In response to President Trump’s 10 percent Liberation Day tariffs on all U.S. imports, both conservative and liberal voices argued, correctly, that open trade is beneficial, implying tariffs and other restrictions are harmful.
Comparatively few voices, however, whether from the left or right, have pushed back vigorously against the administration’s attempts to reduce immigration; the main opposition has been to deportations that violate due process.
Yet just as trade is beneficial, so is immigration: both expand the economic pie and should therefore face minimal restriction.
The standard counterargument concedes that legal immigration should be permissible but claims that illegal immigration is a serious problem. Opponents cite a fiscal burden on taxpayers, labor-market pressure, national security and public safety issues, and fairness to would-be legal immigrants as reasons to stop the inflow of illegal migrants.
Immigration opponents often overstate these arguments.
But even if illegal immigration is as bad as claimed, the solution is widening the legal gate, not building a higher wall. For example, the U.S. should raise employment-green-card caps, enlarge seasonal-worker quotas, and expand family re-unification.
Trade in goods and trade in labor are both voluntary exchanges that make the parties involved better off. Just as tariffs distort markets, reduce efficiency, and waste enforcement resources, so too do restrictions on immigration. The same intellectual coalition that rightly opposed the Liberation Day tariffs should also champion a “Liberation Day” for would-be Americans.
Widening (and simplifying) the legal gate AND building a bigger wall are both required - I'm pro immigration, and everyone who can't trace their family tree back to a native american should be, but we have a right (as a nation) to know and decide who is allowed to move in. The simple fact is that no one wants criminals moving in, and when someone chooses to begin by breaking (arguably stupid) laws that doesn't start things off on the right foot.
I'd love to see a nearly restriction free (maybe pending some basic health and criminal background checks) sponsorship program - have friends of family that want to come here to live? + willing to give them room and board till they get on their feet? = low friction streamlined entry and a fast lane to citizenship!
I certainly agree that our current tariff approach is destructive in many ways. Thanks for writing the article. Please follow my Substack https://tommast.substack.com/p/congress-is-vital-ff6. Tom Mast.