Open Borders Solve Border Crises, Says Author
New America Media, News Report, Pete Micek, Posted: Oct 05, 2005
OAKLAND, Calif.--“People want to come north,” said Peter Laufer, author of Wetback Nation, “and we want them to be here.” With that, the former NBC News correspondent, Latin American war reporter and radio host opened his remarks at “Immigration Wars: Open or Closed Borders?”, a forum with economist Benjamin Powell in Oakland, Calif., Sept. 21.
Laufer sees the border region as a chaotic mix of border-crossers, lost wanderers, armed vigilantes and the Border Patrol. But immigration unlocks the economy, he and Powell agree.
Like bickering passengers in the back seat of a car, Laufer said, the United States and Mexico sit close and refuse to get along on the border issue.
“There is no other issue in the United States where so many people disagree with the status quo,” he said.
Some of the migrants have jobs and lives waiting for them in the United States, Laufer says. He argues that the threat to property and the culture of lawlessness that illegal immigration brings can only be eliminated by an open border, keeping the Border Patrol -- the largest uniformed police force in the country -- in place to deter unwanted immigrants. Who are the unwanted ones? “Let’s start with known criminals,” he says.
Economist Benjamin Powell, a research fellow at the Independent Institute, which hosted the event, said immigrants benefit the United States economy but their potential remains hindered by current laws.
Powell said immigrants do not deplete government resources, as is widely believed. Citing a 1997 study by the National Academy of the Sciences, he said they benefit the economy more than they take away in social services. They add at least $22 billion each year, he said, and legalizing their status would increase that amount.
Powell used Arizona and the labor shortages the state faced last year as an example of how legalizing workers would alleviate those shortages. Last November, huge quantities of lettuce there went unpicked because growers lacked pickers. California’s Central Valley lacks 70,000 to 80,000 workers this year, he said. Laufer sees the cleanup and rebuilding of areas crushed by Katrina as a chance to provide jobs to immigrants.
Remittances sent by migrants float the Mexican economy, but Mexico still has much corruption and inflation, Powell says. If Mexico solves its economic problems, he said, immigrants will return. He mentioned several European countries, including his ancestral homeland of Ireland, which spent decades exporting people but recently reversed the trend. Powell credits its fiscal policy of cutting government spending before cutting taxes as the cure, with the country’s free trade and strong rule of law providing a foundation for the turnaround.
If the United States economy undergoes a downturn, according to Powell, that too will send workers back south. “Why be unemployed here when I can be unemployed in [my home country]?” Powell asked.
Working with Mexico holds the key to the United States’ future on the border, according to Laufer. Developing a relationship with Mexico, he said, to isolate criminals, publicize the rules, and identify forms of Mexican identification yields an open border that works for everyone.
Photos by David Zeiger, courtesy of Displaced Films.
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User Comments
Terri Barnes on Oct 11, 2005 at 07:19:42 said:
Liz Gonzalez,
Is the answer for an oppressed group to heave their affliction on to others? To come to America to be economically exploited, turn the blue-collar workforce onto its head, and burden the social, medical and educational systems? What will happen is that the aforementioned social/public systems will collapse under their own weight causing an even greater number of people, be they Americans, legal or illegal immigrants to suffer a worst fate. Besides, the American government’s overt/covert operations in foreign countries has been aided and abetted by corruption within the governments of these foreign countries as well. People/societies will do what they need to do to survive (for example, migrate) but people/societies will also tenaciously protect their own welfare when threaten (call it human nature). The unfortunate circumstance is that this scenario is being played out around the globe with the case studies having already been written. Throughout history geopolitical boarders have been and will continue to be usurped but never without a tremendous struggle. I am familiar with the “real history” of my American government but I also know in the end who loses...you and I, weather you are an American, naturalized citizen or illegal immigrant.
Liz Gonzalez on Oct 10, 2005 at 09:00:55 said:
Terri Barnes
Learn the real history of the American government to see how directly it is responsible for the welfare of those migrants and the ones that never make it here. It isn't in the interest of the American government to let those people stay in their countries to 'fight the good fight' because they have violently suppressed most of their attempts to transform their societies.
Terri Barnes on Oct 07, 2005 at 09:29:04 said:
Peter Laufer,
Why do you feel that the American government is responsible for the welfare of Central and South American immigrants because their government's have failed them? They ought to remain in their countries and fight for the very things they claim bring them to America. And if illegal immigrants are sending as much money back to their home countries as claimed imagine what this government would collect if they had paid taxes on that money. This could surely offset some of the expenditures of free health care and schooling that illegal immigrants are granted. Go back to your country and fight the good fight.
Fernando Centeno on Oct 07, 2005 at 03:50:17 said:
What about the increasing number of non-citizens taking greater number of mid-and executive level positions from U.S.citizens in state government? The State of Texas is a good example of this practice; someone needs to profile the full extent of non-citizens taking jobs from citizens at all levels of government.
Don Dell on Oct 06, 2005 at 14:46:05 said:
Mr Laufer:
WE DO NOT WANT THEM TO BE HERE.!!! NO!
ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION IS NOT GOOD FOR THE NATION.
I am hispanic but I came to this country legally.
I know this people very well. I am not against any
nationality or race, but these illegal people suck all the system programs and I can see it every day. I live in San Fernado Valley , CA.
For you to say that they benefit the economy more that they take away from social services is ABSURD.! You know that they work "under the table" and for minimum wages or less sometimes. You don't need to be a mathematician to understand how they can sent 20 billions dollars a year in remitances to Mexico and they just work for minimum wages.
With what money they live in the U.S.A.? Whit the little money left after they sent money their countries.?? No Mr Laufer,...
THEY LIVE ON THE SOCIAL SERVICES!! Housing, schooling, healh sercices and many other programs, you name it, provided by the U.S.A. Government y paid by americans tax payers. THEY know how to go around the laws and abuse them. They bragg on it.! Mr. Laufer.
I don't know what is your political agenda. I have none. I don't belong to any party. I'm independent. But I get so upset when I read articles like yours. BE REAL MR. LAUFER ! I know more than you about illegal immigration . I Know these people's idiosyncrasy more than you! I am from South America and I visited many latin countries. Now, I am a proud american citizen who loves this country .
WE NEED LEGAL IMMIGRATION, NOT ILLEGAL!
Respecfully.
D.DELL
Erick Fajardo on Oct 06, 2005 at 14:37:52 said:
Mr. Rodriguez, like the typical anit-immigrant pundit, is being unduly myopic. If the problem is the amount of "illegal" immigrants we have in this country, we should demand an immigration system that works quickly and efficiently to make foreign workers legal. The reason why wages are depressed is not because of the immigrants, it is because of unscrupulous employers who do not provide them with a living wage - not to mention no suitable working conditions, no right to organize, and none of the other basic labor rights and protections. Targeting and scapegoating impoverished people who risk their lives to come to this country in order to feed their children is misguided, cowardly, and contemptible.
Carlos Rodriguez on Oct 06, 2005 at 08:47:46 said:
I thought a Forum was supposed to offer a balnce of viewpoints. Sounds to me that this was 100% pro open border advocates. Our country has one of the most open and inclussive imigration policies in the world. The problem is that we now are being beset by more illegal aliens than legal ones. This inserion of laborers works to the detriment of our working classes and spikes the supply demand equation which results in lower wages, higher profits for owners and a very unjust distribution of our country's wealth.
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