The video at [1] has an interview Nick Gillespie of Reason Magazine did with Mickey Kaus. At the beginning they discuss immigration, and Gillespie, rather unbelievably, asks "what was the negative outcome of the 1986 immigration reform [bill]". Kaus responds with the obvious answer: we have millions of illegal aliens in the U.S. Gillespie then asks, "why is it a problem?" And, no, that's not Socratic questioning: Gillespie truly doesn't see it as a problem.

Obviously, the great majority of Americans see it as a problem, and we've gotten to the current situation through various forms of trickery: lies from the mainstream media and politicians, and so on. Instead of doing their jobs, politicians have feathered their nests: supporting, enabling, or ignoring illegal immigration in order to obtain power and/or money for themselves or their backers. Gillespie is in effect supporting massive political corruption. And, the libertarian Gillespie is supporting using a form of force - deception - to achieve policies that most Americans oppose.

And, as discussed in the posts on the immigration economics page, the economic benefits from massive illegal immigration are slight at best, and in exchange wages for low-wage Americans have been reduced or kept the same, there's been increased crime, freeway congestion, school overcrowding, and on and on. And, the political power of Americans has been reduced: illegal aliens affect congressional apportionment and large numbers of Mexicans and some Mexican-Americans with divided loyalties has given the Mexican government a great deal of power inside the U.S.

Kaus also discusses how the Democrats in California are mainly controlled by unions but also by the "Latino lobby" in the legislature. Gillespie asks, "what constitutes pandering to the Latinos", and Kaus names comprehensive immigration reform. There's also drivers licenses for illegal aliens (something most Americans oppose) and a state version of the DREAM Act (ditto). The latter allows illegal aliens to take college educations from U.S. citizens. And, things such as Arnold Schwarzenegger's Bank on California program that helps banks profit from money that was earned illegally and thus encourages political corruption as those banks then donate to politicians who will look the other way on immigration enforcement.

They discuss the issue of the U.S. being next to Mexico, causing Gillespie to ask, "so you do worry about a reconquista". Then, he asks, "do we worry about Germany taking back America." Kaus then points out that, of course, Germany isn't next door. There's also the matter that Mexico used to own the U.S. southwest, and the fact that in a Zogby poll, 58% of Mexicans said that the U.S. Southwest rightfully belongs to Mexico. (Regarding general anti-U.S. sentiment, see this.)

Gillespie later says "most illegals are kept from being on welfare rolls". Their U.S. citizen children are not, and illegal aliens are eligible for many other public benefits such as public schooling and the like. The libertarian Gillespie is supporting a massively-subsidized "cheap" labor force.

Gillespie later states, "immigrants did not cause an unemployment problem". Obviously, that ignores studies such as one from George Borjas ("we find a strong correlation between immigration, black wages, black employment rates, and black incarceration rates") and statistics such as the teen unemployment rate hitting 25.5% in August 2009, the highest since 1948.

As discussed on the Reason Magazine page, I repeatedly tried to debate their contributors over this issue, and they repeatedly refused. The offer still stands.

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[1] pajamasmedia dot com / instapundit / 100575