Objections to libertarian case

  • The killing versus letting die distinction: This says that there is no obligation to rescue strangers from dying. Immigration restrictions are more akin to letting die than they are to killing.
  • Citizenism: Moral obligations stop at national borders. People have obligation to care about the welfare of fellow humans in their country, but not to care about the welfare of fellow humans outside their country.
  • Collective property rights: Nation-states have collective property rights over the common land and public resources, and it is hence legitimate for them to forbid people arbitrarily from access to these common lands.
  • Anarcho-capitalist counterfactual: Argument by comparison with an anarcho-capitalist state of affairs.