Immigration: Apparent Effort To Fashion North American Union Continues

House lawmakers reach tentative deal to revamp immigration ... Prospects for passage of a major immigration bill improved on Thursday when a bipartisan group of lawmakers in the House of Representatives declared they had reached a tentative deal, resolving disputes that had threatened to torpedo negotiations. The breakthrough came at the end of a two-hour private meeting of seven Republican and Democratic negotiators. The eighth negotiator in this so-called House Gang of Eight was unavailable after undergoing surgery on Wednesday. – Reuters

Dominant Social Theme: Welcome this rationalization of a difficult problem. Congress shall decide.

Free-Market Analysis: In the US legislative system, elected officials decide who comes and goes throughout the country. It didn't used to be this way, though. The passport and visa system is only a post-War one. It seems strange but travel was a lot freer a century ago.

If you wanted to go somewhere, you went. Borders were mostly undefended. Official papers were restricted, usually to government officials and others working in a quasi-official capacity. The idea of immigration as an "issue" preoccupying a democratic state was not one that had a great deal of currency in the past. But today it is a big deal.

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