John Buckley on Immigration

Pathway to residency but only after welfare is reformed

A: Oppose at present, until we reform the welfare system. In the meantime, I support a pathway to residency, but not citizenship.

Create a mechanism to normalize people already here

A: That's a tough issue. To the extent voters perceive that open immigration is going to come at their expense, they are wary of the direction the country is heading with the borders and immigration. As a libertarian I'm kind of caught in the middle, perhaps not as ideological as some of my brethren. Welcoming hard-working immigrants is part and parcel of the character of America, but at the same time figuring out how to afford keeping ourselves a beacon for those across the world and to continue to fight against the welfare society. We have to create a mechanism to normalize people already here in a way that doesn't contravene one of our principles, which is rule of law. That does not set the stage for more in the future to say, get in illegal and stick around long enough, so really there are no laws against illegal immigration. I don't know how to do that.