[Note: This blog is part of a series [1].]

It is all too tempting in this age of fear over immigrants and strangers to desire to protect a culture that is seen as under threat by outsiders. When there are major problems in a particular culture, it is easy to see that culture, whether it is a culture of a family or institution or nation, to see itself as vulnerable and to harshly resist any sort of friendliness towards strangers and outsiders. Few people, in such an environment, would have the magnanimity of Abraham Lincoln when dealing with the issue of immigration, even in contemporary society [2]. To be sure, there are legitimate concerns about the presence of illegal immigrants and over the free rider problem, but of even greater concern is the exploitation of immigrants by elites, whether that is for political partisanship from a corrupt and paternalistic government or from the desire of wealthy businesses to skirt laws protecting workers or requiring fair market wages. The vulnerability of immigrants in general makes them subject to abuses from others.

How then, do we justly deal with the stranger? There are a few useful principles we can keep in mind. First, is to remember that all of us are strangers [3]. Everyone, for example, who came to the United States did so as an immigrant, whether over slave ships or in steerage compartments or over a Bering Strait land bridge or in a kayak or by plane or by crossing over the Rio Grande or down the St. Lawrence Seaway. Since we have all been strangers here dependent on the kindness of those who came before, or the richness of the surroundings that we have found, it behooves us to act in a reciprocal manner towards those who depend on our kindness. By having one law for the native-born and the citizen, we ensure that strangers are subject to the same laws as the culture they wish to join, while also giving them the same protections under law so as to avoid exploitation. Full participation in civic rituals would then require a full acceptance of the native culture, while also providing the immigrant with a new status that itself is in no way diminished from that of a native born citizen. In such a realm, open borders are far less problematic because immigrants will be living under the laws of the native culture and will immigrate only if they find those laws congenial for themselves and their progeny.

[1] See, for example:

Argumentative Reflection: Do We Need A State?

Argumentative Reflection: Justice

Argumentative Reflection: Luck, Equality, And Freedom

[2] See, for example, his August 1855 letter to Joshua Speed, in which he said:

“I am not a Know-Nothing. That is certain. How could I be? How can any one who abhors the oppression of negroes, be in favor or degrading classes of white people? Our progress in degeneracy appears to me to be pretty rapid. As a nation, we began by declaring that “all men are created equal.” We now practically read it “all men are created equal, except negroes” When the Know-Nothings get control, it will read “all men are created equal, except negroes, and foreigners, and Catholics.” When it comes to this I should prefer emigrating to some country where they make no pretence of loving liberty — to Russia, for instance, where despotism can be taken pure, and without the base alloy of hypocracy [sic].”

Source: http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/speed.htm

[3] See, for example:

What To Do When You’re A Stranger In Town

The Kindness Of A Stranger

Book Review: Strangers At My Door

Strangers In The Night

Psalm 39: For I Am A Stranger With You

Almost Every Stranger Is A Potential Friend

Stranger In A Strange Land

No More A Stranger Or A Guest

You Shall Leave Them For The Poor And For The Stranger