Unjust Borders: Individuals and the Ethics of Immigration (Political Philosophy for the Real World)

States restrict immigration on a massive scale. Governments fortify their borders with walls and fences, authorize border patrols, imprison migrants in detention centers, and deport large numbers of foreigners. __Unjust Borders: Individuals and the Ethics of Immigration__ argues that immigration restrictions are systematically unjust and examines how individual actors should respond to this injustice. Javier Hidalgo maintains that individuals can rightfully resist immigration restrictions and often have strong moral reasons to subvert these laws. This book makes the case that unauthorized migrants can permissibly evade, deceive, and use defensive force against immigration agents, that smugglers can aid migrants in crossing borders, and that citizens should disobey laws that compel them to harm immigrants. __Unjust Borders__ is a meditation on how individuals should act in the midst of pervasive injustice. Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series 3 Title 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 9 Introduction 10 1 The Case Against Exclusion 20 2 Challenges to Freedom of Movement 39 3 Actual Immigration Restrictions Are Unjust 66 4 Are More Open Borders Feasible? Does It Matter? 101 5 Resistance at the Border 123 6 People Smuggling 147 7 Complicity and the Duty to Resist 170 8 Promoting More Open Borders 194 Index 217 This book explores how individuals should respond to the injustice of immigration restrictions. Hidalgo focuses on unauthorized migrants and draws on empirical evidence from the social sciences to argue that conventional wisdom about the individual ethics of immigration is wrong.