Why was immigration freer in 19th century USA?
In a blog post titled The Golden Age of Migration, Bryan Caplan notes that, despite its many flaws, the 19th century US was morally better than the current US in one important respect: open borders....
View ArticleAre Open Borders Utopian?
I can’t remember if anyone has ever actually responded to my advocacy of open borders by calling them “utopian,” but they often seem to be thinking it. Are open borders utopian? It would be truer to...
View ArticleHas the era of mass migration come to a close?
Thomas Sowell’s Migrations and Cultures is an excellent book. Whether talking about Indian immigrants in Uganda or Jews or overseas Chinese, Sowell demonstrates page after page how anti-foreign bias...
View ArticleAbe Lincoln would be a Russian now
The subject of 19th-century immigration almost inevitably comes up in open borders debates. Open borders advocates see a lot to desire and emulate in the 19th century approach to immigration — namely:...
View ArticleIn defense of the Pilgrims
By what right did 100 English Puritans, remembered as “the Pilgrims,” arrive at Cape Cod late in the year in 1620 and establish a new settlement called Plymouth Plantation? None was needed. Or if you...
View ArticleOpen borders is a radical proposal
After poring through some of the data on the foreign-born proportions in the US during my spare time this past weekend, I came to the conclusion that other than radical open borders advocates and...
View ArticleBarry Goldwater’s vision of open borders
Goldwater is a name synonymous with the rebirth of American conservative, right-wing politics. But it is also a name that should be synonymous with open borders. In 1962, Barry Goldwater jotted down...
View ArticleThomas Sowell on Immigration
This post was originally published at the Cato-at-Liberty blog and is republished with the author’s permission. Thomas Sowell is an influential and prolific writer whose books span the social sciences....
View ArticleEllis Island and keyhole solutions
Nostalgic treatments of open borders in the United States often reference Ellis Island, an immigration checkpoint through which millions of people from Europe, Africa, and Asia entered the United...
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What part of “immoral” don’t you understand?
A common retort to suggestions that our governments regularise the status of irregular immigrants is that these people are “criminals”, they’re “illegal”, and just what part of illegal don’t I...
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Let them come: treasuring the immigrant legacy of Thanksgiving
US President Barack Obama’s announcement of deferred deportation for millions of irregular migrants is a wonderful gift for many American families this Thanksgiving, whatever the greater (de)merits of...
View ArticleA Billion Immigrants: Continuing the Conversation
My recent post, “How Would a Billion Immigrants Change the American Polity?” attracted a fair amount of attention, most recently an article in the Washington Examiner with the deliciously intriguing...
View ArticleDo I have a right to be here?
Every human being has an inalienable right to migrate across their planet without restriction or fear.1It is impossible to place a restriction upon this right that is not animated by racism and...
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