The Ethics of Migration

Migration is a basic reality and a component of the human situation that the political environment must address. When there are significant economic gradients and other gradients, movement is supported by an unstoppable force. In such circumstances, a democratic state would find it difficult to restrict legal immigration or, in the event that the legal system is constrained, to encourage illegal entry. Humans have always been migratory, as evidenced by the fact that palaeolithic humans spread throughout the globe, with the exception of Antarctica. Migration is promoted by the significant differences between one state and another including technological inequality, environmental differences, or the demographic compositions which is a common factor in the contemporary emigration to the EU. Yet the debate of whether migration is ethical or non-ethical has emerged more often without a clear illustration of the actual impact on the recipient country and the immigrants. This study, therefore, explores the ethical implications of migration in regards to the social, economic, and political dynamics.

Ethics towards immigration reforms

Migration is supported by the principle of free mobility which recognizes the movement as a basic moral as well as a legal human right which should be independent from issues of distributive justice or poverty (Schuk 864). Freedom of movement is presented as a right of every individual, unlike capital or commodities due to two reasons: it is a key liberty in itself, and secondly it is seen as a prerequisite to other freedoms including self-determination, autonomy, and personal rights. Having the free will to move from one state to another implies that a person has the right to leave temporarily or permanently a state and the right to enter another state (Holtug 5). This right has been protected especially in the case where one escapes an oppressive or unresponsive state; thus, it makes states more democratic and responsive. The freedom to leave a country is also imposes three demanding duties on states including: to allow for emigration, to allow for return without restrictions, and to further recommend admission elsewhere (Holtug 6). It is, therefore, the right of every individual to move from one state to another as long as the rights of others are not infringed.

Permitting immigration and allowing access to the borders is important to every state. Immigrants have various social, economic, and political implications that can benefit both the recipient and origin countries. A key fundamental gain of immigration is the resulting economic growth in the host country (Ratha, Sanket, and Elina 4). Even though it is difficult to measure migration impacts through the use of quantitative estimates, economic simulations show that an increase in immigration can result in income gain in the long run. The World Bank posited in 2006 that this gain may exceed those from trade liberalization with the destination countries obtaining a fifth of the overall benefits generated. Ratha, Sanket, and Elina also suggested that the migration from of Southern citizens to the North increases employment in the Northern countries, implying no signs of crowding-out of the citizens (7). This shows that immigration increases the GDP generated in the destination country without actually affecting labor productivity or average wages.

Immigration has also been associated with increased production due to specialization and innovation. Statistics from the United States reveal that a 1% increase in the migrant university graduate share increases patent application rates and the total grants issues every year (Ratha, Sanket, and Elina 8). However, the complex regulatory requirement imposed upon the immigrants in the destination countries can result in significant financial costs on the highly skilled immigrants who would become doctors, accountants, engineers, and architects (Wellman and Cole 43). Similarly, the less-educated immigrants contribute to the productivity of labour as they fill in the existing gap in the uneducated labour force, and as such are able to offer more productive complementary duties. The UNDP had also indicated that immigrants are always willing to do the jobs that the locals are not interested in, especially taking care of the elderly (Ratha, Sanket, and Elina 5). Furthermore, the provision of low-cost childcare by the immigrants should present the local women the opportunity to go back to study or work, thus, increasing economic development.

Social implication of supported migration reform is the enhanced family unity. The legal immigration system is currently dominated by the family-based immigration in which the family members of legal permanent migrants and U.S citizens are given the priority of accessing the country. According to Schuk, the U.S government granted almost 66% of new permanent visas to immigrants on the basis of family relationships; this increased from 63% and 58% in 2006 and 2006 respectively (865). This is contrary to the Australian immigration laws that support permanent residence on the basis of labour skills rather than family ties. From a moral perspective, the immigration policy that has strong pro-family bias is more ethical and gets both consequentialist and deontological support. Family stability is a value in itself, and can help in constituting sense of self and that of the world. Furthermore, it is a human right protected by the international conventions to which many states are partisan.

Ethics against immigration reforms

Many scholars have argued in the past that lack of immigration restriction might result in the compromise of the recipient countries. According to Schuk, terms such as “environmental justice,” ”social justice,” and ”immigrant rights” have been embraced to provide a sense of compassion while compromising the future generation (866). Uncontrolled immigration can result in more harm than the good of the society with the effects majorly experienced by the host state. Free access to the United States has caused various economic impacts. Restrictionists and economists like Vernon Briggs ND George Borjas argue that the current migration flow has caused the state economy (Bader 834). These arguments are based on four claims: the skills in the labour market play a shrinking role in the admission policy; he current migration cohort is less skilled compared to the 1960s cohorts; the current cohort drains the economy, especially the illegal immigrants; and the replacement imposes heavy burden among the potential black workers and other minority groups (Schuk 867). One major concern, however, of these claims is the difficulty to validate the data. Different immigrant categories such as family-based admittees, age groups, skill-based admittees, asylees, or country groups all exhibit different characteristics, and as such might have different economic impacts.

