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I have been studying the immigration issue for many years, am writing a book on the morality of immigration controls, and used to work as a paralegal on immigration cases.  I believe the American people need to step back and consider whether restricting immigration is moral to begin with.  There are several strong arguments which support the idea that restricting immigration is in fact immoral.  One of those, put forth by R. George Wright of Indiana University, is that most U.S. citizens' status as citizens is undeserved, as is the status of those who do not have U.S. citizenship.  Most of us have citizenship solely because we were born in the U.S. or had U.S. citizen parents.  Similarly, people who don't have citizenship simply were born outside the U.S. and don't have U.S. citizen parents.  The good fortune of having been born in the U.S. is unearned and undeserved, as is the misfortune of having been born abroad. Therefore, native-born citizens are no more entitled to be in this country than anyone else.   The Arizona law adds another layer of suffering for those who undeservedly are prohibited from living in the U.S.

posted 2 years, 11 months ago
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