Why not have open borders to labour in NAFTA for ALL workers?

Question

INS is not needed for this; the labour market will efficiently decide who works where. INS didn't let in the illegals legally because INS claims Americans can do their jobs, so they are not needed; however, the illegals are working which means INS is full of crap. If the illegals were not needed, they would not be working. Makes no sense.

I thought Americans like George Bush believe in free trade, so why not free trade in people rather than this top down Soviet style management of the labour market. I mean if borders is so wonderful, why not have more of them? Stop Americans from changing states without a state Green Card??? Makes no sense.

The comment about driving down wages might be true, except a Mexican worker will try to get skills that employers want just like Americans. Also, the # of jobs increases with the population. I mean the U.S. doubled its population every generatiion for most of its history, so this idea that immigration is worse than natural population growth is false.

All your arguments against Mexican workers could be applyed to American workers as well yet you never do that??? Suspicious, yes.

Answer 1

Because they come here not just for the stellar wages but for our subsidized education and health care and other services which are so expensive their own countries won't pay for them. Our children's schools are being ruined, and health care is becoming unaffordable for our own people. You can't have both open immigration and subsidized services.

Answer 2

In theory you are right and hopefully we will one day be able to make all borders in the world completely open.

Right now, the western world cannot compete on labor prices for low-skill work with underdeveloped countries. If somebody is willing to work for a couple of dollars a day, why should you hire one that wants $8 an hour? In other words, having free immigration would push millions of Americans working as gas station attendants, truck drivers, store clerks, cleaning workers out of their jobs. I also suspect that the harsh living conditions would also negatively affect crime rates. What politician in his rightful mind would do that to the people who voted for him?

You may argue that a minimum wage would solve the problem, but lots of people are paid above the minimum wage. If you have free inflow of people, the average salary for low-skilled workers will fall to the minimum because of the increased supply. Also, the employers will be treating their employees even worse, because they can always get a new person.

Btw. INS doesn't exist any more. It's called USCIS = US Citizenship and Immigration Services

Answer 3

You are misguided. We have Plenty of LEGAL immigrants in the USA to do the jobs. If we get to the point to where we need more, the INS can just raise the quota on the amount of immigrants from Mexico, or whatever country they know can provide the laborers we need.

The INS has laws that are not being enforced for one reason or another. Your suggestion to have open borders for labor would definitely bankrupt our nation as they would ALL migrate here whether there were jobs or not because our welfare system would support them and eventually, our social security system. Free trade is one thing but your open border suggestion is ridiculous.
Another ridiculous and absurd condition that you propose is to not allow free and unhampered travel between STATES. Our country is called the UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. We have always had unhampered travel between states. What would your suggestion accomplish? Here, you are talking about restricting travel WITHIN a country yet you start with free travel BETWEEN COUNTRIES. Does that still "make no sense"?

Answer 4

Because workers are people, not machines or trade goods.

It's true that the market will determine value (such as labor wages) but do you want your job replaced by someone from a foreign country? Are you willing to work for $2.00 an hour? Someone in India is!

Where are these people going to live? Next door to you? What if they're crowding into that apartment next door to you- one family PER ROOM? What if your kid starts getting attacked at school by gangs of foreign kids? What if the drug trade increases in your neighborhood? Are you going to pay tribute to those gangs? What if those foreigners build strange churches in your neighborhood, and want to coerce your children to attend?

What if those foreign workers form legal coalitions and demand taxpayer dollars? Too late! Our government is already paying millions to the Mexican-American Legal Defense Fund, as well as student organizations (at your local high school and college campus) such as MeChA.

Answer 5

Those pansy-a**ed losers only believe in free trade as long as it has no adverse affects for them. Once free trade imposes perceived externalities, the anti-immigarationists immediately reveal their true protectionist/socialist colors to compensate for their laziness or genetic flaws.

DAR: You are right about schools, of which I am assuming you are a product. My one-year-old's grammar is better than yours!

Answer 6

this was already tried back in 96/97...it failed miserably....NAFTA is a demon we don't want, plain and simple.