Exercise Review Questions

1. According to the federal government, a refugee is a person who has run away from their mother country and cannot go back because since they have an intense fear of persecution on the basis of religion, political opinions, nationality or being a part of a particular group. On the other hand, deportation is the formal removal of a foreign national for violation of immigration laws.
2. Cosmopolitanism is the perspective that rich nations able to ease the suffering of the world’s poor and oppressed have a moral obligation to do so. The obligation concerns the country’s citizens as it is concerning foreigners. Currently, cosmopolitanism is an immigration policy for the United States since it champions equality and freedom and that opening borders is key to eliminating economic inequalities.
3. Anticosmopolitanism is the situation where wealthy nations able to reduce the suffering of the world’s poor and oppressed have a moral obligation to do so. Still, they also have a moral obligation to their citizens that may be weightier than those concerning foreigners. It differs from cosmopolitanism in that its moral obligations are to its citizens first to foreigners, unlike cosmopolitanism, where its moral obligations are to its citizens and foreigners.
4. The immigrants coming to America have been welcomed with open arms since the 1965 immigration and National Act. Since the act’s passing, most immigrants have arrived from Latin America, South Asia, and East Asia. On the contrary, the country has also received a good percentage of foreigners from Mexico and Canada. Most importantly, those who enter the country legally are often welcomed with open arms, but those who enter illegally often are deported.
5. As depicted in the book, in 2015, the number of foreign-born individuals living in the United States of America legally and illegally rose to 43.2 million.
6. The total percentage of the entire U.S born foreigners in 2015 was 13.4% of the total population. However, the percentage is lower compared to other developed countries like Canada (21.8%), Switzerland (29.4%), and Australia (28.2%).
7. During the George W. Bush presidency, two million immigrants were deported from the country between 2001 and 2008. On the other hand, between 2009 and 2016, about three million immigrants were deported during the Obama’s presidency.
8. The claim that immigrants commit more crimes than native-born people is untrue. According to the scholar Lee Skogberg, immigrants show less propensity toward crime than native-born citizens, and that immigration can be considered a factor in the decrease of violent crimes in the U.S.
9. It is not true that immigrants pay no taxes.  On the contrary, it is evident that undocumented immigrants do pay taxes like sales taxes, just like any other consumer in the country. They also pay property taxes, social security taxes and Medicare taxes. However, the undocumented working “on the books’ are not eligible for federal or state benefits that their tax dollars help to fund, causing a subsidy in the social security taxes. In addition, those who enter the country legally pay their taxes just like other citizens.
10. The reason why all immigrants cannot “get in line” and wait for their turn to enter the country legally is “that there is no line.” Usually, immigration into the United States is limited to three routes; employments, family reunification or humanitarian protection. Most illegal immigrants do not have the required family or employment relationships and cannot access humanitarian protection like refugee or asylum.

Discussion questions

1. In my opinion, anticosmopolitanism makes a lot of sense. Despite a wealthy nation having the ability to ease the suffering and oppression of others, it must first consider the wellbeing of its citizens. The nation’s citizens should be well-off first before reaching out to others.
2. Children brought into the country illegally should be deported just like other undocumented immigrants. If they are allowed to stay in the country, many people might adopt the trick to illegally bring children into the country.  Besides, if they are undocumented, it is against the immigration policy; hence they should be deported.
3. “Preserving the culture” is not a good reason to restrict immigration. Currently, people live in a dynamic world where various occurrences might cause suffering to people that might go against the culture. Hence, a country should not see people suffering and restrict immigration based on culture, which can be easily changed. Therefore, a country should not restrict immigration based on preserving culture but should instead adapt to meet the needs of the dynamic society.
4. The United States has the moral obligation to resettle the refugees. This is evident with the over three million refugees resettled around its borders since 1975-2017.  However, if there are criminal records, past immigration violations, alleged connections to terrorist groups or infectious diseases, the country will not have such an obligation.
5. A county has the right to close down its borders since it is obligated to protect its citizens from external threats. If there is a threat to the nation, a country has a right to close its borders. It is evident with the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic where several countries closed their borders to protect their citizens from the pandemic.
6. Seeing the needs of one’s citizens is often a weightier obligation than helping noncitizens. A country is obligated to attend to the needs of its citizens first before attending to the noncitizens. Generally, immigration has adverse effects on the least well-off citizens; hence a country should see to the needs of the least well-off first before allowing immigration. Besides, it would be hypocritical for a nation to help the suffering noncitizens when its citizens are also suffering.
7. Stephen Macedo justifies his anticosmopolitanis by arguing that “if high levels of immigration have detrimental effects on the least well-off citizens, there is a reason to limit immigration; even if those who seek admission seem to be poorer than the American citizens whose conditions will be worsened by their entry.”
8. Wellman argues that legitimate states have the right to close their borders to immigrants and refugees. His justification is that a nation has a general right to freedom of association, including a right to restrict immigrants. Consequently, he claims that a nation’s right is not outweighed by standard egalitarian and libertarian considerations, hence having a fundamental right to close down its borders.
9. There is nothing wrong with offering unauthorized immigrants a path to citizenship. Besides, immigrants are eligible for citizenship after five years of staying in the country. On the contrary, most immigrants are refugees and are running away from more pressing problems. Hence, there is nothing wrong with offering them a path to citizenship in an attempt to end their suffering.
10. It would never be just to ban the immigration of people based on religion since it is not illegal to profess a particular religion. People mostly are born into various religions, and at times they don’t have the chance to change their religions. On the contrary, banning immigration based on religion is a form of discrimination, and it is against the law and humanity hence should not be practiced. Countries should champion a discrimination-free nation that can accommodate all human beings from various parts of the world.