--- title: Migrant Crisis: The Case for Open Borders description: A better option than exclusion would be to restrict migrants’ eligibility for benefits canonical: https://time.com/4062074/migrants-open-borders/ author: Bryan Caplan article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-10-07T13:41:18.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:57:34.967Z article:section: Ideas og:title: The Case for Open Borders og:description: A better option than exclusion would be to restrict migrants’ eligibility for benefits og:url: https://time.com/4062074/migrants-open-borders/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb53e31591d103b9b/6988651fab6d77ef786a6537/koy201509010009_final.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1600 og:image:height: 900 og:image:alt: Migrant crisis og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Case for Open Borders twitter:description: A better option than exclusion would be to restrict migrants’ eligibility for benefits twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb53e31591d103b9b/6988651fab6d77ef786a6537/koy201509010009_final.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Case for Open Borders > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=df854302-227d-49b3-8108-0eab1e71c86b&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: A Desperate Crossing [Watch (HLS stream): A Desperate Crossing](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Chck0kIJ.m3u8) (3:24)  _Published 2015-09-09. TIME gets exclusive access to the Greek coast guard as they search for, and rescue migrants_ by [Bryan Caplan](https://time.com/author/4062075/) ## Bryan Caplan Oct 7, 2015 1:41 PM UTC  A group of migrants waits at a makeshift detention camp for Hungarian authorities to register their arrival in the European Union. Roszke, Hungary, Aug. 29, 2015. A group of migrants waits at a makeshift detention camp for Hungarian authorities to register their arrival in the European Union. Roszke, Hungary, Aug. 29, 2015. Yuri Kozyrev—NOOR for TIME by [Bryan Caplan](https://time.com/author/4062075/) ## Bryan Caplan Oct 7, 2015 1:41 PM UTC Politicians on both sides of the Atlantic are once again searching for better ways to curtail immigration. In America, Republican candidates are pondering bigger, better border walls. In Europe, leading politicians are hoping someone figures out a way to end the Syrian refugee crisis by bringing peace to the Middle East. In the midst of these passionate debates about _how_ to curtail immigration, almost no one is talking about _whether_ immigration should be curtailed in the first place. This is the debate we should be having. Some of the greatest victories of social justice in 20th-century America have, in the end, cost us less than nothing. The end of Jim Crow laws, which restricted blacks’ right to work for any willing employer, didn’t only help blacks; it also enriched our whole society by allowing black workers to fully use their talents. The entry of American women into traditionally male jobs, similarly, was not a victory for women alone; wasting half the country’s skill, determination and ingenuity would have been a tragic loss for the U.S. These successes should make us wonder if we’re overlooking other ways to make our society juster and richer at the same time. As it turns out, such an opportunity is hiding in plain sight: Instead of redoubling our efforts to curtail immigration, we should return to the historic American policy of [open borders](http://openborders.info/)—admitting everyone eager to come build a better life for themselves. Most countries welcome tourists, yet developed countries place heavy restrictions on foreigners who want to settle down, find a job, and make a new life. This would be weird if we didn’t take it for granted. Immigrants, like tourists, are normally paying customers, not beggars. Like our ancestors, today’s immigrants come to swap their labor for our products. Most move because their productivity—and hence their pay—is higher here than it is at home. If you lived in Syria or Haiti, you wouldn’t be very productive either. How would open borders benefit those of us who are already here? You could just as well ask, “How would equal rights for blacks benefit whites?” or “How would equal rights for women benefit men?” The answer, in all three cases, is the same: A mind – white or black, male or female, native or foreign – is a terrible thing to waste. Despite the bipartisan popularity of immigration restrictions, these laws trap most of mankind’s skill, determination, and ingenuity in countries that cripple these precious assets. The losses boggle the imagination. According to economists’ standard estimates, letting anyone take a job anywhere would roughly [_double_ global production](http://pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10.1257/jep.25.3.83) – a bigger gain than any other economic reform known to man. This isn’t trickle-down economics; it’s Niagara Falls economics. Immigrants are rarely charity cases. On some