Resolved: The United States Should Adopt an Open Border Policy

1. Natural barriers to immigration are goneThe US was founded by immigrants, and it thrived with unregulated immigration in the 19the century. In those days there were no welfare programs, 95% of the workforce was engaged in agriculture, and it was difficult to reach the US. Only the most motivated made the journey to the US. Subsistence agriculture required little education, and the skills needed were known the world over. Most of the early immigrants shared a common European culture, and pressures was successfully applied to assimilate into the American way of life, based upon freedom and the rule of law. Now there would be no serious obstacle to getting to the US, and there is every economic incentive to do so. 1.1 billion people say they'd like to move to the US, and many more would likely want to move once they know the benefits. There is immediate free health care and schooling, protection from violent oppression, and the median US welfare package alone is $28,500 per family, three to ten times or more than the income where they come from. Among the earliest arrivals would be 60 million refugees, mostly from the Middle East and Africa, steeped in sharia law and theocracy. They are unfamiliar with democracy and basic laws respect for human rights. There are unwilling to assimilate. There are jobs in the US for some unskilled workers, but nowhere near enough to employ 60 million workers, let alone 1.1 billion. Open borders immigration would slow and ultimately stop when the US reached equilibrium with the parts of the world supplying immigrants. That would happen when the economic opportunities in the US, freedom the corruption, and the general unpleasantness of the government equalized with the rest of the world. We can expect current residents to flee to countries maintaining border control and the standards of freedom and democracy closest to what was enjoyed by the US. 2. People emigrate to flee oppression and starvation, and that inflates welfare costs The main reason for moving to a new country is to take refuge from an untenable situation: political oppression, violence, or looming starvation. There are nearly 60 million refugees in the world, with, for example, 9.5 million in Syria alone. [1. http://www.theatlantic.com...] These are people who have already been displaced from their homes, so it's not a question of breaking ties to where they have always lived. They are motivated to escape. With an open borders policy, the obstacle of moving to the United States is almost solely the cost of travel. In the modern era of air travel, that's the cost of airfare. A web search finds fares to Turkey, an average Middle Eastern location, for $600. (That's round trip to account for planes returning empty.) To account for further distances, we'll call the cost $1000. Many are willing to put up the $1000 for a refugee to reach America. Some refugees will be able scrape up that much money. Others will have relatives in America. There are charities that would certainly prove massive aid, especially to fellow members of a religion. Christian charities will help Christian refugees escape extermination in Iraq an Syria, and they will help others in persecuted groups. The oil rich Arab countries will likely help Muslim refugees. The United Nations has a major effort for resettling refugees. Countries currently having the burden of maintaining refugees have a great economic incentive to solve assist immigration to the US. Jordan spends $1365 dollars per refugee per year, amounting to $871 million in 2014. The cost grows rapidly as Syrians flee the battle between ISIS and Iranian-backed forces. [2. http://dai.com...] Rather than spend $1365 per year, a one-time cost of about $1000 provides a permanent solution. 2. Economic Opportunity increases immigration A person need not be nearly as desperate as a refugee to find America an economically attractive alternative. Mexico is relatively well-off compared to many other countries, thanks in part to their oil revenues. There are refugees from Central America entering the US, but none from Mexico are counted among the 60 million refugees in the world. Yet as many as one-quarter of the citizens of Mexico may now live in the United States. [3. http://conservativetribune.com...] That's despite the hazards of illegal border crossing and the theoretical threat of deportation. 3. Immigration Costs are unsustainable All residents of the US receive free health care from hospital emergency rooms. Hospitals are required by law to provide the service, the cost of which is borne by the paying patients. New immigrants must be screened for contagious diseases and cured of chronic illnesses. All resident children are given free education in public schools. The average cost of primary and secondary education in the US is about $11,000 per year, but immigrants have special needs. They usually do not speak English, so schools will have to be equipped to teach in Arabic, Farsi, and many other languages. The major refugee populations are Palestinians, Afghans, Iraqis, Somalis, Congolese, Myanmarese, Colombians, and Sudanese. 41% are children. [4.http://www.un.org...] Many refugee will not have received a fundamental education, so there will be many teenagers who must be taught reading and math nearly from scratch. Pro proposes that all open-border immigrants be given work permits and resident status. That makes them eligible for unemployment insurance [5. http://www.nelp.org...] and for a variety of welfare benefits. Full welfare benefits are available to residents after five years or immediately upon citizenship. [6. http://www.nolo.com...] Pro says citizenship could be achieved in “a few years.” The average of welfare benefits to poor families varies by state. “The state with the highest total value of welfare benefits was Hawaii, at $49,175. The lowest was Mississippi, at $16,984.” This is above education and emergency room medical care. The median welfare package is $28,800. [7. http://www.washingtonpost.com...] By comparison, the median yearly household income in Palestine is about $2000, [8. http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu...], Mexico $11,736. http://gain.fas.usda.gov..., and Afghanistan $426. [9 http://www.atimes.com...] There are few countries on earth that offer livings better than being on welfare in the United States. Under an open borders policy, the best estimate based upon worldwide polling data is that 1.1 billion people would move to the US.[10. http://www.gallup.com...] Currently, each illegal immigrant pays an average of about $1035 per year in state and local taxes. [11. http://www.thefiscaltimes.com...] Illegals pay about another $1000 per year in Social Security taxes to bogus accounts that they do not recover. [12. https://news.vice.com...]. Once legalized, per Pro's plan, they would receive Social Security benefits costing more than their cumulative contributions. The median salary for the unskilled work characteristic of unrestricted immigration is below the level at which income taxes are paid. The bottom 50% of wage earners, those earning less than $36,000, pay 2.78% of income taxes. [12. http://www.ntu.org...], A family with two children earning less than $49,186 is eligible to receive and earned income credit of $5460. [13. http://www.irs.gov...] That's a welfare benefit paid without regard to deductions made or citizenship.4. Studies fudge the numbers to show open immigration pays for itself 4.1 Currently, the US benefits strongly from legal immigration. Legal immigration comprises the high tech H1-B visa program that admits skilled professionals. The median salary of H1-B visa workers is $61,984. less than the average of about $82,000 in the IT profession, which is logical since H1-B is specifically for entry level workers. They'll mature to reach the median and exceed it. The trick is to suppose that open borders immigration will produce the same economic benefits as carefully selected legal immigration. 4.2 Another way to fake the numbers is to do a theoretical study that supposes that people only emigrate to fill open jobs, and once the available jobs are filled, immigration stops. Immigration from into Mexico from the United States has slowed may have slowed since the economy of Mexico has improved and the economy of the US has gotten worse. However, illegal border crossing is still expensive and dangerous. Coyotes must be paid, and many illegal immigrants are subject to violence. [14. http://immigrationpolicy.org...]4.3 Some studies confuse economic activity with a net gain or loss to government spending. Increasing GPD by spending more than is gained is a net loss.4.4 Finally, claiming a benefit to the world by redistributing America's wealth is both the wrong measure and short sighted. No developed country with high welfare benefits has ever been so foolish as to try an open borders policy, so there are no real world studies that show it works.