Immigration and Private Property

Greg

The matter of immigration is a topic that draws out a lot of emotion.  Some people advocate for open borders while others push for the borders to be closed.  As is often the case, the starting point is wrong, therefore the proposed “solutions” are wrong.

Immigration is not a bad thing, but the circumstances that are created by a corrupt monopolistic State make the matter problematic for everyone involved.  I look at this issue the same way that I look at the State school system.  People ask if subject X, Y, or Z should be taught in State operated schools, but this is the wrong question.  The correct question is should there be a State controlled public school system?  The obvious answer to that question is “no.”  The State, which preys on the people living within its “territory”, pushes its predatory agenda upon those attending its schools.  The public school system is a State indoctrination system where students are regimented for State service, not service to mankind. The State controls territory, and the activities within that territory, by corrupt means.  It rules through threats of aggression, force, and theft; we are slaves to the State, plain and simple.  We are usually allowed to move around freely in our territorial prison, but no matter where we go, we are still enslaved.  So these facts have to be established before we can ask the right questions.

As it currently stands, the refusal to stop waves of immigrants from pouring into US controlled territory is immoral.  But why?  Not because people are wanting to leave one place for another, but because the State, which has no legitimate claims to any piece of territory, steals from the people within its claimed territory and makes them pay for the problems it creates.  The State claims to be an arbiter in matters of personal property, but it is absurd to claim that we even have personal property under State rule.  If we do not “pay” our taxes to the State for the privilege of being able to live in its territory, we can be evicted and even thrown into jail.  Moreover, the State requires that we buy different kinds of insurance, and pay for certain services (whether we want them or not), and then it allows people to invade its territory (for its own political purposes) that do not have the same requirements placed upon them.  The invaders get propped up with resources that are stolen from the people that already live there.  That is a great evil.  It only creates more animosity toward the State for its thieving practices, and it also results in immigrants becoming targets, even if they are peaceful people.  Nothing about the current state of affairs is just.  It is crooked and the whole matter is caused by the follies of statism.

In a free society, all property is private property. There is no “public” property that anyone and everyone can access. Certainly, private property owners can provide access to their land or territory for different purposes, and in fact, many would for various reasons. This would settle the matter when it comes to outsiders immigrating into a territory, for no one has the right to access another person’s property without permission.  But it is also true that private property owners can allow anyone at all, without any input from State rulers or anyone else, to access their property, no matter where the person came from. 

If a person flees State tyranny from across the world, the State calls him a criminal for leaving. That is an outrage.  No person should be forced to live under tyranny.  He should be able to secede, just as groups of people should be able to do the same.  When the refugee enters territory controlled by another State, the State he runs to will call him a criminal (unless he runs to the US nowadays of course), yet the fundamental problem is what I have already stated. The State cannot own property legitimately.  Its “lands” are maintained by the loot they steal from us and they have no moral right to claim whether a person can come or go.

Since the monopolistic State should not exist at all, as a property owner, I have the natural right to allow access to my property to anyone I choose, or to no one at all.  I could decide to allow one hundred people from another territory to live on my property.  I am the only person that has the natural right to decide that.  Each property owner should get to decide for himself whether he will have “open borders” or “closed borders” and no one on earth has the right to violate his natural rights of ownership.  The State does not have these rights, though it illegitimately claims them for itself.  Since we live under the fist of a corrupt Government that violates individual property rights, yes, immigration is a problem.  But in a Stateless society, a society that has legitimate centers of authority, the issue could be solved rather easily, for decisions would be made by individual property owners.

State officials, State politicians, and State policies will never solve the problem because they are the problem.