level, even immigration’s harshest critics know that immigrants come to work. That’s why critics favor strict enforcement of the many draconian laws that bar foreigners from the labor market. Syrian refugees will take some time to get on their feet, but they, too, will eventually find jobs as long as their host countries permit them to work. Countries with lavish welfare states have more to worry about, but there is a cheap, humane alternative to exclusion: restrict migrants’ eligibility for benefits. Creative approaches abound: For example, immigrants could be ineligible for government transfers for their first 10 years of residence, or until they’ve paid $100,000 in taxes. Critics of immigration argue it has negative effects on wages, budgets, culture, crime, politics, and other areas. Yet serious researchers usually conclude that anti-immigration pundits and politicians are [making](http://211.253.40.86/mille/service/ers/30000/IMG/000000021943/w16736.pdf) [mountains](http://www.amazon.com/From-Immigrants-Americans-Rise-Fitting/dp/1442201363) [out](http://econpapers.repec.org/paper/nbrnberwo/13229.htm) [of](http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/bcaplan/caplannaik.pdf) [molehills](http://econfaculty.gmu.edu/bcaplan/pdfs/whyimmigration.pdf). In any case, the economic gains of open borders are so vast that they dwarf critics’ most outlandish complaints. We are talking about _trillions_ of dollars of extra wealth creation, year after year. Nor must we fatalistically take the good with the bad. The U.S. could impose surtaxes on immigrants’ earnings, then use the proceeds to cut taxes for low-skilled natives. It could require English fluency as a condition of entry. It could limit full citizenship—and the vote—to immigrants with a masterful understanding of American government. If such limits seem unfair, they are far less unfair than the status quo, which traps countless foreigners in poverty and danger because they proverbially “chose the wrong parents.” If we can acknowledge foreigners’ basic rights to work for willing employers and rent from willing landlords—and dramatically enrich foreigners and natives in the process—why not do it? ## Transcript [00:00] [ INAUDIBLE ] [00:03] Before this summer, the life of a Greek coast guard [00:05] wasn't all that exciting. Nights were spent patrolling up [00:08] and down the Greek maritime border with Turkey, [00:10] looking for poachers and smugglers. But then [00:14] as the weather improved this spring, the migrant boats [00:16] started coming across. Each one with about 40 people [00:20] Most of them trying to flee the war in Syria. [00:24] [ FOREIGN ] By the end of August, [00:28] the Coast Guards were catching up to ten of these [00:30] boats on a single night's patrol. It's a dangerous [00:37] crossing, and nearly 3, 000 people have drowned this [00:40] year while trying to reach Greece on these rickety [00:41] boats. [ MUSIC ] So these days the Coast [00:45] Guard's mission is not to turn the migrants away, but [00:47] to rescue them. For that they have to earn their trust. [00:50] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] Human traffickers [01:00] who load these boats tell migrants not to stop until [01:02] they reach a Greek island. So most boats try to plow [01:06] ahead, even as the Coast Guard approaches. You do [01:07] not know what you're doing. [ MUSIC ] One [01:12] night in early September, when Tyme went on a night [01:15] patrol with the Coast Guards, a migrant boat even [01:15] rammed into the side of their ship while trying [01:27] to escape. [ CROSSTALK ] Okay, okay. That maneuver [01:27] could easily have sunk the boat and its driver got [01:29] slapped around for it once the coast guards pulled him [01:31] safely onboard along with his fellow migrants. [01:49] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [ FOREIGN ] [01:54] [ MUSIC ] From there, migrants are brought to the naval [01:57] base on the Island of Farmakonisi. By that point, their [02:00] relief sets in. They've reached European shores. [02:02] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] And after [02:15] a cigarette break, the Coast Guards then set out to [02:17] catch the next boat. It is a seemingly endless routine. [02:23] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] For [02:33] every boat they rescue this way, many others slip past [02:36] and reach a Greek island. Then all the Coast Guards [02:39] can do is watch the migrants scramble onto the [02:41] beaches, and make sure there are no armed [02:43] traffickers trying to escape the scene. [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [02:51] By morning, the migrants are brought to the island of [02:52] Leros, where they are registered by the police. [02:55] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] [02:57] [ MUSIC ] [03:00] They [03:02] will eventually travel farther North and join the tide of [03:05] asylum seekers now making the way to Western [03:07] Europe. 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