Open Borders Marco's Embrace of Open Borders Without Limit Is the Very Opposite of Conservative Cautiousness

Fred Bauer writes at NRO about Open Borders Marco's call for no limits on immigration, except for market demand:

Caps on legal immigration have been a key component of U.S. immigration policy for generations....

A call for an uncapped immigration system would be a major departure from the norms of American immigration policy after the rise of modern transportation and the welfare state. There might be a further conservative argument on behalf of caps for a modern immigration system: Human limitations mean that sweeping policy efforts can have unforeseen consequences, which can make immigration policy especially tricky. Caps on legal immigration (whatever the criteria for legal immigration) might be viewed as a recognition of that limitation; because we don't
know all the long-term consequences of a given immigration paradigm, we should set limits on the immigration flow of any given year.

...

Immigration is an area where expert predictions have failed spectacularly. For instance, the proponents of the 1965 revision of immigration law did not predict the massive demographic change that their reforms would initiate....

A cap on legal immigration sets an absolute bound to the extent of this government-induced distortion. One of the great tensions between open-borders ideology and conservatism involves the role of moderation. Because of a recognition of the importance of conserving many existing civic institutions, conservatives often promote disruptional buffers to lessen the force of major social shocks, even ones that are well-intended. Caps on legal immigration might act as one such buffer. Open-borders advocates might cheer radical disruption in the pursuit of a borderless utopia, but conservatives remember that utopias are often the graveyards of hopes, good intentions, and prudence.

Don't worry, Open Borders Marco will dissemble about his position the next time he's running for something. (He was just re-elected and therefore feels he can be more honest -- on a temporary time-limited basis.)

posted by Ace at 12:18 PM

| Access Comments