Earlier this month, Rand Paul was on the Joe Rogan Experience. I’ve generally been a fan of Paul, and I am glad that we have a libertarian-ish senator. I think he understands the role of senator well.
But on Rogan’s podcast, he proposed what he thought is a novel compromise on the immigration issue: We stop the deportation of illegal immigrants who are otherwise noncriminal and employed, but they remain ineligible for welfare, and they can never become citizens.
Rand Paul’s solution to illegal immigrants in the US: they get to stay but they don’t get welfare or citizenship. pic.twitter.com/AVlNPSSHPT
— Rothmus 🏴 (@Rothmus) January 27, 2026
This would be a bad compromise. Contrary to some libertarian belief, welfare isn’t the primary magnet that draws immigrants to the United States. This proposal would leave in place the two bigger attractions to illegal immigration: American jobs and American citizenship for your children and posterity forevermore. Paul’s idea isn’t really novel, either. It’s the preferred policy of those who want to use migration primarily to put downward pressure on wages or to open up opportunities for illegal wages.