Ep 415: Can Libertarians Make Immigration Great Again? with Alex Nowrasteh

Is immigration chaos at the border a failure of libertarian ideals—or government itself? Host Doug Stuart is joined by Alex Nowrasteh, Vice President for Economic and Social Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, to tackle the heated issues around immigration policy and American history.

Fresh off his Soho Forum debate with Dave Smith, Alex reflects on why the immigration conversation keeps evolving, how Congress uses “hearings” more as political theater than for honest dialogue, and what actually went wrong during the Biden administration’s approach to immigration and border security.

Doug and Alex dive deep into the shifts over the past decade in how Americans (especially conservatives and libertarians) perceive legal and illegal immigration, and whether the “open borders” label is even useful. They explore how the welfare of global citizens fits—or doesn’t fit—into Christian and libertarian arguments, the nuances of rhetoric vs. principle, and how immigration intersects with everything from labor unions to the welfare state.

Alex candidly addresses the most common libertarian objections—from welfare and roads to claims about immigrants’ voting patterns and threats to freedom—and even steel-mans the best arguments against liberalizing migration.