Immigration and Migration Insight PDF Version
Let us shine the light of reality on the global migration situation. Explanations and assessments so far have been on the “Let’s stop it now. All we have to do is stop them from getting in…” variety. That is the nature of life. That is the complete nature of politics. Politics is about the present moment only, There is no such thing as deferred gratification in public life. The suggestion of such a thing marks the end of any politician’s caree
Before examining some unspoken benefit of migrants entering, I will state the root cause, right now, up front. The root cause the worldwide mass migration .phenomenon is the extreme loss of free market influences everywhere. Migrants are all going to places where free market influences are still left. No, they don’t look at maps, specifically looking for free market paradises, Few if any know specifically what a free market is. They do recognize where opportunities may be. There certainly are none of those in the places they are leaving. There is still the perception that in the United States, freedom abounds and opportunities are plentiful. As many as can manage are coming here.
There is no way to suddenly end mass immigration without bloodshed and sorrow. The end result of that is that even the countries keeping them out themselves will end up being greatly hurt.
Return to free markets and migration stops. Fail to do so and misery increases.
When settlers began migrating to the new world, these were the most adventurous, self-reliant, most rugged individualist, risk takers in the lands they had left. Although they no longer are, They were also driven by deferred gratification. Americans are still described frequently as rugged individualists even though they no longer are. After the initial wave, immigrants come from Italy, Ireland and other places. Jews came to the United States from all over. The gold rush of the mid 1800’s moved multitudes from east of the Mississippi to the west coast. Those were risk taking Americans who ran on their own tracks.
Here are some potential good things. Poor as migrants may be, they are the most ambitious poor people from within the country from which they came, Some, have seen accounts of Americans who have actually traveled in the caravans from their beginnings to you border. True, there may be an element motivated to commit crimes or commit various dastardly deeds on behalf of more powerful bad actors. Our intelligence agencies are certainly certainly as parasitic and inept as any and all federal agencies. Clearly, this is not an issue on which they are focused. U. S. Citizens don’t mind. Opinions abound. Rare is one who will take any risk at all to change anything. It comes down to “yes, I believe this that or the other but there is no way I am going to do a damn thing to draw attention to myself” With that approach, how is it possible for citizens to impose predominance over their leaders?
There is no way, migrants are going to obey a law that U.S. citizens refuse to maintain. We have an immigration law. It is only enforced on a enforced politically selective basis. It is enforced when it is to the advantage to do so politically. It is ignored for political expediency also. When there is a meaningful law on the books, failure to enforce it generates a lack of respect for laws in general.
By many elite, immigrants constitute a huge liberal constituency, that will be of great value in getting their chosen laws passed. That is an error on their parts. How much do our elite government made billionaires, know about Mexicans for example? Not much obviously. Mexicans are guaranteed to be dependent upon government, looking for benefits and all kinds of goodies all paid for by established, tax paying, hard working U.S. citizens, right? What about the perception of those who identify themselves as conservatives? All crossing the border want nothing more to become U.S. citizens, and want a path to citizenship, right? That is nothing close to being right.
Few have ever had an open and honest conversation with a Mexican living and working in the United States. I have!
During the 80;s I owned and operated an insurance agency. My customers were mostly Hispanic, many Mexican citizens. Some spoke little or now English. I had countless conversations with these folks about things like why they were here, and what they were trying to accomplish. I spoke to many of them in their own language.
In Mexico, citizens are culturally different. They view government differently. Government is not their friend. It is hopelessly corrupt. Government takes all from them that it can. Hence, they take all they can from government. Much of private business transactions,, large and small are kept under the radar of government. They bring this culture to the United States and apply those principles here. If there are benefits, they take them. They deal in cash and keep their transactions out of the eyes of government.
After closing an insurance agency in 1989, I spent the next twelve years, owning and operating taxis as a permit holder. That was an educational experience, I would never trade for any academician knowledge I have accumulated over the years. One of my regular customers was one of the richest men in Mexico. He has located his family in an exclusive neighborhood in San Antonio. This was to prevent them from being kidnapped and held for ransom in Mexico City. He worked all week in Mexico. He would fly to San Antonio on Friday night on Friday and back to Mexico City on Sunday night. His assessment of government was little different from that of his poorer counterparts. It is amazing. People will tell a taxi driver anything. I leaned a lot from that gentleman.
In summary, it is pointless to try and solve a problem without identifying and focusing on anyting other than the root cause.
Immigrant issues are present in the United States because we have trashed our free marked system. Mexico never had a free market system other than the ones its citizens themselves have created by operating independently from the government. The United States is becoming more like Mexico, with our without immigrants. Any suggestion as to how to solve the problem right now, might fix the the immediate issue. It will create a different problem that will be worse than the immigration issue is now. This the consequence of abandoning free market principles.
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