2025-2 – How Libertarians Fall for Big Government on Immigration

When self-described libertarians defend extensive government powers to restrict immigration, something has gone seriously wrong. That’s exactly what happened in a recent Soho Forum debate. Dave Smith, later backed by Robert Murphy, argued against free movement. In doing so, they fell into a familiar trap—one reminiscent of Milton Friedman’s flawed account of the Great Depression, which led him to justify central bank interventions. Just as Friedman focused narrowly on the consequences of the 1929 crash while ignoring the inflationary boom that came before, Smith and Murphy fail to see how government interventions created today’s immigration tensions.