I found this piece very interesting because it is very relevant in today’s political and social climate. Before reading this piece, I personally did not agree with the idea of open borders, but I thought viewing it from a moral and ethical standpoint was a very interesting perspective to take rather than the usually economic or judicial. With a topic such as immigration, I think this is where ethics/ morals and reality tend to conflict. On one hand, the economic and social pitfalls of illegal immigration can be easily pointed out and defended. Yet, I agree with Hidalgo’s points that barring somebody from entering the country is unjust and can promote global poverty. They point that I think Hidalgo neglects to address is the actual “rights” of illegal migrants. She commonly references the “rights” of migrants that citizens must respect, but speaking through legality, illegal immigrants don’t have rights in a country they are not a citizen of. They are not given the same rights because they are disregarding the law. On the contrary, if Hidalgo is simply talking about ethical human rights, then I understand where she is coming from talking about the duties of citizens to disobey unjust laws.
Critical Thinking
I think the “rights” referenced by Hidalgo are ethical human rights, not legal rights in a specific country. You wrote that ethics/morals and reality tend to conflict in this case, but I think Hidalgo is making that point on purpose. He is arguing that they should not clash, but that ethics and morals should come first. He is arguing to do what is morally right instead of trying to pursue the best outcome, which is a very non-consequentialist view.
I agree with Nikhil, I think the “rights” that immigrants deserve are ethical human rights. The laws put in to place now violate those rights. Legal rights should not interfere with what is morally the right thing to do. Immigranst should have rights no matter if they are citizens or not.
I really liked this posts and the points you made. I agree with you that this article was very interesting and liked how they viewed it from a violation of liberty point of view if you prevent people from entering the US. However, the only problem is if we have these aliens using our resources and they are not working or being taxed on their income that would depleet the US of its resources and government money.
I disagree with Sam. I don’t think that the “aliens” would deplete resources and rather the bigger problem is proper vetting. America was built on immigrants and immigration.