Introduction

Immigrant receiving countries like the USA frequently profess their desire to keep out undocumented migrants. They use strong rhetoric to convey this to those inside and outside the state, and they adopt policies aimed at doing so. Yet, many of these policies are either known to be deficient or are only selectively enforced. The USA for example ‘cracks down’ on undocumented migration with methods known to be generally unsuccessful in deterring migration, and all the while not addressing what is referred to by experts as the ‘linchpin’ of migration control: employer demand.

In short, many aspects of immigration policy, especially those policies directed at undocumented migrants, display a high degree of hypocrisy. How do we assess our policies directed at undocumented migration from a moral standpoint? Are our immigration policies, or our selective enforcement of them, by definition immoral because they are knowingly, even at times intentionally, designed to obscure – in this case most often to convince the public that something is being done to stop undocumented migration when in reality government actions are half-hearted and intended to appease many different audiences of which a generally restrictionist public is just one? Most of us would want to answer in the affirmative – the hypocrisy is by definition immoral. Furthermore, theorists of ethics looking at migration also tend to agree that our policies toward undocumented migrants are morally questionable.