Immigration restrictions in the real world

Abstract

In Do Duties to Outsiders Entail Open Borders? Shelley Wilcox argues that, even if we adopt relational rather than luck egalitarianism, egalitarian duties of justice may require countries like the United States to open their borders to at least some foreigners. In particular, Wilcox details the negative effects the Border Industrialization Program (BIP) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) have had on Mexican maquiladora workers and corn farmers, among others. Given these harms, Wilcox argues that Americans have duties to these disadvantaged Mexicans, duties that can be satisfactorily discharged only through allowing open immigration over the U.S./Mexican border. For a variety of reasons, I am not convinced that Wilcoxs arguments undermine my conclusion that legitimate states are entitled to design and enforce their own immigration policies.