Many people in poor places try to migrate to richer places ? and so it has always been. But some poor places become rich places and immigration flows change as a result. There are many examples of “rathole” countries changing policies and becoming rich, and relatively rich countries becoming ratholes as a result of corruption and/or socialism.

If a country has an open-border policy as did the U.S. before the 1880s, then large numbers of poor people migrate to the richer country, which, at some point, causes resentment for both good and bad reasons among the native-born population.

President Trump asked why the U.S. was not receiving more Norwegian immigrants. The answer is simple ? because of oil wealth, the average Norwegian is now much richer than the average American. This was not always so. During the 19th century, Norway (and Sweden) were hit with a number of crop failures, and were poverty stricken.

Without some reasonable controls on the nation’s borders, the U.S. will always be overrun with more people than can be easily absorbed. The obvious solution is to move to a merit-based immigration system like those that have been adopted in Australia, Canada, etc., where the focus is on the individual and not on the country of origin.

The purpose of government is to protect person and property and ensure liberty. When it comes to immigration, this means bringing in people who will add to the general level of prosperity and civil society, and denying entry to those who are members of criminal gangs or are likely to be welfare charges. Few Americans would deny these statements ? yet, too many in the swamp-dwelling political and media class are more interested in fomenting political discord than providing solutions.