No More Xenophobic Injustice

By John Lee

Any US leader, Barack Obama included, should protect the freedom of movement and residence of all people subject to US government authority.

The legal specifics of Obama’s current immigration policies aside, there is a long history of US presidents exercising vast discretion in granting safe passage or refusing to deport migrants.

Obama should use all institutional channels he has to minimize the legal bars to peaceful migration. These laws prevent peaceful travel, separate families, and unjustly deprive people of the wages and opportunities they would command in a free and fair market.

Obama has sworn to uphold the US Constitution, including as it pertains to immigration laws, and he does not have the power to change legislation directly. I cannot fault him for failing to do something only Congress can legally do.

However, as a political leader, Obama also has a moral duty to uphold the principles of justice. And under US legal precedent, he has discretion in how he enforces immigration laws. When a law is morally wrong, Obama has both the ethical responsibility and the enforcement power to minimize its injustice.

The immigration laws of the United States and most nations punish people for something they had no choice over: where they were born. No matter how good, intelligent, hardworking, or loyal they might be, the laws treat non-natives as parasites, invaders, or worse.

It is taken for granted that migrants do not have rights — merely privileges that governments may deign to grant them. Even ties of family and community are, in many cases, not enough to protect you from the immigration authorities.

The modern passport and deportation regimes terrorize and impoverish millions of innocent people, and for what purpose? Merely to punish these people for not being born in the right place, and daring to surpass the conditions of their birth.

This is not some run-of-the-mill policy issue. The government effectively deprives people of the opportunity to rent a home in a safe neighborhood, apply for a job that pays fair wages, and live among the loved ones they wish to be closest to.

All this, solely because they were born on the other side of an imaginary line. That imaginary line may be important for demarcating political boundaries, but that does not mean it should be tightly sealed and controlled.

The United States had open borders for over a century after its founding. US history itself shows that popular fears of open borders leading to catastrophe or invasion are ill-founded.

As head of the bureaucracy charged with enforcing these unjust and xenophobic laws, Obama’s options are limited. He cannot repeal bigoted laws by himself. But he has the leeway to choose enforcement and regulatory procedures that minimize the injustice of these terrible laws. He has a bully pulpit he can use to challenge them.

Obama must use all options he has to fight for freedom of movement. The chief purpose of government is to dispense justice. Obama has a duty to see that justice is done to all under his authority — irrespective of whom they were born to, or where they are from.