Free migration or open immigration is the position that people should be able to migrate to whatever country they choose with few restrictions.

Spiritual perspectives on migration

Through numerous situations and encounters, immigration can be a test of mental fortitude rather than physical ability. In Buddhism, a bodhisattva is considered to be a guide to awakening and to the Pure Lands. "The Buddha declares that we are all bodhisattvas destined to attain full Awakening. It seems that each of us, then, is engaged in 'spiritual immigration'. The Buddha asserts that everyone is a bodhisattva, or a 'spiritual immigrant', who must attain various virtues which ultimately leads to prajnaparamita, or 'transcendent wisdom'. Adherents believe that religious figures have travelled from an unpurified state to a purified state: Buddha traveled from his privileged life to a life of poverty to gain divinity and knowledge; therefore divine figures like Gautam Buddha viewed migration as purification. The Qur’an states that "they could migrate from their oppressed positions to another land of God". The Christian faith receives a sense of justice for migrants from Abrahamic faith traditions. Catholics follow these guidelines to help immigrants: "for all persons on the move". The reasons to help those on the move were established in 1952 when leaders of the Roman Catholic Church published written material that reinforced the teachings of the church. One of the quotes from the Bible used to justify hospitality is "when an alien resides with you in your land, you shall not oppress the alien. The alien who resides with you shall be to you as a citizen among you; you shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God" (Leviticus 19:33).

Law and politics

Many nation states have agreed and disagreed on the topic of open borders and free migration, with some countries allowing people to travel freely from country to country and state to state without the risk of deportation or punishment. The consensus within the open borders debate is to “establish a view of migration that reflects the liberal commitment to the equal moral worth of all people which applies to a truly global view of migration.”

Various ideas have been applied to a global view of migration, such as the ideas of other journalists such as Johnathan Wolff and Avnir De-Shalit to migration. Wolff and De-Shalit's state that the use of law and ethics is a positive factor in the debate over free migration. The debate of free migration does not apply to a specific country but extends beyond, and continues on to a broader spectrum for introducing a freedom of movement amongst all people, for all countries. However, this concept is especially significant to the places that experience the most migration—including both source and recipient countries or states.

Free migration is not limited to a certain time period, but has been more relevant and controversial in recent years, especially in the United States. In the U.S., it has become a more controversial topic since 9/11. Free migration is a concept to consider when comparing basic human rights and migration. "Constraining movement in most cases is therefore, unjustified and immoral". Officers must put their political views behind them and revert to policy law; leaving behind their personal moral conflicts and ethics to abide by law and policy. Political philosophers focus on free movement as a human right and aid for those in poverty or serious global inequality.

Although there is not a necessary definition for something considered to be morally, ethically, or legally accepted in a society, everyone has an individual connection to what may be considered good or bad for society. The United States government has placed many strict laws on immigration that it proposes will produce a better immigration system. Other countries, through United Nations consensus, allow a minimum two year system for refugee relocation, with other countries such as Canada and Switzerland operating within a four-year system.

According to London School of Economics political theorist Chandran Kukathas, immigration control is a threat to freedom and national self-determination. He argues, "immigration control is not merely about preventing outsiders from moving across borders. It is about controlling what outsiders do once in a society: whether they work, reside, study, set up businesses, or share their lives with others. But controlling outsiders-immigrants or would-be immigrants requires regulating, monitoring, and sanctioning insiders, those citizens and residents who might otherwise hire, trade with, house, teach, or generally associate with outsiders."

Arguments against free migration

Arguments against free immigration are usually economical, cultural or security-related. Hans-Werner Sinn, president of Ifo Institute for Economic Research has declared "Welfare states are fundamentally incompatible with the free movement of people" which was similar to Milton Friedman statement "It's just obvious you can't have free immigration and a welfare state". Some arguments are nationalistic or xenophobic, or ones similar to arguments against free trade, favoring protectionism.

Argument for free migration

Economic considerations

According to John Kennan's (2012) data simulations (collected in multiple countries to simulate the effects of open borders), there would be large economic gains between Mexico and the United States of America through the implementation of open borders. Liberal economic reasoning advocates for open borders to prevent economic inequality between countries where country A is more efficient than country B due to restrictions on immigration creating production efficiency gaps between the two countries. Labor share data estimates that there would be more economic gains through free migration between countries. These gains are expressed through the economic and labor growth in the country along with economic gain for foreign and resident workers in that country.

Economic simulations show that migration lowers the real wage for both countries receiving and sending immigrants; however, the effect of this decrease is based on the goods and services consumed by an individual. According to Kennan “these gains are associated with a relatively small reduction in the real wage in developed countries, and even this effect disappears as the capital–labor ratio adjusts over time.” Political philosopher Adam James Tebble argues that more open borders aid both the economic and institutional development of poorer migrant sending countries, contrary to proponents of "brain-drain" critiques of migration.

