Arizona’s new illegal immigrant policies took effect last week, which put the issue of illegal immigration back on the hot topics for talk radio and in the newspapers. I’ve been getting more of those Angry White Guy e-mails comparing Mexican immigrants to burglars who break into his “house” and demand free social services while accusing the angry white guy of being a racist.

I don’t buy that analogy, but when we have 12 million people here who aren’t citizens, and aren’t going through the normal channels of citizenship, then we have to change the way we’re allowing people to come into this country.

Last week, I talked about competition among hospitals in Covington as a better way for us to get a higher level of medical care. This week, I’m still waving the flag of competition, and advocating for a more open borders policy.

Let’s ignore some of the concerns about terrorists sneaking across the borders for now. You should be far more concerned about the regular criminals in your town than the possibility of Osama bin Truck Bomb. Even though the recent Times Square bombing in New York City made headlines everywhere, no one was killed. However, New York City is still averaging 11 murders per week due to the regular criminals.

The real number one argument against immigrants? “They are taking our jobs!”

Washington state is estimated to have about 140,000 or more illegal immigrants. We currently have about 310,000 unemployed workers (8.9 percent of the labor force), so do you think that if they were all sent home tomorrow, the unemployment rate would be cut to 5%? Remember, you’re also removing 140,000 consumers from the state, so the answer isn’t that simple.

The most common response to that is that they’re taking the jobs we don’t want. There’s a lot of truth to that in the farm and garment industries, but construction workers complain that Mexican immigrants are driving down wages. I’ve seen that firsthand, so I know it’s true.

From a selfish perspective, it also means that construction jobs are more affordable. New homes and home improvement jobs are cheaper. Isn’t that how the free market is supposed to work? If you spent more money on your house, you have less money to spend in other places.

Competition also makes us stronger. The reason these folks are hired is because they are productive and cheap, so American citizens will have to work harder and get better skills to compete. Isn’t that a good thing? I’m more concerned about the teenagers I know who have a huge sense of entitlement. They’re unwilling to take menial or low-paying jobs and work their way up, because they believe it’s beneath them.

Would these same complainers be as angry if it were a 50-year-old white man offering to do construction work for $10 an hour? I don’t say that to accuse anyone of racist tendencies; I only say that because I believe the complainers are using the arbitrary illegal status of these folks to further their economic interests. They don’t want anyone undercutting their labor rate, and it’s just easier to point at the immigrant as the cause of the problem, rather than addressing the problem of the true market value of their services.

If we implemented a guest worker program, allowing non-citizens to work here legally, we could remove the artificially low wages that result from the fear of being deported. Wages would rise, the higher skilled workers could unionize or join existing unions, and guest workers would begin to blend in to the above-ground economy.

Yes, illegal immigrants are breaking the law. But man’s laws are arbitrary; they evolve based on the times and attitudes of the majority, or those in power (think slavery or Prohibition). And these laws aren’t passed by majority vote anyway. If you want to get a law passed in King County, you only need six people to agree with you, and that law will affect over 1.8 million people. Want a law passed in your city? You only need four votes.

This is an economic issue; not a legal or a race issue. We like to believe that our mostly free market system is the greatest in the world, so let’s put it to the test.