Immigrants have been accused of raising the unemployment rate among the U.S citizens and lowering of the minimum wages as they increasingly demand for available jobs. Currently, there are over 7 million illegal immigrants who work in the country; this is 4.5% of the total labour force. Moreover, some occupations have been invaded by the illegal immigrants including gardening (26%), tile installers (27%), construction workers (20%), and housekeeping (22%) (Bader 331). It is obvious that the Native Americans who initially worked in these fields are being displaced by the ”foreigners.” Furthermore, immigrants have contributed to the reduced minimum wages. George Borjas conducted an analysis and found that for every 1% increase in the labour force as a result of immigration, the average wage of a native-born American worker is reduced by approximately 0.35% (Bader 332). In 2005, illegal immigrants reduced the wages of U.S workers by 1.6% which resulted in the loss of $90 billion; this could have increased over the years due to the accelerating numbers of the immigrants.

The political challenge is always prominent in the urban areas where leaders are unable to plan for the cities or control the influx of the people. Most international and internal migrants always target the cities of developing nations due to the employment opportunities, with majority of them working in the informal industries including crafts, business, transport, and services (Wellman and Cole 45). An example is the rising population of Garbon, Libreville city, which is composed majorly with immigrants from West and Central Africa (Schuk 868). If the supply of labour is combined with a government that is unable to manage immigration, the result is increased disparities and expanded slum dwelling. According to the UNDP, forced migration may also promote urbanization. In Somali, for instance, there are more than 2 million people who reside in Mogadishu since they are escaping the war in the villages to get NGOs protection (Schuk 869). The expansion of the cities together with the lacking structured policies to control migration cause a drop in the overall GDP and economic depression.

Open borders have been associated with adverse social impacts. Brimelow suggested that the current immigrants transmit to their children poor values compared to the past immigrants through three key areas: crime, high illegitimacy rates, and limited English proficiency. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) reported in 2005 that most crimes in the United States are committed by ”aliens.” Immigrants incarcerated in the correctional facilities have increased from 42,000 to 49,000 between 2001 and 2004 which is a total increase of 15% (Schuk 870). In the prisons, there are 27% of immigrants who account for approximately $1.2 billion. In a similar study involving 55,000 illegal immigrants, GAO revealed that the average arrest rates for the immigrants were 8, with 45% being immigration or drug crimes. 12% of the population was arrested for violent crimes such as robbery, sex-related crimes, assault, and murder with 15% having committed property-related crimes (Schuk 871). These results reflect the fact that immigrants are prone to committing crime which has increased the level of hostility by the Native Americans.

A more concerning impact of immigration is the possible overpopulation that may arise in the host countries. The world population has been projected to increase to up to 13 billion in the next 50 years. In the United States, the current rise in both legal and illegal migration together with the birthrates can cause an annual increase of 3.3 million people top the population. The population is currently growing faster than that of China. The increasing population could contribute to various problems, especially food shortage (Bader 335). The World Health Organization had reported that over 3.7 billion people are malnourished, a state that increases diseases such as diarrhea, TB, and AIDS. It is important to consider the fact that the U.S food is majorly generated from land. The rising population would mean that there is an additional 0.4 ha of land reclaimed for urbanization for every additional individual (Bader 338). This situation will affect the future generation that would not be able to access any resources.

Conclusion

The discussion reveals that migration has ethical implications and may results in both positive and negative social, political, and economic impacts. Governments should incorporate migration in the development strategies as well as in the national poverty reduction strategies to ensure that the numbers of immigrants are controlled. The estimates of immigrant flows may be underestimated due to the large numbers of illegal immigrants; there is need for data collection and proper policies in order to enhance migration processes for development. Although challenges of increased crime rates and wages reduction are associated with the increasing number of immigrants, it is the role of the3 government to ensure that are workers are registered so as to maintain the minimum national wage.

Work Cited

Bader, Veit. ”The ethics of immigration.“ Constellations 12.3 (2005): 331-361.

Holtug, Nils. ”The ethics of immigration policy.“ (2011): 4-12.

Wellman, Christopher Heath, and Phillip Cole. Debating the ethics of immigration: is there a right to exclude?. Oxford University Press, 2011.

Schuck, Peter H. ”The Morality of Immigration Policy.“ San Diego L. Rev. 45 (2008): 865.

Ratha, Dilip, Sanket Mohapatra, and Elina Scheja. ”Impact of migration on economic and social development: A review of evidence and emerging issues.“ (2011).