Document Type
Article
Publication Date
7-16-2010
Abstract
In this paper I provide a philosophical analysis of family-based immigration. This type of immigration is of great importance, yet has received relatively little attention from philosophers and others doing normative work on immigration. As family-based immigration poses significant challenges for those seeking a comprehensive normative account of the limits of discretion that states should have in setting their own immigration policies, it is a topic that must be dealt with if we are to have a comprehensive account. In what follows I use the idea of freedom of association to show what is distinctive about family-based immigration and why it ought to have a privileged place in our discussion of the topic. I further show why this style of argument neither allows states to limit nearly all immigration nor requires them to have almost no limits on immigration. I conclude by showing that all states must allow some degree of family-based immigration, and that this is a duty owed not to “outsiders” seeking to enter, but rather to current citizens.
Keywords
Immigrants, Kinship group, Relatives, Law and Society, Philosophy, Public Policy, Constitutional Rights, Rawls, Membership, Global Justice
Publication Title
Law & Philosophy
Repository Citation
Lister, Matthew J., "Immigration, Association, and the Family" (2010). All Faculty Scholarship. 319.
https://scholarship.law.upenn.edu/faculty_scholarship/319
Included in
Constitutional Law Commons, Family Law Commons, Family, Life Course, and Society Commons, Immigration Law Commons, Law and Society Commons, Legislation Commons, Other Philosophy Commons, Public Law and Legal Theory Commons, Public Policy Commons
Publication Citation
29 Law & Phil. 717 (2010).