The audience found some areas of agreement with two San Diego area Libertarians who spoke Thursday night at the meeting of the People for the USA. However, the speakers' main point — the need for more open borders — was not well received by the majority in attendance at the Yuma library.

Michael Benoit and Michael Metti, who have both run for the United States Congress as Libertarians in California, said opening the borders would help the economy, allow immigrants to return to Mexico and dry up the alien smuggling industry.

"You create an industry for coyotes," Benoit said of the current situation. "And once they've spent $1,500 or $2,000 to get here, they're not so anxious about going home."

Metti said America is a country of immigrants that should be accepting of more immigration. He said more workers can take low-level jobs, pushing everyone else up economically. He said this would also decrease the number of corporations exporting jobs overseas.

"I respect people who will do anything to live free," Metti said of immigrants. "We as Americans should respect that. We've fought a war and killed thousands of people in what we say is a fight for freedom."

Those in the audience staunchly against open borders said that corporations that hire illegal aliens should be punished by the government. Metti disagreed. "You want to punish people for giving people jobs?" he said.

Agustin Tumbaga, former mayor of Somerton, said there was a lot of misinformation about why people wanted to cross the border. He urged those in attendance to look deeper into Mexico and the imbalances between the American and Mexican economies.

"You should get up at 4 a.m. to see the thousands of people lined up to come across legally to work," he said. "And the thousands who come back every night."

Some in the audience pointed to homeland security as a reason for tight border security. Benoit said the United States had trouble with both legal and illegal immigrants when it came to terrorism, citing the fact that the Sept. 11 hijackers had visas.

"The world is less safe, but we need to address the causes, like going around the world and meddling in other countries," he said.

Some members of the Yuma Patriots, a border watch group, were in attendance at the meeting. Metti said he did not believe that volunteer efforts to police the border, like the Patriots and the Minuteman Project, were the right way to solve the problem.

"It's an admirable attempt," he said. "But I don't know the longevity of it because it's not their job. It's our government's job."

McQ continues: "Now we all know that most likely the majority of those trying to enter the country are simply looking for work. But it cannot be denied that there is going to be a certain element entering for less benign reasons. These include criminal gangs of various types. It should be noted that the two LP candidates completely ignore that aspect of the problem."

Well, no, they don't—or at least their analysis covers it whether they intended it to or not.

Millions of people try to get across the border each year to seek work and make an honest living. The fact that they are turned away at legal points of entry is what creates and sustains the "coyote industry." And that industry, in turn, is almost certainly where the bad guys—the criminal gangs, Islamist terrorists, etc.—turn for help in infiltrating the US.

With respect to national security and defense issues, "opening the borders"—at least to the extent of allowing innocent work-seekers to cross them at legal points of entry without a hassle—is the means of reducing the ability of the bad guys to get in. Really.

Note that these people do this legally and have absolutely no apparent desire to "live free" here. They're workers who return to their native country every day. I certainly have no problem with foreign nationals who would like to work here. And there's obviously a process, as noted above, in place which allows that. There's no question that the best course is to secure our borders and have a program which allows such guest workers.

The Libertarian Party has long recognized the importance of allowing free and open immigration, understanding that this leads to a growing and more prosperous America. We condemn the xenophobic immigrant bashing that would build a wall around the United States. At the same time, we recognize that the right to enter the United States does not include the right to economic entitlements such as welfare. The freedom to immigrate is a freedom of opportunity, not a guarantee of a handout.

"Yes. All individuals have the same rights, regardless of where they were born or where they live now. Anyone willing to take responsibility for himself or herself has the right to travel and seek opportunity, including crossing international borders ..."

Bottom line: Economic protectionists, whose primary objection to Mexican workers entering the US is that they lower wages by increasing the labor supply, are part of the problem, not part of the solution. The policies they advocate make it cheaper and easier for criminals and terrorists to get into the United States.

This does not mean, however, that the national defense must be sacrificed to some naive conception of "open borders." The right to enter the United States is not the same as the right to enter the United States in contravention of its legitimate interest in securing itself against those who would do it harm.