Immigration review

You're perhaps aware of NZ's current imigration review. It is of course partly a sop to Winston the Poodle, but as Katie Small of Kete Were says in an article at Scoop it is "long-needed:the Act’s last revision came in 1987 and the global political landscape has changed dramatically since then with the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of China, civil wars and UN interventions, not to mention al-Qaeda."

True enough. 

Given recent articles here on the subject it shouldn't be necessary to repeat my own views, as summarised by Harry Binswanger the other day: "You want a solution to the 'problem of illegal immigration? Here it is":

The problem of "illegal" immigration can be solved at the stroke of a pen: legalize immigration. Screen all you want (though I want damn little), but remove the quotas. Phase them out over a 5- or 10-year period. Grant immediate, unconditional amnesty to all "illegal" immigrants.

Clearly there's more to the argument, which you can find here in my Immigration archives and in Harry's own extended argument: 'Immigration Quotas vs. Individual Rights: The Moral and Practical Case for Open Immigration.' I trust a few of you will be able to put them to good use in making your own submission on the review.


For a summary of the review itself, Kete Were has details:

    New Zealand’s immigration legislation has been reviewed by the government, and their discussion paper is available for public comment. No Right Turn has given the whole document a fairly good going over, Tze Ming Mok has her points here, and my recent article on Scoop canvasses the opinions of some people in the know.
    The most dramatic proposition in the discussion paper is the idea to introduce classified information into the immigration decision making process. A person could be declined entry on the basis of secret evidence – and that’s an incredibly difficult situation to defend oneself against... Public submissions are due on the proposal on 30 June. Put in your two cents about the future of New Zealand [immigration]. Do it!

Yes. Do it! Make a moral case for phasing in free open immigration with only as little screening as you can possibly propose for security. You can be sure that many submissions will be pointing out the security risks of open immigration. One thing you might address in your own submission is the challenge that welfare makes to open immigration...
 
LINKS: Is the NZ Government's immigration review repressive - Kate Small, Scoop
  Cue Card Libertarianism -- Immigration - Not PC 
The solution to illegal immigration - Harry Binswanger 
Immigration Quotas vs. Individual Rights: The Moral and Practical Case for Open Immigration - Harry Binswanger 
A chance to act - Kate Small, Kete Were  
Welfare hardening hearts, minds and borders - Not PC  

TAGS: Politics-NZ, Libertarianism, Immigration, Libz