Racial segregation in the US in the not-so-distant past prevented black Americans from living and working where they wanted. Their freedoms and opportunities were limited by the color of their skin—a characteristic that depended on who their parents were. Black Americans were, essentially, punished for having the “wrong” parents.
While most people condemn such racial discrimination, they don’t seem to recognize that immigration restrictions violate the same principles. Like racial segregation, immigration laws restrict where people live and work based on a personal characteristic people can’t control: the citizenship status of their parents. Consider the case of the US. You have just as much control over whether your parents were American citizens or not as you have control over whether your parents were black or white. None. Punishing people whose parents were not American citizens by excluding them from America is, just like racial segregation, punishing people for having the “wrong” parents.
(This chapter is based on an article written by Ilya Somin, the law professor we met in Chapter 4. A country is not a house, called Immigration restrictions and racial discrimination share similar roots. The article was published in November 2020.)
Questions
- Is it correct to limit where people can live and work based on the color of their parents’ skin?
- Is it correct to limit where people can live and work based on the citizenship status of their parents?