# America opens the Borders. Then what? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 18, 2019, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-opens-the-borders-then-what/840431 "2019-09-18T12:29:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-opens-the-borders-then-what/840431/21 "2019-09-18T20:49:31Z")
The outcome is so dependent on actual implementation. Does “open border” mean anyone who wants to come can get temporary visas? Permanent residency? Citizenship? If they are allowed to work, I think that would be a huge boost to the economy. Or will they be able to physically enter the country, but not have any rights of a legal resident? In that case, we’d end up with a huge oppressed population of undocumented immigrants. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-opens-the-borders-then-what/840431/22 "2019-09-18T21:04:22Z")
The economy of the US improves due to the surge in workers and consumers. There’s a spike in ethnic violence from the right as they start attacking anyone brown in revenge. Treatment of brown workers improves since they can’t be threatened with deportation, or deported before being paid. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-opens-the-borders-then-what/840431/23 "2019-09-18T21:11:49Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > The economy of the US improves due to the surge in workers and consumers. > > There’s a spike in ethnic violence from the right as they start attacking anyone brown in revenge. > > Treatment of brown workers improves since they can’t be threatened with deportation, or deported before being paid. Why is it positive to deprive another nation of their workers and consumers, crippling their economy, in order to enrich ourselves? ---
**Author:** ![MartinLane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f17d59/32.png) [@MartinLane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MartinLane)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-opens-the-borders-then-what/840431/24 "2019-09-18T21:18:11Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > Treatment of brown workers improves since they can’t be threatened with deportation, or deported before being paid. With a surplus of workers, they can be paid peanuts and threatened with firing. If we’re going to keep out the criminals, then we need the same kinds of screening and border protection we have now. We would just let in more people who are not criminals. The walls and guards would not cease to exist. Of course with lots more poor people coming in, this will be a boon for various businesses who want to exploit cheap labor pools. Kind of like it is now with ICE busting illegals but not their employers. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-opens-the-borders-then-what/840431/25 "2019-09-18T21:25:11Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > 😕 > > What would these vigilantes be enforcing? In the OP’s scenario, the borders are officially open; swimming across the Rio Grande (or Lake of the Woods) is completely legal. They would be enforcing their own vision of who belongs in “their” country. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-opens-the-borders-then-what/840431/26 "2019-09-18T21:35:29Z")
A couple of thoughts from the OP… 1. The question is asked with “legitimate intentions”, inasmuch as that can be defined as “wanting to know others opinions”. 2. It’s also up to the respondent to define open borders and the implementation of such. Obviously I focused on the day the border disappears, but if you want to consider real-world transitions to such a state from the current situation of today, that’s great. 3. If you want to give pithy one-liners, that’s great too. All right, that’s more than a couple, kill me now. Danke. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-opens-the-borders-then-what/840431/27 "2019-09-18T21:37:11Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > Why is it positive to deprive another nation of their workers and consumers, crippling their economy, in order to enrich ourselves? Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand applies to labor markets as well. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-opens-the-borders-then-what/840431/28 "2019-09-18T21:56:50Z")
I think that an open borders policy means that people can move freely back and forth, and (what the hell) _work_ freely as well. It doesn’t make people citizens, it doesn’t mean we can’t flag specific people for expulsion, and it doesn’t mean we can’t arrest them if they try coming back in after that. It does mean that once a non-expelled person is in the states, we don’t care that they are as long as they don’t break the law. If we instituted open borders, the ‘coyote’ industry would suffer a huge blow, and american farmers and other industries that love cheap low-skill labor would benefit massively, hiring people to cheaply work the jobs the rednecks don’t want. We wouldn’t see much difference in gun and drug smuggling, since the OP says enforcement of that is OK. (We’d probably reassign a lot of ICE to just processing the massive flow of people going in and out.) We probably also wouldn’t see a lot of criminals coming here - why would they? It’s not like they can grab the silver and run. We’re still checking for smugglers and all. The republican rank and file would freak out and start murdering non-whites, alien and citizen alike. The republican politicians, on the other hand, would try very hard to make a some changes to the law. (Presuming they can’t just reverse the open borders directly): - end birthright citizenship. (This one’s hard.) - kill minimum wage for aliens working in the rural farmy regions. - strictly limit welfare to citizens. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim_r.mortiss/32/142_2.png) [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-opens-the-borders-then-what/840431/29 "2019-09-18T23:20:54Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > But would it? It was that way for the first 100 years. Did we get robbed? We weren’t “the richest guy in town” for the first 100 years. It also wasn’t cheap and easy to get across large tracts of land in those days. ---
