New Way to Look at Illegal Immigration

[Liberal]

Originally Posted by pelathais

Well... technically it was never "illegal" for Europeans to settle in the New World. Perhaps the Spanish conquests of the Aztecs and Inca civilizations were in some way a "violation" of at least local custom.

Manhattan island was famously purchased in a real estate transaction. The fact that the "Indians" who were paid didn't "own" the island mattered little because no one owned the island. It was just sitting there.

In some respects a similar argument could be advanced about the United States. With our open and porous borders our country is sort of "just sitting there" too.

But certainly a case can be made that the European immigrant stole the Native's homeland by sheer force.