May 29, 2007

An Immigration Thought Experiment

Folks have argued immigration reform to a mind-numbing fare-the-well, changing few minds, I suspect, but here’s a thought experiment:

If you transport drugs in your car or cook them in your house, the Gummint will confiscate your wheels or your digs. Suppose they confiscated and auctioned off businesses that make a practice of hiring illegal immigrants?

I suspect legal scholars would promptly discover that civil confiscation violates due process, the number of businesses hiring illegals would decline rapidly, and the clandestine economy would grow . . . Whether border-crossing would decline, ¿Quién sabe?

Like I say, just a thought experiment, like Schrödinger’s cat.

1 comment:

Christopher Bitner Hayes said...

The cat thing is too abstract for me right now - can't quite get my brain around it yet. Guess I'll have to just test it out myself. Does it matter how I kill / half-kill the cat? Maybe I can hire an illegal immigrant to do it for me.