[Lnc-business] Public views on immigration

Thu Jan 25 21:51:50 EST 2018

As just a personal observation, I have noticed an uptick in the use of the
phrase "no, I have no problem with legal immigration, it's illegal
immigration I have a problem with."  Which makes sense at first blush, but
it so often turns out that the person who says it also opposes expanding
legal immigration, or supports decreasing legal immigration.  The statement
that all legal immigration is fine, and all illegal immigration is bad,
would seem to logically lead to the conclusion that we should simply do
away with all restrictions on immigration, thus increasing a good thing
(legal immigration) and eliminating a bad thing (illegal immigration), yet
I've never met a person who makes this claim and supports doing away with
all restrictions.  It strikes me as a strange thing to say.

Joshua A. Katz

On Thu, Jan 25, 2018 at 8:24 PM, Starchild <starchild at lp.org> wrote:

>
>
>    With talk of building a wall, the increased recent visibility of
>    sharply xenophobic and racist views in the era of Trump, etc., things
>    may not seem rosy for libertarian views in this area. But the situation
>    is better than it appears at first blush: According to Gallup polling,
>    more people want to maintain levels of legal immigration than cut them,
>    and the number who want to *increase* legal immigration has risen
>    significantly over the past couple decades:
>
>      "For decades, Gallup has asked Americans if they think the level of
>      legal immigration should be 'kept at its present level, increased,
>      or decreased.' In recent years, Americans have been closely split
>      between holding steady (38 percent as of June 2017) and decreasing
>      (35 percent). The remainder, around 1 in 4, want to increase legal
>      immigration.
>      While the clear majority want to decrease or hold legal immigration
>      steady, these numbers represent a longer-term pro-immigration shift
>      ï¿½ as of the mid-1990s, two-thirds of Americans wanted to decrease
>      legal immigration, and only 6 or 7 percent wanted to increase it."
>
>    (From
>    [1]https://www.npr.org/2018/01/23/580037717/what-the-latest-immigration
>    -polls-do-and-dont-say )
>
>    This makes sense ï¿½ the world continues to become more interconnected,
>    the Internet is transcending borders, and young people tend to be more
>    immigration-friendly than older people.
>
>    People may not be embracing freedom as quickly as we would prefer, but
>    I think the long term trends remain mostly positive and that humanity
>    continues to gradually move in a libertarian direction. Our leadership
>    in being out in front of that curve is vital.
>
>    Love & Liberty,
>
>                                       ((( starchild )))
>
>    At-Large Representative, Libertarian National Committee
>
>                             [2]RealReform at earthlink.net
>
>                                     (415) 625-FREE
>
> References
>
>    1. https://www.npr.org/2018/01/23/580037717/what-the-latest-
> immigration-polls-do-and-dont-say
>    2. mailto:RealReform at earthlink.net
>
> _______________________________________________
> Lnc-business mailing list
> Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
> http://hq.lp.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business
>
>
-------------- next part --------------
   As just a personal observation, I have noticed an uptick in the use of
   the phrase "no, I have no problem with legal immigration, it's illegal
   immigration I have a problem with."  Which makes sense at first blush,
   but it so often turns out that the person who says it also opposes
   expanding legal immigration, or supports decreasing legal immigration.
   The statement that all legal immigration is fine, and all illegal
   immigration is bad, would seem to logically lead to the conclusion that
   we should simply do away with all restrictions on immigration, thus
   increasing a good thing (legal immigration) and eliminating a bad thing
   (illegal immigration), yet I've never met a person who makes this claim
   and supports doing away with all restrictions.  It strikes me as a
   strange thing to say.

   Joshua A. Katz
   On Thu, Jan 25, 2018 at 8:24 PM, Starchild <[1]starchild at lp.org> wrote:

        With talk of building a wall, the increased recent visibility of
        sharply xenophobic and racist views in the era of Trump, etc.,
     things
        may not seem rosy for libertarian views in this area. But the
     situation
        is better than it appears at first blush: According to Gallup
     polling,
        more people want to maintain levels of legal immigration than cut
     them,
        and the number who want to *increase* legal immigration has risen
        significantly over the past couple decades:
          "For decades, Gallup has asked Americans if they think the
     level of
          legal immigration should be 'kept at its present level,
     increased,
          or decreased.' In recent years, Americans have been closely
     split
          between holding steady (38 percent as of June 2017) and
     decreasing
          (35 percent). The remainder, around 1 in 4, want to increase
     legal
          immigration.
          While the clear majority want to decrease or hold legal
     immigration
          steady, these numbers represent a longer-term pro-immigration
     shift
          ï¿½ as of the mid-1990s, two-thirds of Americans wanted to
     decrease
          legal immigration, and only 6 or 7 percent wanted to increase
     it."
        (From
        [1][2]https://www.npr.org/2018/01/23/580037717/what-the-
     latest-immigration
        -polls-do-and-dont-say )
        This makes sense ï¿½ the world continues to become more
     interconnected,
        the Internet is transcending borders, and young people tend to be
     more
        immigration-friendly than older people.
        People may not be embracing freedom as quickly as we would
     prefer, but
        I think the long term trends remain mostly positive and that
     humanity
        continues to gradually move in a libertarian direction. Our
     leadership
        in being out in front of that curve is vital.
        Love & Liberty,
                                           ((( starchild )))
        At-Large Representative, Libertarian National Committee
                                 [2][3]RealReform at earthlink.net
                                         (415) 625-FREE
     References
        1. [4]https://www.npr.org/2018/01/23/580037717/what-the-latest-
     immigration-polls-do-and-dont-say
        2. mailto:[5]RealReform at earthlink.net
     _______________________________________________
     Lnc-business mailing list
     [6]Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
     [7]http://hq.lp.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business

References

   1. mailto:starchild at lp.org
   2. https://www.npr.org/2018/01/23/580037717/what-the-latest-immigration
   3. mailto:RealReform at earthlink.net
   4. https://www.npr.org/2018/01/23/580037717/what-the-latest-immigration-polls-do-and-dont-say
   5. mailto:RealReform at earthlink.net
   6. mailto:Lnc-business at hq.lp.org
   7. http://hq.lp.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/lnc-business