Notwithstanding noteworthy differences among these political ideologies, many libertarians, liberals, socialists, and anarchists advocate open immigration, as do Objectivists.

Some free market economists believe that competition is the essence of a healthy economic system, and that any short-term negative impact on individual economic factors that is caused by free migration is more than justified by the prospects of long-term growth for the economy as a whole. Whilst not defending fully open borders, political philosopher Adam James Tebble argues that more open borders aid both the economic and institutional development of poorer migrant sending countries, contrary to proponents of "brain-drain" critiques of migration.

Examples of free migration

Free migration of war/political refugees

During the Cold War, a migration paradox arose in which some of the communist states forbade emigration, while the "Free World" would freely accept the defectors. This policy persists for Cubans and the Hmong, who are both allowed particular forms of free immigration to the United States based on their automatic refugee status.

Areas with free internal migration

  • The European Economic Area (due to EU's Citizens’ Rights Directive)
  • The Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU)
  • The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)
  • The Treaties of Friendship between India and Bhutan and between India and Nepal
  • The Trans-Tasman Travel Arrangement between New Zealand and Australia
  • The Compact of Free Association between the United States and the Marshall Islands, Micronesia and Palau
  • The CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME in the Caribbean) (with restrictions)
  • Citizenship of the Mercosur (South America)
  • The Common Travel Area "between the United Kingdom, the Crown Dependencies (Bailiwick of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Isle of Man) and Ireland"
  • The Central America-4 Border Control Agreement between El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua

Areas with free external migration

All people, regardless of citizenship are allowed to live and work in Svalbard without a visa or residence permit, as long as they demonstrate they are able to support themselves.

See also

  • Discrimination based on nationality
  • Vienna Convention on Consular Relations
  • Refugee law

References

Further reading

  • Barry, Brian, and Robert E. Goodin, eds. 1992. Free Movement: Ethical Issues in the Transnational Migration of People and of Money. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press.
  • Blake, Michael. 2003. "Immigration." In A Companion to Applied Ethics, ed. R. G. Frey and C. H. Wellman. Oxford: Blackwell.
  • Bosniak, Linda. 2006. The Citizen and the Alien: Dilemmas of Contemporary Membership. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
  • Brubaker, W. R, ed. 1989. Immigration and the Politics of Citizenship in Europe and North America. Lanham, MD: University Press of America.
  • Cole, Phillip. 2000. Philosophies of Exclusion: Liberal Political Theory and Immigration. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
  • Dauvergne, Catherine. 2008. Making People Illegal: What Globalization Means for Migration and Law. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Dummett, Michael. 2001. On Immigration and Refugees. London: Routledge.
  • Ethics and Economics. 2006. Volume 4.1. Special issue on immigration.
  • Gibney, Mark, ed. 1988. Open Borders? Closed Societies? The Ethical and Political Issues. New York: Greenwood Press.
  • Miller, David, and Sohail Hashmi, eds. 2001. Boundaries and Justice: Diverse Ethical Perspectives. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
  • Miller, David. 2005. "Immigration: The Case for Limits." In Contemporary Debates in Applied Ethics, ed. A. I. Cohen and C. H. Wellman. Oxford: Blackwell.
  • Schwartz, Warren F., ed. 1995. Justice in Immigration. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Swain, Carol M., ed. 2007. Debating Immigration. New York: Cambridge University Press.
  • Tebble, Adam J. 2019. "More Open Borders and Deep Structural Transformation, Critical Review of International Social and Political Philosophy.
  • Tebble, Adam J. 2020. "More Open Borders for Those Left Behind", Ethnicities, 20 (2), 353–379.
  • Torpey, John. 2000. The Invention of the Passport: Surveillance, Citizenship, and the State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • Walzer, Michael. 1983. Spheres of Justice: A Defence of Pluralism and Equality. Oxford: Blackwell.
  • Antoine Pécoud and Paul de Guchteneire: Migration Without Borders: an Investigation into the Free Movement of People
  • Moses, Jonathon (2006) International Migration: Globalization's Last Frontier (Zed Books) . See also papers on Jonathon Moses' homepage
  • Kevin H. O’Rourke: The Era of Free Migration: Lessons for Today (pdf)
  • Juan Carlos Velasco: Fronteras abiertas, derechos humanos y justicia global (pdf)
  • Harry Binswanger: A defense of phasing-in open immigration into the United States
  • Hans-Hermann Hoppe: On Free Immigration and Forced Integration (a critique of free immigration)