The Quote Below—More Misinformation from the Media
“On few if any issues was there a bigger contrast between the parties in the 2020 election than on immigration. President-elect Joe Biden has made it clear that he intends to reverse Donald Trump’s highly anti-immigrant policies. . . . Race discrimination has likewise been a major focus of public debate, and Biden promises to make combatting it a major focus of his administration.
“But the link between the two issues is often ignored. Exclusionary immigration policies are unjust for many of the same reasons as is racial discrimination by the state. Both restrict freedom and opportunity based on arbitrary circumstances of birth. And both have historic roots in bigotry. . . .
“While most Americans condemn racial discrimination, it is much less widely recognized that our immigration restrictions violate the same principles. Like racial segregation, immigration law restricts where people live and work based on circumstances of birth. If you were not born a U.S. citizen, a close relative of one, or on U.S. territory, there is little chance you will ever be allowed to immigrate. . . .
“Whether your parents were American citizens is just as much beyond your control as whether they were black or white. The same goes for whether you were born in the U.S. Neither trait says anything about the “content of your character.” In both instances, we essentially punish people for having the “wrong” parents. . . .
“Like domestic racial discrimination, immigration restrictions often arise from bigotry. Anti-Chinese racism was a key motive behind the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. . . Even today . . . Trump’s travel bans . . . were the result of blatant appeals to religious prejudice against Muslims. . . .
“In many cases, immigration restrictions stifle liberty and opportunity even more than domestic racial discrimination. Many excluded migrants are consigned to a lifetime of poverty and oppression under the control of brutal regimes whose depredations go beyond those currently experienced by any American minority group. . . . – Immigration Restrictions and Racial Discrimination Share Similar Roots, Ilya Somin, The Hill, 11/24/20 [Link]
Fact Check on Above Quote: This article reaches its absurd conclusions from the absurd premise that our American nationhood and citizenship confer no distinctions or privileges. It would have us believe that all human beings on planet earth have the right to impose their needs and desires on America, regardless of what Americans want.
The comparison of domestic racial discrimination to immigration restriction is ludicrous. Americans have banned discrimination against American citizens by laws enacted through our institutions of self-government. But where is any legal obligation for us to extend this principle to noncitizens throughout the world?
And where is the moral obligation? Parents aren’t moral if they value all children as much or more than their own children. The same applies to countries, often called fatherlands and motherlands.
Somin’s proposal is absurd as a matter of practicality—if for no other reason.. It rests on the utopian hubris that our country has the resources to give equal opportunity to all persons everywhere by opening our doors and never closing them. If we did that we would be overwhelmed, and America would become a land of “poverty and oppression” just as much as anywhere else.
Contrary to Somin’s claim, not all discrimination applied to immigration policy is “bigotry.” He falsely maintains that Trump’s travel ban was anti Muslim, when in fact it was focused on terrorism in some—but not all—Muslim countries. Nevertheless, it would not be unreasonable to have an immigration policy that limits Muslim immigration. We would be foolish not to learn from the enormous problems it has caused in Europe.
Somin is associated the with Cato Institute, which serves cheap labor interests by churning out propaganda for open borders. This propaganda appeals to morality while diverting attention from the greed that lurks behind it.