On Open Borders Day 2015, the 16th day of March, we marked the third anniversary of Open Borders: The Case. We also published the Open Borders Manifesto, a brief document summarising the objectives of the open borders movement.

The list of signatories is in alphabetical order, based on surname, and is current as of May 3, 2015, with minor edits based on email requests from people since then. If you would like to add yourself to the signatory list, please contact us (preferably via email: openborders@googlegroups.com) and provide your name, with professional or academic affiliations if applicable.

Open Borders Manifesto

Freedom of movement is a basic liberty that governments should respect and protect unless justified by extenuating circumstances. This extends to movement across international boundaries.

International law and many domestic laws already recognise the right of any individual to leave his or her country. This right may only be circumscribed in extreme circumstances, where threats to public safety or order are imminent.

We believe international and domestic law should similarly extend such protections to individuals seeking to enter another country. Although there may be times when governments should treat foreign nationals differently from domestic citizens, freedom of movement and residence are fundamental rights that should only be circumscribed when the situation absolutely warrants.

The border enforcement status quo is both morally unconscionable and economically destructive. Border controls predominantly restrict the movement of people who bear no ill intentions. Most of the people legally barred from moving across international borders today are fleeing persecution or poverty, desire a better job or home, or simply want to see the city lights.

The border status quo bars ordinary people from pursuing the life and opportunity they desire, not because they lack merit or because they pose a danger to others. Billions of people are legally barred from realising their full potential and ambitions purely on the basis of an accident of birth: where they were born. This is both a drain on the economic and innovative potential of human societies across the world, and indefensible in any order that recognises the moral worth and dignity of every human being.

We seek legal and policy reforms that will reduce and eventually remove these bars to movement for billions of ordinary people around the world. The economic toll of the modern restrictive border regime is vast, the human toll incalculable. To end this, we do not need a philosopher’s utopia or a world government. As citizens and human beings, we only demand accountability from our own governments for the senseless immigration laws that they enact in our name. Border controls should be minimised to only the extent required to protect public health and security. International borders should be open for all to cross, in both directions.

Signatories, listed in alphabetical order by surname:

Thorvald Aagaard, Associate Professor, Director of Theater, Pacific Union College

Brian C. Albrecht, PhD candidate, Economics, University of Minnesota

Pedro H. Albuquerque, Associate Professor, KEDGE Business School

Jesús Alfaro, Professor of Law, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

Jesús María Alvarado Andrade, Professor, Constitutional Law, Universidad Francisco Marroquín and Universidad Central de Venezuela, and Member of the Venezuelan Association of Constitutional Law

Deyvisson Bruno Alves de Paiva

Jared Ashworth, PhD, Assistant Professor of Economics, Graziadio School, Pepperdine University

Shanu Athiparambath

Ben Bachrach

Dhruva Balram, journalist and writer, India and Canada

Dave Barnes

Simon Bedford

David Bennion, Attorney

Daniel Bier

Pietro Biroli

Anurag Bishnoi, PhD candidate, Mathematics, Ghent University

Niklas Blanchard, PhD candidate, Human Capital Management, Bellevue University

Luke Blanshard

Joseph Bonneau, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Computer Science, Stanford University

Donald J. Boudreaux, Professor of Economics, George Mason University

Sam Bowman, Deputy Director, Adam Smith Institute

Geoffrey Brand

Angel F. Bravo, Postdoctoral scholar, Physics, Delaware State University

Jason Brennan, Assistant Professor, Philosophy, Georgetown University

Beno Brito, Projects Director, Instituto Liberal do Centro-Oeste

Steve Buller

Jason Lee Byas, Fellow, Center for a Stateless Society

Raul H Camarillo Lopez, PhD candidate Chemistry, The University of Manchester UK

Bryan Caplan, Professor of Economics, George Mason University

Leonel Caraciki

Michael Carey

Ryan Carey

Jack Carney

Simon Cartledge

Richard Yetter Chappell, Lecturer in Philosophy, University of York

Grieve Chelwa, PhD candidate, Economics, University of Cape Town

Lars Christensen

Michael Clark, Assistant Professor, Economics, Hillsdale College

Andrew Jason Cohen, Associate Professor, Philosophy, Georgia State University

Phillip Cole, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of West of England

