Christopher Cole on Illegal Immigration

From the campaign of Christopher Cole for US Senate

While my opponents advocate a punishment approach to undocumented immigrants, my position is quite different.

It's simply a matter of looking at illegal immigration as an economic situation, rather than a cultural or foreign relations issue. Alcohol Prohibition created a black market for alcohol (remember Al Capone?). Drug Prohibition has created a black market in illicit drugs.

Likewise, if we look at illegal immigration as a black market in labor, all the pieces fall into place. Minimum wage laws, maximum work-week laws, and the prohibition of piece work have created an artificial labor shortage, primarily at the low end of skills and productivity. Those laws leave no legitimate option for satisfying the shortage. The result is the smuggling of labor, a/k/a illegal immigration. Repealing those laws both eliminates the incentive to turn to the black market, and undermines bureaucratic responses.

The current prohibitionist regime necessarily results in creeping interventionism. As one law or program is exposed as ineffective or obsolete, it isn't repealed, it is merely augmented with new laws, rules, and bureaucracy. The government gloved fist is emboldened, resulting in penalties against employers, shrill denunciations of immigrants, and the promotion of a crisis mentality.

My solution of removing the prohibitionist barriers would instead promote economic expansion, greater social harmony, and - most importantly - greater liberty.

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Christopher “Chris” Cole is the Libertarian nominee for US Senator from North Carolina. To learn more about Chris, visit his campaign website and see this interview with Steve Newton of Delaware Libertarian.