Exam 20: The Ethics of Immigration

In 1939 the United States turned away a ship carrying 900 German Jews persecuted by the Nazi regime, eventually resulting in the deaths of more than 250 of the refugees. A cosmopolitan egalitarian would have said this decision was morally acceptable, because refugees lack the same rights as citizens.

Stephen Macedo sums up his perspective on immigration in this way: "If high levels of immigration have detrimental impact on our least well-off citizens, that is a reason to limit immigration, even if those who seek admission seem to be poorer than our own poor whose condition is worsened by their entry." His view is best characterized as

________ is the view that wealthy nations able to ease the suffering of the world's poor and oppressed have a moral obligation to do so, and that this obligation is as strong concerning a nation's own citizens as it is concerning foreigners.

Many people, including many politicians, overestimate the number of unauthorized immigrants living in the United States. In 2015, the number was about

Americans tend to overestimate immigrants' share of the population. Many believe that it is more than twice as large as it actually is, which is around

In 1965, the U.S. Congress passed the Immigration and Nationality Act. While immigration policy had previously been based on a quota system, the new policy favored

Cosmopolitan ________ contend that everyone, including both compatriots and noncitizens, is entitled to equal moral rights and consideration and that allowing open borders is the key to eliminating the vast economic inequalities in the world.

Evidence collected over decades shows that immigrants actually show less propensity toward crime than native-born citizens and that immigration can even be considered a factor in the decrease of violent crime in the United States.

In 1901 Australia passed the Immigration Restriction Act, which aimed to limit nonwhite immigration to Australia, particularly Asian immigration, and thereby preserve the predominance of the British within Australia. Suppose that a large majority of Australians would have been made happier by passage of this law. Would a utilitarian advocate for such a law in these circumstances?

During the Civil War (1862) General Ulysses S. Grant issued an expulsion order for all Jews within the parts of the territory he controlled.

Some argue that a wealthy nation that offers substantial welfare benefits to its citizens (such as Sweden and other Scandinavian countries) cannot afford to have open borders, because doing so would

Which of the following would be a utilitarian reason for limiting immigration?

The term ________ is defined by the U.S. government as the formal removal of a foreign national from the United States for violating an immigration law.

Libertarians argue for cosmopolitanism by pointing out that restricted immigration interferes with a citizen's right to allow foreigners to enter his or her property and infringes on a foreigner's right to freedom of movement.

Immigrants are taking jobs away from American citizens.

In just a few years, Hispanics will be the majority in the United States, and whites will be a minority.

Those who appeal to utilitarian considerations argue that restricting immigration has adverse consequences, especially economically, because closed borders restrict trade, waste talents, and impede prosperity.

Christopher Heath Wellman argues that nations have a right to close their borders, a right derived from the more fundamental right to ________.

Someone who believes that wealthy nations able to ease the suffering of the world's poor and oppressed have a moral obligation to do so, but that such nations also have moral obligations to their own citizens that may be weightier than those concerning foreigners, is referred to as a(n) ________.

Consider the following premises of a moral argument about immigration: 1) If high levels of immigration by low-skilled workers make it unlikely that we will fulfill our moral obligations to the poorest Americans, then we should reduce or stop such immigration. 2) Currently high levels of immigration by low-skilled workers do make it unlikely that we will fulfill our moral obligations to the poorest Americans. Which of the following conclusions would make this argument valid?