José Alvarez

Freedom of Movement is an Unalienable Right

August 2024 — Originally delievered in August 2022

Recorded history shows a pattern—a positive pattern, an ever-greater appeal to human dignity. Although progress is not linear, uniform, or inevitable, we have accomplished a moral, sociocultural comprehension, and I dare say, a spiritual understanding of the value of human dignity that our ancestors could have only dreamed. I speak of the miracles of the heart, the ones that are the most seemingly subtle, yet the most truly extraordinary. The miracle of the heart that lets me see you as my brothers and sisters, and the miracle of the heart that lets you see me as your family before God.

This country started with the idea that All Men Are Created Equal. I believe that truth not because I pretend that proposition has been achieved yet, but because it is a timeless purpose we can only get closer to, and we must walk in that direction. And yes, we can. There was a time many score years ago when it would have been hard to believe that Blacks in this land could have achieved not just freedom from the chains of slavery, but also Equal Justice Under Law. It would have been hard to imagine.

"We are us, and you're not one of us, therefore you're not entitled to the same rights as I." That horrible, misguided idea—that horrible idea—is quite old. It has been applied to different contexts across history. It was applied yesterday, I believe it continues to be applied today to different contexts, and it probably will continue to be applied to different contexts tomorrow. Yet it shares always the same evil essence, with the same evil consequences—an evil essence, a denial that we have all been Endowed by our Creator with the Same Inalienable Rights. A denial—a denial of that Sacred Truth.

The purpose of government, properly understood, is to secure rights, never to take them away. The purpose of citizenship, I dare say against an unbelieving world, is to be a means to liberty, never an obstacle towards it. That is why whenever the powers of government are unjust, I applaud all individuals in history who have dared choose to be free amidst official slavery. I respect and admire an immigrant who earns a living through the wit of his mind and the labor of his hands honestly, today, as much as I would have respected a slave in the 18th century who dared challenge a wicked world who passed such things as the Fugitive Slave Act as official legislation.

Laws lie. Unjust laws must change, and we must challenge them until they are changed. Laws lie. The Fugitive Slave Act lied. The Chinese Exclusion Act lied. Jim Crow laws lied. "Wet feet, dry feet" laws lied. The wall in the southern border lies. Some people can call them aliens. The law can call them aliens. Connotations matter. I will call them persons.

I am tired of the economics of immigration. You could prove a thousand times that if you let people—if we let people—be free to create, collaborate, team up, assemble, rise as much, rise as high as their motivation takes them, we will all be better off. You could prove that a million times, and it will not be enough. We need a sociocultural change, just like there was a time when some people contended that you could not liberate four million slaves immediately because they did not know how to read or would not assimilate. I'm tired of all of that. Freedom is right because it's right, and the time is always now. Liberty is true because it's true. I speak of the dignity of the human person. That's what I talk about. I want to convince you that We Are All Created Equal and that you actually mean it, feel it, in a world that truly doesn't.

So why is it that anyone in this room can have a right that I don't? I dare say that in the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God, you don't have a single right—you don't truly have a single right—that I don't. So why is it that the U.S. government can prevent me from working, can prohibit me to work for SpaceX or Virgin Galactic in Washington, D.C., or Astra? Why is it that in 2019 I had to pay $2,000 for an extraordinary ability visa and failed one out of three minimum requirements for a careless legal mistake in the application? I had received an internship offer here at Cato back then, and I couldn't come because of that. Why is it that our friend Fabio yesterday was denied the possibility of a job opportunity because his J-1 Visa is expiring soon, whereas I have at least another year to work freely? Does anyone here believe that I have a single inalienable right that he doesn't? So why is it that we're constrained to make the world a better place?

Donald Trump is wrong. The slogan "Make America Great Again" is an oxymoron for a country whose essence is to move forward. The idea of "America first" implies a notion of "We first." The question is, who are we and why again? Is that "we" a permanent set of people, or an ever-evolving community of individuals living in a land that John F. Kennedy called a land of immigrants? Do not make America great again. I propose making America better. I propose making America a more perfect union worthy of being saved. Walls that separate families—human beings that wish to be joined together—are always an insult against humanity. The idea of making America great again is a mediocre idea. Choose to raise the land to new heights.

I agree with Barack Obama that America is not a country of White people, Black people, Latino people, Asian people, Protestant people, Catholic people, Muslim people, or native-born people. I believe that America is a country of free individuals. If John F. Kennedy said once that all free individuals are citizens of Berlin, I dare say that all free individuals in the world are citizens of the whole world. And so again, and again and again I say, that under the eyes of God, there is no difference between a Guatemalan girl trapped in the border and the President of the United States of America.

The United States is not a country of Donald Trump or Joe Biden or whoever is next. Fortunately, the United States is a country of laws—but not any laws—true laws, just laws. And not any justice, Equal Justice Under Law, for whatever else is the rule of mere legislation.

I propose a country where people's freedom of enterprise is respected. I propose a world where we respect people's freedom to work, people's freedom of assembly. I propose an immigration system that does not discriminate based on nationality, wealth, or formal education. I propose an immigration system of free borders that welcomes everyone who believes they have a right to their liberty as long as they respect the equal rights of others. Move America forward, ever closer to Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness for all human beings who have been created equal, who are equal under God.

I still continue—I still dare dream of a world where that's possible because in God I trust that this country can lead by example, and I want to help make that happen here, in Guatemala, and everywhere else in the whole world.