True Libertarians Support Free Trade

I can give you even better proof than statistical studies: bilingual education, multilingual ballots, "press one for English", etc.

Also, the fact that Latino citizens in this country as a group have made it very clear that they are offended by crackdowns on illegal immigrants.

If they were more loyal to this country than to their fellow Latinos from abroad, they would not object to the perfectly reasonable and appropriate enforcement of our immigration laws.

Going home to the old country because things don't work out for you here is not a case of being disloyal.

Yes, what you've been saying is quite absurd.

"Free trade" is almost always understood (in its conventional usage) to mean the free trade of goods and services, not workers crossing borders at will.

The only case I know of in which labor can move across borders as freely as goods is the EU, and that's a very recent development.

If NAFTA were expanded -- as Bush appears to advocate -- into a sort of pan-American union (beginning with Canada, Mexico and the U.S.), then we certainly would see labor moving freely across borders.

That may be so, but it doesn't mean that this is best for all.

You've provided some interesting responses and I appreciate the work you put into them. I will try to answer them in the near future.

Perhaps by people who don't understand what free trade is. Fact is, economically speaking, the preferability of free movement of labor has the exact same bases in economic theory as does the preferability of free movement of goods. Supporting one without supporting the other just shows someone not to be basing their position on economic theory but rather something else entirely. Which doesn't, of course, make the position wrong, but does make it wrong to say that one's support of free trade is based on economic theory.

Wow, Liet, way to miss the point on illegal immigration so completely.

On the economic front, the real evil isn't the illegal immigration itself - it's the regulations that make illegal immigrant labor so attractive. And not even the wages - around here, the going rate for illegal immigrant labor... major yard work or landscaping, for example, is $15/hour. Well above minimum wage. But what really counts is the time to complete a transaction. Contract formalizing and liability waivers and permit checking and, if the project is long enough, tax issues all add significant time and effort in to what could be a 5 minute negotiation over wage, duties, and whether lunch is provided.

On the national security front, including communicable disease control, the concern is much more pressing. Illegal immigrants could bring malaria with them. They ARE bringing TB with them. What if a terrorist decides to do to the US population born after the 70's what the US did to the Indians in the 1800's - infect them with smallpox. One illegal "immigrant" walking into a shopping mall in southern Texas would do it. There was a reason for all those health checks and quarantines at Ellis and Angel Islands, and a reason they were conducted on islands. Even ignoring the disease angle, an unguarded border is an invitation for terrorists and spies to get into this country. The Canadian border is no less of an issue... though I do wish the US and Canada would cooperate more on security for incoming travelers to Canada, so US and Canadian citizens could cross the border with no hassle.

You're good at sounding like you know what you're talking about.

Too bad you don't know what you're talking about.

About once a month I read in the local San Diego paper about someone with TB possibly infecting other people around them.

Readers who think they might have had contact with that person are advised to go to a doctor for a checkup.

How nice to know that we now have TB all over the place -- with some of the strains very difficult to treat.

Starkt, why would you make this allegation? I do believe that it's been agreed that the ultimate aim of free and fair trade is a completely integrated economic territory whose nature may be seen in the reality and prospects for the EU. As I understand it, the free movement of labor is possible throughout the European Union.

If Western Europe doesn't do disease checks and quarantines on immigrants or laborers from Eastern European countries where some communicable diseases haven't been eradicated, they're more stupid than I thought.