Do you think I could convince you that the US needs a forced sterilization program to prevent poor people from having children?
Before you react, please take a moment to consider my case…
What if I told you that people born into poor families have a higher statistical likelihood of committing some kind of crime during their lifetime?
What if I told you the children of the poor are more likely to have bad grammar and adopt fashions and habits out of the cultural norm?
What if I told you those born to poor parents might end up getting low-paying jobs, meaning they might be competing with the kids of the middle class for entry level work? It might make it harder for your kid to get a job if all these poor kids are also trying to get jobs!
What if I told you that the children of the poor run a high risk of voting for policies that you don’t like? They might cause a demographic shift that alters the outcome of the democratic process!
If the poor aren’t stopped by force from procreating, consider these ways in which the world may change in the next few decades!
Would you get on board with my plan? Would you say yes, given the potential outcomes outlined above, it is imperative that we send armed agents to the homes of everyone in the bottom quintile of earnings so that they can be sterilized? Would you accept that we must prevent their offspring from entering the world?
Never.
You’d tell me this plan is repugnant. You’d liken it to eugenics and the greatest human rights violations in history. It would strike you as deeply disturbing, inhumane, and tyrannical.
You’d tell me that the idea of a human life being forcibly prevented from entering the country simply because of someone’s belief about a statistical probability that the child might be or do things others don’t like is morally reprehensible.
Even if I told you there was a way some poor people were allowed to be born, if they got lawyers and costly licenses and permissions slips and only a limited number and only from certain neighborhoods, you wouldn’t feel better about it. It would still feel just as icky.
Your moral intuition would be dead on. You’d be right.
That’s why we should end immigration restrictions.