[LPmeck] LTE Regarding Illgeal Immigration

[Christopher Cole]

Greetings, all,
Below is a letter to the editor that I have sent to my local  
newspapers regarding illegal immigration.
Chris

To the editor:
The controversy over illegal immigration arises from a general lack of  
knowledge of basic economics. Most of us understand that an increase  
of resources is a good thing- more iron, more oil, more grain. But  
then we fail to apply the same logic to labor as a resource. In a free  
market, the increase of labor means an increase in productivity, which  
increases the prosperity of everyone.

The problems of illegal immigration arise, not from the immigration,  
but rather because it is illegal. When the government uses force to  
restrict voluntary trade, the movement of resources, that trade simply  
moves to the black market, with all the criminal elements that can  
then exploit it. Not only would the free and orderly movement of labor  
collapse the black market of illegal immigration, it would also bring  
cross-border travel into the light of day, where actually-dangerous  
individuals would have greater exposure -like the vermin that are  
exposed when you turn over a rock- increasing our national security, .

The solution to illegal immigration isn't the broken punishment regime  
of current law. And it certainly isn't the increase of punishment  
promoted by most of its critics. Rather, the solution is the scaling  
back of restrictions on the free movement of labor. Make peaceful  
cross-border migration  easy and the black market simply collapses,  
and the harm it causes is greatly reduced.

-- 
Chris Cole
Huntersville, NC

"Those who pretend they want to preserve freedom, while they are eager to fix
prices, wage rates, and interest rates at a level different from that of the
market, delude themselves. There is no other alternative to  
totalitarian slavery
than liberty. There is no other planning for freedom and general  
welfare than to
let the market system work. There is no other means to attain full employment,
rising real wage rates, and a high standard of living for the common man than
private initiative and free enterprise."
-Ludwig von Mises
Founder, Austrian School of Economics
March 30, 1945