hiring, & (via increased productivity) higher real median earnings—regardless of declining nominal incomes under a scarce currency.
3. Homogeneity & Societal Cohesion
Culturally speaking, absent civil rights law & excessive public property (especially public means of transportation), people can discriminate & refuse entry onto their property. More selective private communities, utilizing contractual arrangements, emerge (think of HOAs at scale).
4. Crime
From a violent crime perspective, just punish it! This would be much easier if the state wasn't spread thin enforcing a myriad of BS. For more egregious offenses, deport those individuals. That said, in the US, immigrants commit less crime per capita than the native-born citizenry.
5. Overcrowding
On the issue of public spaces & 'services' being overrun by immigrants, the solution is privatization. Not arbitrary exclusivity by the state. This is one of many tragedies of the commons. Private owners have an incentive to preserve, protect, ration, & efficiently utilize their property in the interests of themselves & their customers. Trespassing should obviously be punished in the interests of property rights.
6. Foreign Political Influence
This is a legitimate concern. We ought to remove the voting rights of the first several generations immigrants, remove them from population consensus data (used to grant representatives), & bar them from holding any positions within the public sector. One should be both born here & raised by people born here, dating back at least a couple generations, before receiving the privilege to operate in the public sector. This would serve as a principled transition for ancaps, who seek the complete abolition of the political apparatus. Perhaps we should go further by restricting it to only property owners, to assure everyone with influence over the coersive apparatus of the state at least holds a stake in the future of our society.
7. Housing
Lastly is the topic of housing. It is true that more people, after a certain point, drives housing prices relatively higher. Real resource constraints exist.
The problem? This rationale applies to everything. All goods are scarce, just to varying degrees. Scarce resources should be allocated in accordance with how much value one provides to society, regardless of their geographical origin. This serves to both increase the incentive & capacity to produce. The price system naturally accomplishes this feat.
That said, we're nowhere near this limit, especially as vertical-integrated housing grows more mainstream. Our current problem is one of artificial constraints (e.g. zoning laws, OSHA, licensing requirements, etc) imposed by the state.
Conclusion
To better conceptualize these problems, bring immigration restrictions to their logical conclusion (reductio ad absurdum). Imagine regulating movement between states, local governments, or at the household level. It would prevent a functioning society.
Immigration isn't the problem at hand.
The real issue is welfare, violent crime, regulatory gatekeeping, foreign political influence, public property, & civil rights law (preventing private dissociation). All of which can be addressed without arbitrary, coersive, & economically illiterate restrictions on movement amongst peaceful individuals.
That said, immigration can exacerbate certain issues when paired with the statist policies above. I understand restricting it until the above policies are reformed.