Daniel Ferreira Costa

Paul Crider

Simon Daniel

Nikolas Dias

Isaac DiIanni, Senior Lecturer, Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Christopher Dobrogosz

Bryan Joseph Dodson

Eli Dourado

Charles DuHadway

Robert Eckerson, Attorney

Margaret A. Elberson

Ross B. Emmett, Professor of Political Economy and Political Theory & Constitutional Democracy, James Madison College, Michigan State University

Mustafa Erdogan, Professor of Political and Constitutional Theory, Istanbul Commerce University

Luís Faria, Co-founder and President of the Executive Committee, Contraditório Think Tank

Daniel Fernández Méndez, Professor, Economics, Universidad Francisco Marroquín

Luis Figueroa, Professor of Ethics of Freedom, Universidad Francisco Marroquín

Bryan T. Fine

Nicholas Fletcher

Scott Freeman

Joshua Gans, Jeffrey S. Skoll Chair of Technical Innovation and Entrepreneurship, University of Toronto

Fernando Terra Garcia

Paul Geddes, Economics Instructor, Columbia College

Jacob Aaron Geller

Giuseppe Germinario

Casey C. Glick, Graduate Researcher in Physics, UC Berkeley

Zachary Gochenour, Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics, Western Carolina University

Nathan Goodman, Lysander Spooner Research Scholar in Abolitionist Studies at the Center for a Stateless Society

Maithreyi Gopalan, Ph.D. candidate, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University

Manick Govinda, Visiting Artists Co-ordinator, Manifesto Club

Jameson Graber

Joe Green, Associate Professor of Political Science, Dixie State University

Priscila Guinovart

Jeff Hallman

John Halstead, PhD candidate, Political Philosophy, St Anne’s College, Oxford University

Robin Hanson, Associate Professor of Economics, George Mason University

Mikael Hellstrom, Instructor, Political Science, University of Alberta

Christopher Hendrix

Vinícius F. Hickel

Javier S. Hidalgo, Assistant Professor, Jepson School of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond

Fergus Hodgson, Editor-in-Chief, PanAm Post

Jeffrey Horn

Steven Horwitz, Charles A. Dana Professor and Chair, Department of Economics, St. Lawrence University

Michael Huemer, Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Colorado

Giancarlo Ibarguen, Former President, Universidad Francisco Marroquín

Tom Jackson

Peter Martin Jaworski, Assistant Teaching Professor, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University

Scott A. Jenks, Instructor, Department of Medicine, Emory University

Nathan Jones

Emmanuelle Baya Julien

Valdenor M. Brito Júnior, Attorney

Angela Keaton

Rick Kelo

Bill Kerr

William Kiely

Milo King

Gavin A. Kitchens

Thomas L. Knapp, Director, William Lloyd Garrison Center

Tristan Knight

Anna Krupitsky

Chandran Kukathas, Chair of Political Theory, Department of Government, London School of Economics

Michelangelo Geovanny Landgrave Lara, PhD Student, UC Riverside

Daniele Latella

Mark LeBar

John Lee

Daniel Lin, Professorial Lecturer, American University

Anthony Ling, Editor-in-Chief, Caos Planejado

Raffaele Lo Moro

Ryan P. Long

Roderick T. Long, Professor of Philosophy, Auburn University and President, Molinari Institute

Ray Lopez

Trent MacDonald, PhD candidate, School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, RMIT University

Pedro Magalhães, Attorney and PhD candidate, Law and Economics, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt

Akiva Malamet

Rafael Bortoluzzi Massaiol

Kevin McGartland

Jeremy McLellan

Justin Merrill

Jared Meyer, Fellow, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research

