Macheteconomics

Most Rigotnomics followers would agree the movie Machete is a masterpiece. It is a political statement, an action-movie satire, and an economics lesson on migration, rent-seeking and lobbying. John Perish at Overthinking it  explains it best:

[A businessman called] Booth recruits Machete to supposedly assassinate Texas Senator John McLaughlin [who is a conservative anti-immigrant politician]. He anticipates that Machete, a scarred Mexican day laborer with a reputation for brutality, might wonder why a rich guy with a bad mullet wants a Senator dead. Booth explains: illegal labor benefits both sides of the border. Texas gets cheap construction crews, restaurant staff and maintenance workers; Mexico gets American dollars flooding into their poor towns. “This state runs on illegal labor,” Booth tells Machete. “Thrives on it. Keeps costs down. Keeps the wheels turning.”

While Booth’s argument to Machete might be true, he makes it in bad faith. He doesn’t care about improving economic conditions in both Texas and Mexico. He really cares about [getting rich and powerful]. He’ll do that by [getting McLaughlin elected so that he can build] a fence with known weak points... It’ll be a labor supply which he controls. “An open border allows supply to flow in too easily,” Booth tells the Padre (while crucifying him). “Drives our prices down. A secure border limits supply; drives the prices up. Higher prices, higher profits.”