The claim to automatic incorporation sets certain limits on the freedom of a country to define the terms of admission of newcomers. More concretely, it questions the validity of indefinitely making the incorporation of permanent resident aliens to the body politic a matter of arbitrary discretion or of conditional access subject to the fulfilment of criteria, such as those generally recognized in naturalization laws and in the laws on the initial admission of aliens. Permanent resident aliens already belong to the polity. If anything, they should be part of the body which is legitimately authorized to decide about the incorporation of further members, instead of outsiders who first need to comply with certain conditions to gain recognition as members.

Rather than being deprived of its right to ‘self-definition’ concerning membership, I argue that the national community cannot exercise such a right vis-à-vis those whom it should consider full members according to democratic principles.