Immigration: Sovereignty vs. Liberty

Few issues contribute to the culture war today more sharply than immigration. Minnesota has proved that…

Are certain cultures compatible with the US? Does the government need to “protect jobs” of American workers? Or can business owners hire whomever they wish? Can free people travel wherever they want to?

Tonight at 7pm ET, ZeroHedge hosts a debate between two think tanks: the Reaganite Heritage Foundation vs the libertarian Cato Institute on those questions.

🚨 CHAOS IN LA RIGHT NOW 🚨

Drone footage shows thousands of rioters completely overrunning the ICE detention center in downtown Los Angeles. Barriers smashed, crowds surging forward, property trashed — and police nowhere to be seen.

Newsom and Bass are letting this happen on… pic.twitter.com/YHpayFqyo6

— Billy Lee (@billyboblee310) January 31, 2026

Joining will be Simon Hankinson (Heritage) and David Bier (Cato), representing two fundamentally different frameworks for understanding immigration policy, Bier supporting open borders while Hankinson believes we must go even further than “net zero immigration”, meaning more immigrants must leave the continental US than are admitted each year.

Hankinson argues that immigration is not merely an economic question but a sovereign one—insisting that borders, citizenship, and democratic legitimacy require firm limits, credible enforcement, and cultural cohesion. He contends that without control, immigration policy becomes an elite-driven project imposed on the public rather than a consensual national choice.

Bier, by contrast, approaches immigration from a freedom-of-movement perspective centered on individual liberty and market efficiency. He argues that restrictive legal pathways fuel illegal crossings, empower criminal networks, and undermine the rule of law, while expanded legal migration would reduce chaos and align policy with economic reality.

The debate will explore:

• The morality of immigration.
   
• Historical examples where ethnic hordes overrun societies.
   
• The tenability of the status quo.
• How much control a republic that enshrines individual liberties can exercise over employment, movement, etc.
   

See you tonight at 7pm ET, on ZeroHedge homepage and X feed. Also watch on the ZH YouTube channel.