It’s little mystery that so many Mexicans and Central Americans wish to immigrate to the United States: our country is a significantly better place to live than much of Latin America. It’s freer, it’s safer, it’s wealthier, it’s less corrupt, and its welfare programs are far more functional. In contrast to comparisons with Canada and most of Western Europe, this isn’t a matter of marginal differences: there’s a fundamental difference in quality and length of life.

So long as this disparity exists, people will be willing to break our laws and risk their lives to come here. Our (limited) ability to stop them will demand a great deal of expense and effort on our part and force us to do a number of ugly things, like sending indignant-but-eager-to-work people back to the squalor, dysfunction, and danger they left. As a nationalist — no, not all libertarians are open-borders advocates — I think these efforts are necessary even as I lament them.