A Theory of Family-Class Immigration and its Policy Implications

In this thesis, I argue for a right to family reunification: a right against one's state to bring in one's foreign family members to reside in the state permanently. Though this conclusion runs against current legal norms, I argue that it flows directly from liberal values and ought to persuade liberal states to recognize this right. My argument is consistent with states' general (though limited) right to exercise their discretion in controlling their borders, foregoing cosmopolitanism. Chapter 2 articulates a functional definition of the family as a group of individuals who share in a relationship of mutual care, responsibility, and sharing of resources and experiences, and defends a right (against one's own state) to family life based on our interests in care and sharing our lives. It also discusses two specific applications of the right to family life: the right to form a family of one's choice and the right to uninterrupted family life. Chapter 3 argues that the right to family life also entails that we have a civil right (against our state) to be reunited with our foreign family members within our state. It also considers and refutes the objection that such a right would be uniquely and unacceptably burdensome. Chapter 4 contextualizes this theoretical defence of the right to family reunification within the broader immigration ethics literature. It examines the debate between open-border and closed-border positions, and reviews immigration theories grounded in communitarianism, individualism, and cosmopolitanism. Most theories do not attend, or attend with limited sensitivity, to the unique considerations at play in family-class immigration. Chapter 5 examines and critiques a number of typical limitations imposed on family reunification: restrictive definitions of family, quotas, the `elsewhere approach.' It also considers a group of limitations that could be permissible so long as they are proportionate. This thesis offers an exhaustive account of the considerations at play in a right to family reunification, building it from its theoretical foundations in the right to family life, assessing its power in the cross-border context, contextualizing it within the broader immigration ethics literature, and discussing its practical implications.S.J.D