Agustin Goenaga
Docent
Discrimination and policies of immigrant selection in liberal states
Författare
Summary, in English
How should liberal societies select prospective members? A conventional reading of immigration history posits that whereas ascriptive characteristics drove immigration policy in the past, contemporary policy is based on the principle of nondiscrimination. Yet a closer look at the characteristics of those admitted reveals systematic group biases that run counter to liberalism’s core moral commitments. This article first discusses liberal states’ basic moral obligation to treat their citizens with equal respect. It then identifies ways in which the group biases produced by immigration policy violate that principle, when states either deprive their citizens of fundamental rights or stigmatize them through hierarchical constructions of citizenship. Three mechanisms are presented-structural bias, profiling, and positive selection-by which seemingly liberal admissions policies produce illiberal outcomes. The empirical analysis explores the resulting discriminatory group biases in the context of language and income conditionalities on family migration, excessive demand restrictions against economic migrants, and visa waivers for international travelers. We conclude that immigration reforms that mitigate, if not erase, these morally problematic patterns are within the reach of liberal states.
Avdelning/ar
- Statsvetenskapliga institutionen
Publiceringsår
2019
Språk
Engelska
Sidor
87-116
Publikation/Tidskrift/Serie
Politics & Society
Volym
47
Issue
1
Dokumenttyp
Artikel i tidskrift
Förlag
SAGE Publications
Ämne
- International Migration and Ethnic Relations
Nyckelord
- Discrimination
- Equal respect
- Family immigration
- Immigrant selection
- Medical inadmissibility restrictions
- Visa waiver programs
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Övrigt
- ISSN: 0032-3292