Fallacious Rightwing Justifications for Immigration Socialism

by
Jacob G. Hornberger
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One of the popular rightwing justifications for America’s socialist system of immigration controls is that there is a supposed Democratic Party conspiracy to bring more immigrants into the United States so that they will vote Democrat. 

I can’t help but wonder what those rightwing conspiracy theorists thought when they read this headline in the Wall Street Journal:

Ron DeSantis Rout Shows Florida, Once a Battleground, Turning a Deeper Shade of Red: Republicans Establish Dominance Due to Hispanic Outreach Efforts….”

What? How in the world is that possible? Aren’t most Hispanics immigrants or the children or grandchildren of immigrants? Is this an example of, to use Donald Trump’s term, “fake news” on the part of the Journal?

The article quotes Giancarlo Sopo, a native of Miami: “I don’t see Florida turning blue anytime soon.” The article points out that Sopo was in charge of Hispanic advertising for Trump’s 2020 reelection campaign.

Licensed under Creative Commons.

What? “Hispanic advertising for Trump?” But Trump is a Republican! How is that possible? More fake news? And isn’t Trump the guy who built a Berlin Wall along the U.S.-Mexico border by using the power of eminent domain to steal people’s private property?

The article states that DeSantis “won 56% of the state’s Hispanic vote, compared with 44% in 2018.”

What? How is that possible? Could it be a ruse on the part of the Democrats to lull Republicans into abandoning their support of America’s socialist system of immigration controls?

Now, don’t get me wrong. As a libertarian, I’m not saying that the fact that many Hispanics are turning rightward instead of leftward is necessarily a good thing. In fact, given the fact that there isn’t any real fundamental difference between a Republican and a Democrat, it really doesn’t matter whether they move rightward or leftward. 

The reason I point out this phenomenon is simply to expose one of the many fallacious arguments that conservatives (and even some conservative-oriented libertarians) use to justify their support of America’s socialist system of immigration controls.

And make no mistake about it: America’s system of immigration controls is socialist because it is based on the socialist principle of central planning. As anyone who lives in Cuba can tell you, central planning always comes with economic crises. Thus, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that our nation has lived with an ongoing, never-ending, perpetual immigration crisis for at least 70 years. The libertarian economist Ludwig von Mises had a good term for the results of central planning: “planned chaos,” a term that perfectly describes the results of America’s socialist system of immigration controls.

Another rightwing immigration shibboleth is that immigrants are coming to America to get on welfare. Having spent close to half my life on the U.S.-Mexico border, I had occasion to interact with many illegal immigrants. Throughout those 33 years living on the border, I never once encountered an illegal immigrant who came to the United States to get on welfare. Every single one I encountered came here to work and make money. Not surprisingly, the last thing they wanted was to be interacting with government officials, which they would have to do to get on welfare. And I think I should mention that my own personal experience with illegal immigrants was that they were the hardest-working people I have ever seen, which might explain why they never have trouble finding work with American employers, even during times of high national unemployment.

Anyway, where is the justice in establishing and maintaining a gigantic socialist system that comes with a tyrannical immigration police state to ensure that a tiny percentage of immigrants don’t come to the U.S. and get on welfare? Rather than punishing the innocent and destroying freedom in America with an immigration police state, wouldn’t it be better to focus on ending the welfare, not just for immigrants but for Americans too?

My personal experience with illegal immigrants is that they are very family-oriented. In fact, many of them come here to make money to better the lives of their families back home. It is a well-known fact that many of them send much of their earnings back to their families in their home countries. Given that Republicans like to portray themselves as pro-family values, that could also explain why many Hispanics are moving to the right.

Unfortunately, what Hispanics have yet to realize is that whether they move left or right, they are going to end up in the same place — in a nation deeply steeped in welfare statism, warfare statism, drug-war statism, immigration statism, military statism, and regulatory statism, along with the out-of-control federal spending, debt, and monetary debasement that come with all this statism. They have yet to figure out that the battle between Republicans and Democrats is not over principle but rather over which party is going to control this statist system and gain the power and largess that come with it. 

There is one — and only one — solution to the many woes in which Republican and Democratic statism have plunged our nation. That solution is the libertarian philosophy. The sooner Hispanics — and everyone else — realize this, the better off our nation will be. At that point, we will be able to lead America — and indirectly the world by example — toward liberty, peace, prosperity, and harmony with the people of the world.