Arguing for Open Borders

In 1980 Joseph Carens was a young political scientist casting about for a seminar paper topic when he came across news stories about the interdiction of Haitians trying to sail to Florida. A new policy under the Reagan administration saw Coast Guard cutters intercept the boats and return the people on board to Port-au-Prince. Carens at first was divided over the policy. On the one hand, it was cruel to return people to Haiti, an impoverished dictatorship where many would face extreme poverty or political persecution. On the other hand, an open-door immigration policy would potentially overwhelm the United States. Carens investigated what political philosophers had said on the ethics of immigration and, finding nothing, wrote up his own analysis. It eventually became a famous 1987 article now known to the world as “Aliens and Citizens: The Case for Open Borders.”

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