Nick Gillespie isn't just the husband of one of my Miami University English professors. He's also the Editor-in-Chief of the Libertarian magazine Reason. One of Reason's online offerings this month is a conglomertation of articles called "Immigration Now, Immigration Tomorrow, Immigration Forever: Reason's Guide to Reality-Based Reform." It's a very good source of information for people who think current immigration restrictions are stupid -- for economic reasons.

And security ones. As Gillespie points out in "Bush's Border Bravado," there are freedom concerns in play. Bush, in a May 15 speech, touted identification cards as one method of making sure that workers are legal. This is where liberals and Libertarians agree: government surveillance is bad, and identification cards are bad. They take away privacy while not replacing that void with an equal amount of security. It's not like The Bad Guys are going out and getting fake IDs; they're not college frat-boys, and they're not that stupid. If an identification system is implemented, they will go out of their way to game the system until the system issues them a legitimate ID card with fake information. (ID-based security systems -- in the form of passports and visas -- didn't stop the September 11 hijackers from entering the country; they had legitimate identification.)

Criticizing Bush's call for a "tamper-resistant identification card," Gillespie correctly notes that "there ain't no such thing as a tamper-resistant anything." Also, an identification card separating guest workers from regular workers would mean "that all workers -- regardless of country of origin or citizenship -- will have to show a 'tamper-resistant identification card.'"

Want another reason to allow more immigrants? More tax money! Immigration opponents say that immigrants are leaches who get government services without paying for them; however, Gillespie notes that "[a]bout two-thirds of illegals pay Medicare, Social Security, and income taxes. All pay sales tax and property taxes." Gillespie says that the best way to address concerns about illegals taking government services "is by making it easier for illegals to function in the light of day, where they would have every reason to pay all the taxes the rest of us do."