Immigration and Democracy

Sarah Song is a lawyer and political scientist, and her book traces the history of American migration law—with a particular focus on how that history reflects both anxiety about foreign influence, and fear that migrants will disrupt the domestic labor market. It’s a fascinating story, and it’s instructive to see how modern conversations about the border mirror—for better or for worse - the conversations that happened over a century ago.

Another book I don’t agree with, that is nonetheless invaluable. Traditional defenses of migration restrictions assert either that the right to exclude belongs to a specific ethnic or cultural group or that nations are entitled to exclusion rights analogous to those enjoyed by homeowners or members of private clubs. Song takes a very different tack, by arguing that exclusion is inherent in the nature of democratic “self-determination,” regardless of whether current voters are an ethnically or culturally distinct group or not. I think she’s wrong and explain why in my own book, Free to Move. But hers is… show more.