Trump’s Use of Immigration Controls to Destroy Free Speech
Libertarian supporters of an “Ellis Island” type of immigration-control system are receiving a lesson in the fallacies of their system. They imagine an immigration-control system in which the federal government is vetting every foreigner and rejecting only the few “bad” ones. What they fail to understand is that once federal officials are given the power to determine who comes into the United States, that power is inevitably going to be abused by encompassing ever-growing groups of innocent people.
That’s, in fact, what happened with the Ellis Island system, which was actually one of America’s first immigration-control measures. Given that it is a government-control system, the Ellis Island system is opposite from a genuine open-border system in which people are free to cross borders, such as the open-border system we have between the states.
Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.
Starting out with rejecting people who had tuberculosis, the Ellis Island immigration-control system was gradually expanded to encompass ever-growing groups of people, including anarchists (which ought to concern so-called anarchist libertarians, including those who favor government immigration controls and a border police state), prostitutes, mentally impaired people, people who might become public charges, and Chinese.
Chinese? Oh, yes. The Ellis Island control system — which was called the Angel Island control system on America’s West Coast — was used to exclude all immigrants from China. Yes, all of them! Why? Because they were Chinese, of course. Officials felt that Chinese could never be real Americans because they could never look like real Americans. That’s how the Ellis Island/Angel Island immigration-control system morphed into the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882.
It’s also worth mentioning that the Ellis Island control system later empowered the FDR administration to reject Jews from Germany that Hitler was willing to release during the 1930s — Jews who were later killed in the Holocaust. Justifying his antisemitic decision to reject those Jews, FDR said that America’s “quota” system was filled insofar as German immigrants were concerned. It’s also worth mentioning that Ellis Island
Article from The Future of Freedom Foundation
The Future of Freedom Foundation (FFF) is a leading voice in libertarian thought, tirelessly advocating for individual liberty, free markets, and limited government. Established in 1989, the FFF is more than just a think tank; it’s a hub for intellectual exploration and policy advocacy that draws on the classical liberal tradition and Austrian economics. Through insightful articles, videos, and events featuring top libertarian minds, the organization provides a robust critique of mainstream politics and policies, championing instead the principles that underlie a truly free society. For anyone seeking a principled stand for freedom and limited government, the Future of Freedom Foundation serves as an invaluable resource and an inspiring beacon.
