Why Libertarians Will Never Stop Arguing About Immigration

Libertarians will never stop arguing about immigration because a vagueness problem lies at the very heart of their interminable arguments about what the proper immigration policy is, given the existence of a state. Which policy will result in greater or lesser rights violations overall is unclear, and since both policies violate some rights, we have no choice but to resort to utilitarian bean-counting to resolve the problem - hence, unavoidable vagueness. Without solving the broader metaphysical issue of vagueness (which doesn't seem likely), these debates between libertarians will never end.

REFERENCES

1. "Vagueness" (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy):

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/vagueness/

2. "The Problem of the Many" (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy):

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/problem-of-many/

3. "Sorities Paradox" (Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy):

https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/sorites-paradox/

4. "Vagueness," by Timothy Williamson:

https://www.amazon.com/Vagueness-Problems-Philosophy-Timothy-Williamson/dp/0415139805/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1487105240&sr=8-1&keywords=vagueness+williamson

5. "The Case for Free Trade and Restricted Immigration," by hans-Hermann Hoppe:

https://mises.org/system/tdf/13_2_8_0.pdf?file=1&type=document

6. "A Libertarian Case for Free Immigration," by Walter Block:

https://mises.org/system/tdf/13_2_4_0.pdf?file=1&type=document

7. "On Immigration: Reply to Hoppe," by Walter Block:

https://mises.org/system/tdf/21_3_2.pdf?file=1&type=document

8. "Are there Grounds for Limiting Immigration?," by Julian Simon:

http://direct.mises.org/sites/default/files/13_2_2_0.pdf

9. "A Libertarian Argument Against Open Borders," by John Hospers:

https://mises.org/system/tdf/13_2_3_0.pdf?file=1&type=document ... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwUTDA3stfc