NY Times: Hey, There’s Nothing Wrong With Open Borders

Democrats keep telling us they are not for Open Borders, they just want (insert daily talking point, like they want comprehensive immigration reform, walls are immoral, etc, here). How dare we call them Open Borders! That’s just not right!

There’s Nothing Wrong With Open Borders

The internet expands the bounds of acceptable discourse, so ideas considered out of bounds not long ago now rocket toward widespread acceptability. See: cannabis legalization, government-run health care, white nationalism and, of course, the flat-earthers.

Yet there’s one political shore that remains stubbornly beyond the horizon. It’s an idea almost nobody in mainstream politics will address, other than to hurl the label as a bloody cudgel.

I’m talking about opening up America’s borders to everyone who wants to move here.

Imagine not just opposing President Trump’s wall but also opposing the nation’s cruel and expensive immigration and border-security apparatus in its entirety. Imagine radically shifting our stance toward outsiders from one of suspicion to one of warm embrace. Imagine that if you passed a minimal background check, you’d be free to live, work, pay taxes and die in the United States. Imagine moving from Nigeria to Nebraska as freely as one might move from Massachusetts to Maine.

There’s a witheringly obvious moral, economic, strategic and cultural case for open borders, and we have a political opportunity to push it. As Democrats jockey for the presidency, there’s room for a brave politician to oppose President Trump’s racist immigration rhetoric not just by fighting his wall and calling for the abolishment of I.C.E. but also by making a proactive and affirmative case for the vast expansion of immigration.

Would it surprise you that this was written by a legal immigrant, Farhad Manjoo?

As an immigrant, this idea (of border security) confounds me. My family came to the United States from our native South Africa in the late 1980s. After jumping through lots of expensive and confusing legal hoops, we became citizens in 2000. Obviously, it was a blessing: In rescuing me from a society in which people of my color were systematically oppressed, America has given me a chance at liberty.

It was such a blessing that he’s now demanding that America change itself completely.

A new migrant caravan is forming in Honduras, and the president is itching for the resulting political fight.

Here’s hoping Democrats respond with creativity and verve. Not just “No wall.” Not just “Abolish ICE.”

Instead: “Let them in.”

Farhad is really just saying what most Democrats are thinking.