The American Private sector wants access to cheap labor and cheap raw material, which means they support policies which lead to more open borders. Why? Because capital moves more efficiently to resources and labor markets when it isn't slowed by strict border regulations.
The Reagan Revolution (which Clinton supported) pushed hard to globalize production so that capitalism would have access to all the world's labor markets and raw materials. The Reagan Revolution used the Cold War as a context to bring resource rich parts of the developing world under the Eagle's protective wing.
Talk Radio Republicans - the ones without much formal education who are being manipulated by the billionaires who fund rightwing think tanks and pop media - do not understand the logic of Capital.
Capital wants the cheapest possible operating costs. Cheaper foreign labor = higher profits. Higher profits = better incentives for investment. Closed borders are inefficient because the obstruct capital's merger with cheap foreign labor/resources. This is why large corporations - the proponents of Globalization - are remaking the world with unitary regulations, so capital is able to flow more efficiently to any part of the world where it can generate higher returns. The logic of capital is to level the world and destroy cultural differences SO THAT profit seekers are not slowed down by different languages, laws, customs and regulations. That is, investors don't want to find out that they can't mine the ultra-cheep precious metals in Africa because local customs prevent tampering with sacred ground. When it comes to the ultra-cheap Chinese labor that produces so many of Walmart's products, US investors don't care about our Cold War anti-communist tradition. Capital does not care about borders, traditions, laws. It cares about profit.
AGAIN: Capital wants open boarders so that it's easier to access the cheapest labor and raw materials. Imagine if energy was limited to the supplies of the territorial U.S. The cars would stop running without Saudi Arabia and the lights would go out on the American economy.
When Reagan took over Washington, business said "this is our chance to get rid of the profit-sucking, incentive-destroying costs of American Labor, which labor was over 1,000X higher than the labor costs in the developing world. Put simply: Nike investors make more money when their sneaks are made by workers earning less than $5/day in Taiwan.
Corporations don't want borders to prevent capital from accessing cheaper operating conditions. Capitalism dies when it's productivity is boxed inside the artificial lines of nation states - this is why so much effort has gone into creating the global economic system, so that Capitalism would never run out of resources. If an illegal Mexican can do the job cheaper, capital wants access to that illegal Mexican worker. Period.
Capitalism is the most productive force in human history. It chews through resources faster than any other economic system by an unimaginable factor. When the oil is gone in Texas, Capital bulldozes the American border to go in search of it elsewhere.
"Talk Radio Republicans" don't get it. Their party is deeply in bed with a movement which does not want to place any limits on capitalism, including borders. They want capital to go wherever it needs to go in order to secure higher returns for investors. If you try to limit Capitalism with regulations and borders and rules and laws, you will limit profits and destroy the very incentives needed for investment and economic growth. The Logic of Capital is that goods must be made for the absolute lowest price so that it can secure the highest possible returns. If borders stand in the way, than the border must be compromised or weakened to the point where capital flows with maximum efficiency.
Which is to say.
If you want to understand why we have porous borders, than study the Logic of Capital and the point of Globalization. Capital wants instant access to every corner of the globe. It doesn't care about culture and customs. It sees only labor and resources - and it doesn't want customs, traditions or culture to stand in its way. It wants a ONE WORLD system where all the world's labor and resources can be delivered to it at the cheapest possible costs, without having to stumble at each border to deal with different languages, laws, etc. Capital wants efficiency.
Here is another thing "talk radio republicans" don't understand.
The Republican Party doesn't really hate open borders. Like I said above. The Reagan Revolution rapidly accelerated the globalization of production so that it could give American corporations and investors cheaper labor + cheaper raw materials = higher profits. The Republican Party is merely using the open-border consequences of globalization (illegal aliens) to scare morons into the voting booth . . . where they unwittingly vote for people and policies that make the problem worse.
