The Wisdom of Open Borders

September 22nd, 2007
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Miscellaneous | 8 Comments

Lately, there’s been discussion in the U.S. about raising tariffs on imports of socks from Honduras. Many manufacturers moved their plants from the U.S to Honduras chasing the low wages. Fruit of the Loom is already ahead of the game and is closing one of its plants in Honduras. 800 jobs will be lost, and possible more as other manufacturers turn away from investing in Honduras.

All this is an answer to the protectionism and xenophobia in the U.S. Apparently the concept is: “Jobs are scarce, let’s favor U.S. workers”. That is all right. But, where do you think those 800 Hondurans will be tempted to come now that they’ll be unemployed? Confronted with hunger, and in the name of survival, I can confidently predict that at least 1, if not a major portion of them will try to cross the U.S. border illegally.

I am convinced that we need to eliminate immigration restrictions. That will mean the end of all outsourcing, as there would be no need for it. People would move to where labor is needed, and flee the places where wages are too low. Immigration restrictions are getting in the way of prosperity, and directly sustaining poverty and the governments that thrive from it.

By trying to protect ourselves, we damage ourselves and others.

Image by Uma B., used under a Creative Commons license

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  • Anonymous

    I’m curious who’d move into Honduras after everyone there folded their tents to move to the US for better wages because of no immigration restrictions.

    Nice blog, Aaron.

    kman

  • Aaron Ortiz

    Hey, Kman,

    I kinda didn’t have a choice. I was given a Walton scholarship, and the entire purpose of it was to send me back into Latin America with the training I was acquiring. I was bound by contract to live in Latin America for at least 4 years after I finished studying. My visa expired the day after I graduated, May 21, 1998.

    I haven’t tried to move to the States since, because although I wasn’t mistreated, my fellow Latin Americans and I were never part of the “in” crowd at college. I assumed that this was because of our nationality. European international students were in the student council, for instance, but not Latinos.

    The feeling even then, nine years ago, was that we Latinos were invading the US, and taking away jobs, creating crime and costing the government money.

    I preferred to be in a country where my ethnicity is a non-issue.

    Nevertheless, I was “infected” with the US, your way of government, of business, and I am indebted to the generosity of the U.S. people. If not for Sam Walton, I’d probably be a very different person.

  • Anonymous

    I can understand your situation regarding “fitting in”. It happens to all of us in various situations.

    When my great grandfather immigrated from Poland to the US he bought his first house in an all Irish neighborhhod in Queens, NY. I always remember his son, my great uncle, telling me how he and his siblings couldn’t attend the local Catholic school because they were “Polaks”. Talk about not fitting in! But they were tough Polaks and proudly staked their claim for a piece of the US. Eventually more and more Polish moved into the area. There went the neighborhood! ;-)

    I’m not sure I was clear in my original thought. I meant to say if the US made it simple to immigrate here, I imagine many from Honduras would pack their bags and head on up. Who do you suppose would move in to fill all the space left, so to speak, after everyone left?

    kman

  • Aaron Ortiz

    Hey Kman, thanks for your comments!

    I think that making it illegal to go freely into the US is making it more attractive to cross the border than it would be otherwise. Opening the border would almost surely cause an initial rush, but the net result wouldn’t be very different when people realize that life isn’t so good on the other side of the fence either.

    Many illegal immigrants are afraid to go back to their home countries for fear of not being able to return to the U.S. Once they come in, they stay until they are deported. That would end if the borders opened.

    There would also be more commerce, and the lower unemployment would mean better salaries in Latin America. If so, manufacturers would no longer have an incentive to hire abroad. That would mean more jobs in the U.S.

  • Latino Pundit

    I cannot say I am not shocked, but here we go and create CAFTA, and then turn around and stab it in the back.
    It’s just awful face of protectionism.

    And you got to love Fruit of the Loom’s political correctness here: ‘closure results from a shift in product demand.’ Classic!

  • antisocialist

    Very well-spoken. Very well-spoken indeed. The antisocialist, in the minority these days, believes in full-on open borders, let us allow the job market determine. It’s what America’s always been about, and it’s what it should always be about. I do, however, say do away with welfare and all healthcare, especially for illegals, of course. Perhaps some sort of citizenship test: because these people who statedly hate America, yet come live like parasites off the (relative) freedom disgust me.

    Your blog, incidentally, to which I am brand new, is awesome. And awesome-looking.

    Thank you for the shout-out, my brother.

  • Aaron Ortiz

    I agree, taking advantage of welfare and emergency services without paying taxes is stealing. If there were less illegals, there would also be more tax revenue for the government from their legitimate wages.

  • Anonymous

    Aaron,

    So, you’re saying keeping it illegal to cross the US border is sorta like a parent saying NO to a child? Interesting.

    kman

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