5 0,000 HAITIAN immigrants gatherednin the streets of New York the othernmonth, angry at an FDA hint thatnthey consider not giving blood. Withnthe appalling AIDS rate among Haitians,nand the ease with which someninfected blood can pass the screeningntests, it seemed an unobjectionablenidea. But not in Manhattan, 1990.nYou may think there’s no right tonpoison the American blood supply, butnyou’d be wrong. State-licensed victimsnhave special rights, and for violatingnthem, the FDA has done penance. ,nAt the Haitian hate-o-rama, onenspeaker said that since AIDS was anwhite plot to wipe out blacks, Haitiansnshould “turn it back on white folks,”npresumably by further polluting thenblood supply. Since Haitians take greatnpride in a revolution whose central actnwas the massacre of all the white men,nwomen, and children in the country,nperhaps the speaker was simply upholdingnhis national tradition.nSuch things make it difficult to be anlibertarian on immigration these daysn— until one realizes that many nativesnbehave even worse, and that Haitiansnaren’t typical. There are also the northnAsians, whose decent communities,nstrong families, rooted culture, andneconomic triumph seem to vindicatenthe open borders that were the Americanntradition until 1921. Of course,nmost other immigrants fall somewherenbetween these two extremes.nA free market means free movementnof goods, capital, and people. From anneconomic point of view, the borders ofnthe U.S. ought to have no more significancenthan those of Illinois. But economicsndoesn’t tell us everything.nIn the 19th century, our unregulatednand therefore booming economyneasily absorbed everyone who wantednto work. There was no welfare state, nonideology of victimhood, and no inferiorityncomplex about our values. Farnfrom being ashamed of “centuries ofnwhite. Western oppression,” our fathersnknew that the Republic representednsomething uniquely good innhistory. It was, after all, why immigrantsnflocked here, and willingly conformednto the norms of a self-confidentnculture.nEveryone became an American;nCULTURAL REVOLUTIONSneveryone wanted to become an American.nThis didn’t, as it should not have,nprevent German immigrants (for example)nfrom wanting to preserve theirnlanguage and culture in parochialnschools, but there was no nonsensenabout bilingual public education tonprevent assimilation. Nor were voodooncultures exalted at taxpayer expensenover the West. And it would never havencrossed anyone’s mind that Englishnwasn’t the official language of thenUnited States.nProgressivism perverted all this, ofncourse. And now we have immigrantsnwho use the welfare system, and thenpolitics of ethnic victimology, to gainnprivileges at the expense of the rest ofnus.nBut willing hands and minds are anvaluable resource. Despite the bad apples,nmost immigrants come here tonwork. They do the work no one elsenwants to do, from running shops innblack ghettos to punching cows innWyoming. They supply the low-costnlabor we need, but which our welfarensystem has exterminated, to the detrimentneven of the drones.nImmigration of all sorts is actuallynlow: about 650,000 people a year, .25npercent of the total population. Illegalnimmigration is less than a third of that,nand declining, which is too bad. Illegalsnare willing to work hard for low pay,nand they shun government offices, includingnwelfare. In the illegal market,nwith people anxious to work cheaply asnseamstresses, maids, and yard boys, wenget a glimpse of what immigration innU Ni I O Mnnnan unregulated economy would benlike, and how we would all benefit.nShould immigration be opposed becausenthere are too many people? Forn15 years our fertility rates have beennbelow replacement level. Do all immigrantsngo on welfare? Since they are anyounger population than the natives,nthey tend to use less Social Securitynand Medicare welfare. And this is truenfor all “social services.” Do immigrantsn”take jobs” from Americans? Thenquestion is economically ignorant. Itnnot only posits a static view of theneconomy, with X jobs to be divided,nbut it is also an argument againstncollege education and on-the-job training,nboth of which allow people ton”take” jobs they would otherwise notnhave been able to get. In fact, mostnimmigrants—because they are economicallynproductive — help createnjobs for others.nNevertheless the fear, in these interventionistndays, of immigrants gainingnprivileges through political pressure is anlegitimate one. To assuage it, and fornreasons of simple justice, all immigrantsnshould be in effect guest workers.nThere is no right to vote nor to gonon the dole; both ought to be deniednpermanently to immigrants. (Andnwhile we’re at it, no American onnwelfare should be able to vote, either.)nUnder today’s egalitarian system,nmost immigrants come from culturallyninharmonious places like Haiti andnIran instead of from Europe. That’snwhy we should eliminate the quotasnand free businessmen to hire (and fire)nJULY 1990/5n