Free Movement Needs Hard Borders

Updated: 2025.10.12 9D ago 5 sources
Zones that allow easy internal travel must compensate with strong external enforcement or they lose control of who is inside. Europe’s Schengen and the U.S. both illustrate that once an entrant passes the outer edge, internal policing becomes politically and logistically fraught. The practical lever is perimeter control, not interior micromanagement. — It clarifies why policy energy should focus on external border capacity and rules rather than symbolic internal crackdowns.

Sources

How Nord Stream 2 has blown up Europe
Wolfgang Munchau 2025.10.12 64% relevant
Germany’s unilateral re‑imposition of border checks to stem illegal migration, as described here, illustrates the article’s thesis that once external border control fails, internal free movement becomes politically untenable—validating the perimeter‑control logic behind Schengen.
U.S. Unauthorized Immigrant Population Reached a Record 14 Million in 2023
Sara Atske 2025.08.21 70% relevant
Pew’s estimate that the unauthorized population hit 14 million in 2023 underscores that once entrants pass the perimeter, they are hard to remove inside a large free‑movement zone; the stock growth implies perimeter control is the practical lever.
Turning the Tide in America’s Border and Fentanyl Crises
Robert C. Thornett 2025.08.20 60% relevant
The piece frames deterrence and interdiction at the outer edge—military detention in NDAs and visible air/ground assets—as the lever to reduce crossings and gotaways, reinforcing the argument that perimeter enforcement is the practical control point in a large free‑movement zone.
The Continental Divide
Steve Sailer 2025.07.16 100% relevant
The speech proposes a 'continentalism' approach to immigration, emphasizing external border enforcement as the workable control point.
Word of Power Levels of the Rising Sun
John Carter 2025.05.15 72% relevant
The author’s 'good fences make good neighbours' and Chesterton’s Fence argument—that when borders are torn down they are eventually re‑erected 'messily'—aligns with the idea that coherent immigration control depends on strong external borders in free‑movement zones.
← Back to All Ideas