**Author:** ![octopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/octopus/32/3716_2.png) [@octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/octopus)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-opens-the-borders-then-what/840431/30 "2019-09-18T23:22:54Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand applies to labor markets as well. I know that. One reason China is about to overtake our economy is that we have apparently forgotten that. ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-opens-the-borders-then-what/840431/31 "2019-09-18T23:38:58Z")
> [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](#): > > We weren’t “the richest guy in town” for the first 100 years. It also wasn’t cheap and easy to get across large tracts of land in those days. I would argue that both of these statements are dubious assertion of facts which are not in evidence. de Tocqueville (sp?) noted the underappreciated fact of American wealth and power in the 1820s, even Adam Smith argued for the inevitability of moving the seat of Empire to America given its potential and already high state of cultural and economic development in Philadelphia and Boston. America and Americans were rich from the very start, it’s part and parcel of our national mythology… and fact. Hell, in meat consumption alone, according to conservative historian Paul Johnson, the American colonies had the third highest standard of living in the world by 1776. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-opens-the-borders-then-what/840431/32 "2019-09-18T23:39:43Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > I don’t know. How much? A relatively quick search shows $1500 - $2500. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-opens-the-borders-then-what/840431/33 "2019-09-18T23:40:47Z")
> [@octopus](#): > > I know that. One reason China is about to overtake our economy is that we have apparently forgotten that. This can’t possibly be true with all the economy-crippling tariffs we have levied on China. ---
**Author:** ![pool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pool/32/4152_2.png) [@pool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pool)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 11:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-opens-the-borders-then-what/840431/34 "2019-09-18T23:45:29Z")
Probably something like this, though more ubiquitous: [https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=Cqmcc\_1567925054](https://www.liveleak.com/view?t=Cqmcc_1567925054) ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 18, 2019, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-opens-the-borders-then-what/840431/35 "2019-09-18T23:55:40Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > This can’t possibly be true with all the economy-crippling tariffs we have levied on China. Considering what Trump has done to our soybean farmers, can’t wait to see what has happened to Chinese soybean farmers! ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2019, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-opens-the-borders-then-what/840431/36 "2019-09-19T00:02:31Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Considering what Trump has done to our soybean farmers, can’t wait to see what has happened to Chinese soybean farmers! The great thing is for every American farmer who commits suicide due to poor economic decisions, TWO Chinese farmers commit suicide. So we are winning! ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2019, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-opens-the-borders-then-what/840431/37 "2019-09-19T14:16:23Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > The economy of the US improves due to the surge in workers and consumers. If open borders is such a boon to a nation’s economy, why haven’t any or many other Western nations done so already? It would be an economic no-brainer, no? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2019, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-opens-the-borders-then-what/840431/38 "2019-09-19T14:23:37Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > If open borders is such a boon to a nation’s economy, why haven’t any or many other Western nations done so already? It would be an economic no-brainer, no? Isn’t that what the Right is telling us Europe is doing? What about the EU itself? ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2019, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-opens-the-borders-then-what/840431/39 "2019-09-19T14:25:24Z")
> [@Slash1972](#): > > The great thing is for every American farmer who commits suicide due to poor economic decisions, TWO Chinese farmers commit suicide. So we are winning! But, here’s the thing. For every American farmer who commits suicide, his farm can now go to Monsanto, who… using their Trump-given tax breaks… can now turn it into a truly profitable enterprise, enriching the 1% even further at the cost of, what, 1 dead farmer who wasn’t going to make it without government support in the first place? #Winning #MAGA #Trump2020 ---
**Author:** ![TaoPilot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/77aa72/32.png) [@TaoPilot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TaoPilot)\ **Post date:** [September 19, 2019, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-opens-the-borders-then-what/840431/40 "2019-09-19T15:57:04Z")
Then I have another option besides Barnes and Noble. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-opens-the-borders-then-what/840431.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/america-opens-the-borders-then-what/840431.md?page=3)