Egalitarian case for open borders

  • Rawlsian case: If Rawlsian-style egalitarian arguments are adapted to a worldwide setting, they strongly support the case for open borders.
  • End of poverty: Open borders would dramatically reduce world poverty in the short run and eliminate it in the somewhat longer run.
  • Immigration restrictions as global apartheid: Immigration restrictions are a form of global apartheid, akin to the many restrictions that the government of South Africa placed on blacks in the country.
  • Equal opportunity: Within countries in the developed world, there are some differences in the talents and childhood opportunities of different people. But few of these differences are coercively enforced. People in the underdeveloped and developing countries, often subject to dysfunctional economic systems, currently lack the opportunity that migrating to a developed country would give them to prove their worth and make a decent living. Free immigration will help many people secure a better future for themselves and their children.