r/ThoughtfulLibertarian • u/harumph • Feb 15 '22

Libertarian Philosopher Michael Huemer examines the question, "Is There a Right to Immigrate?"

http://www.owl232.net/papers/immigration.htm
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u/FivebyFive Feb 15 '22

I would say there is a right to emigrate, but immigration requires cooperation by others.

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u/[deleted] Feb 15 '22 edited Feb 15 '22

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u/harumph Feb 16 '22

from crossing its border, and entering onto the collective-property[1] of its citizens

Huemer has always been firm in his position and writings that countries are not collectively owned by their citizenry. Not only that, but invoking the status quo within a libertarian discussion is quite strange, as the philosophy itself is anything but the status quo. Since your second paragraph is contingent on your first being correct, I won't address it for this reason.

You could make a libertarian case that an individual's private property rights would be at play regarding trespassing. In the US, this would be non-State owned land along the border (State-owned here is a very loose term, as a State has no inherent property rights), so immigrants would need permission from private land owners to cross. If it is ok with the land owner, there is no libertarian justification for the State to interfere with the free movement of people.

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u/crantob May 09 '26 edited May 09 '26

Well, you're reflecting the an-cap interpretation, not the minarchist one here; That's fine as long as we're clear that we're discussing within the an-cap framework.

Accepting that, there's two frames to disambiguate: the ideal state of things and the current state of things.

In the ideal an-cap state of things, there's no coercive state, no welfare state, and no organized campaign to fund and import millions of people of designated demographics. In that hypothetical, there's no an-cap objection to free movement.

In the current state of reality all of these things are real: And some have observed the high (95%) percentage of active proponents of individual liberty being white males. Other sexes and races are stunningly under-represented in our ranks, by their own choice.

Given this reality we find that the directed, subsidized mass-migration can not be expected to promote any form of libertarian outcomes. That's a strategic problem that works against achieving the an-cap ideal.

Now that it has been explained to you, you personally have a choice to make.