Episode 172: The Truth About Immigration (with Alex Nowrasteh)

Alex Nowrasteh joins us this week to talk about immigration in the wake of President Trump’s contentious executive order on the subject. Is immigration always good for a country?
In this episode, we discuss economic arguments for and against immigration, the rate at which immigrants culturally and politically assimilate in the United States, and the real odds of a successful terrorist attack carried out by immigrants or refugees.
Show Notes and Further Reading
For a deeper understanding of Trump’s executive order restricting permanent immigration from seven majority-Muslim countries, we recommend this Vox article by Dara Lind and this New York Times op-ed by David Bier.
www.vox.com/2017/1/27/14370854...
www.nytimes.com/2017/01/27/op...
Trevor mentions this Free Thoughts episode with John Mueller and Mark G. Stewart on the real risks of terrorism, and listeners may also be interested in the first episode we did on immigration with Alex Nowrasteh; it’s about the history of immigration in the US and the various laws governing it.
www.libertarianism.org/media/...
www.libertarianism.org/media/...
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[@oscarevildanger8737]

Holy shit, did I just stumble upon utterly horrible scan of gooey? OMG did I just jump across those cans? Mein Gott! #Ninjatoday #ninjatomorrow #Iownthelaw

[@coldwarrior23]

au contraire Alex, illegal immigrants exhaust police departments resources as well as the ER rooms. common sense

[@jeviosoorishas181]

I generally side with libertarians, but I tend to think they get too caught up in defending the data behind free and open immigration, instead of defending the principle - if the right wants to abandon one of the core principle of capitalism individual rights >>>collective rights, then force them to admit it, rather than throw meaningless data at them. As I've said about libertarians, they are the part of the right that most believes in capitalism, in principle, whereas the Social Conservatives, which now dominate the right due to Trump, have historically been favorable towards mercantilism/protectionism as a way of organizing an economy/society outside of the context of the cold war. Social Conservatives are more so anti-left than pro-capitalist, and immigration is a very good example of them showing their true colors on the issue. You cannot have closed borders and free markets, due to the fact that they are both based on contradictory principles. Closed borders are based on the principle that the government's interests take superiority over the interests of individuals who are willing to either hire, house or take care of immigrants that they want to come into this country. That somehow the collective gets to dictate which family members, citizens want to bring in, or which people a company gets to hire. This is why conservatives are abandoning capitalist principles everyday and replacing them with mercantilist/protectionist policies. Once you accept collectivism, there's no going back.