Monopoly in the Marketplace: The Ideological Denial of Visas

The McCarran-Walter Act mandates the exclusion of nonimmigrant aliens from entry into the United States. Hundred of detentions and exclusions occur yearly under the Act, and Latin Americans appear to be disproportionately likely to be excluded.
This article argues that the Act, a Cold War statute, ignores current political reality and American self-interest. The exclusionary subsections provide no more protection from terrorists and other genuine internal security risks than is available from other statutes. But they reduce the exchange of people and ideas, including foreign policy issues; fuel a negative image abroad of America; and impermissibly burden the first amendment and equal protection rights of American citizens. This article proposes that the subsections in question be repealed and replaced with narrower statutes.