Immigration justice and borders: towards a global agreement

Immigration has become a hugely contentious issue in the UK and beyond as migrants from the world's poorer countries seek jobs and opportunities in richer ones (and send back substantial remittances to their compatriots). This article argues, first, that an ethical approach to migrant admissions must be embedded in an account of global distributive justice. Rejecting the two polar alternatives found in the normative literature on migrant admissions-open borders and states' sovereign right to exclude-the article goes on to outline and defend a quota approach to migrant admissions that is both theoretically justifiable and effective as an instrument of global justice. On this view, richer states would have obligations to admit migrants from poorer states, but the numbers and categories of migrants admitted would be governed by fair and impartial criteria into which all states would have an input. The quota approach is allied to a republican view of political community where citizenship can be acquired straightforwardly by those granted the right to reside. The article concludes by considering two objections to the quota approach, namely that it is an inefficient way of tackling global wealth disparities and that it is utopian; these two claims are refuted. Reprinted by permission of Routledge, Taylor & Francis Ltd.