Gary Miguel

Raphael Moras de Vasconcellos

Walter Morris, Director, Acton School of Ballet

Joe Munson

Darren Nah, PhD candidate, Politics, Yale University

Vipul Naik

Janet Neilson, Program Developer, Institute for Liberal Studies

Chad Nelson, Attorney and Fellow at the Center for a Stateless Society

Russell Nelson

Joel Newman

Sebastian Nickel

Eric Nielsen

Eric Nunley

Federico Oliveri, Research Fellow, Sciences for Peace Interdisciplinary Centre, University of Pisa

Yaël Ossowski, Programs Director, European Students for Liberty

Betsy Palmieri, Executive Director, Hudson Valley Community Coalition

George Pareja

Andrew Pearson

Ryan Pelkey

Luis Pellicano

Alicia Perez

Graham Peterson, PhD candidate, Sociology, University of Chicago

João Arthur Piccolotto Jordão Gacia

Kaveh Pourvand, PhD candidate, Political Theory, London School of Economics

Daniel Pryor, Fellow, Center for a Stateless Society

James Rapp

Shaun Raviv

Jose L. Ricon

Dylan Risenhoover

Darrel Robinson, PhD Candidate, Political Science, Uppsala University

Fabio Rojas, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Indiana University

John Roccia

Chase H. Roycroft, Student, College of Arts & Sciences, UNC

Trish Ruebottom, Assistant Professor, Goodman School of Business, Brock University

Khalilah Sabra, Executive Director, Muslim American Society Immigrant Justice Center

Anthony Sandoval

Antonio Saravia, Assistant Professor of Economics and Director, BB&T Center for Undergraduate Research in Public Policy and Capitalism, Mercer University

Paul Sas

Philip Saunders

Yaakov Schatz

Eric Schmidt

James Schumacher

Andrew Scobie

Hafiz Noor Shams, Founding Associate, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs

Jay Shooster

Joshua Shurley, PhD candidate, Politics, University of Manchester

Sarah Skwire, Fellow, Liberty Fund, Inc.

Ben Smith

Evelyn Smith

Nathan Smith, Assistant Professor of Economics and Finance at Fresno Pacific University

Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at the George Mason University School of Law

Nancy Speckmann, Lecturer in Political Science (Retired), San Diego State University

Piero Stanig, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Università Bocconi

Marilyn Steffen

Wouter Stekelenburg

Barry Stocker, Assistant Professor in Philosophy, Istanbul Technical University

Drew Stonebraker

Scott Sumner, Professor, Economics, Bentley University

Kyle Swan, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, California State University Sacramento

Alex Tabarrok, Bartley J. Madden Chair in Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University

Batur Talu

Laron Tamaye

Fernando R. Tesón, Tobias Simon Eminent Scholar, Florida State University

Pedro Trujillo Alvarez, Director, Department of Political Science, Universidad Francisco Marroquín

David Tufte, Associate Professor, Department of Economics and Finance, School of Business, Southern Utah University

Bas Van der Vossen, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosopy, UNC Greensboro

Brian Wagers

Tyler Walker

Hansjörg Walther

Ladan Weheliye

Nicholas Weininger

Christoph Widenhorn

Michael Wiebe, PhD candidate, Economics, University of British Columbia

Samuel Wilson

Stephen Winkler

Barrett Young

Barry York OAM, Historian

Zachary Yost

Andy Yu, PhD candidate, Philosophy, Oxford University

David Zetland, Assistant Professor of Economics, Leiden University College

Matt Zwolinski, Associate Professor, Philosophy, University of San Diego

Raj Kosaraju

Alex B. Farnham

Annabelle Sreberny, Emeritus Professor, SOAS, University of London

Felipe Micaroni Lalli

Gülin De Vincentiis

Claudia Lindemann, DPhil Student Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford

Robert Sakula

Miguel Vázquez Carrero

David Ramon

Reminder: If you are interested in attaching your name to this declaration, please contact us (preferably via email: openborders@googlegroups.com) and provide your name, with professional or academic affiliations if applicable.