Yet so often the issue beyond the debated point interests me. I am always drawn to the same issue to which I am drawn by, on a much smaller scale, arising from public school issues. Whether one adopts an open borders policy, or one has strict immigration laws, then one will inevitably face the problem that one faces in all sectors of life that feature unequal gifts and unequal resources. In colloquial terms, what about the child who is left behind in a second-rate school? The same metaphor applies to those left behind in impoverished countries.

No matter whether one expands the right to move beyond borders or whether one seeks to adopt a nationalistic view of immigration, one is left with people “left behind”. The virtue of a more open immigration policy is that the bar is no longer limited to desired skills among the immigrants.
Yet the nature of the competition among people is such that an underclass will remain on site in third world countries or third world sectors of developed countries. The talk about “who may travel” seems to me to be of deep interest. Yet I am more interested in how to resolve the problems at each “at home”.

Take East St. Louis. Its residents do not have an immigration bar to travel to other parts of the country. They can elect officials, and they live in an area surrounded by a vibrant economy which can generate jobs for people who migrate to nearby cities. Their issue us not “immigration” as they are citizens. Yet for a variety of historical, economic, political and cultural reasons, all tinged with inequities of the past and present, many folks are just “left behind” there. Many of the “best and brightest” “immigrate” to other cities, unfettered by the need for a US passport. But thousands live in sub-ideal conditions.

I’m interested in whether we should have more open or less open immigration laws. I dislike the jingo-istic anti-immigrant mood that some of my fellow Americans take. On the other hand, I am not sure if we are ready for a “purely open” border.

But my heart still goes out to those trapped in countries or even American cities where inequality and cultural apartheid are the norm, and stay that way for the folks who “stay behind”.

I know that your suggested remedy might be one way out for those who can effectively leave. But I keep casting back to those who stay, in whatever places poverty lands them.

A similar policy for nations would provide a floor for government treatment of the people.