Philosophy paper

Short Paper #3 Immigration Enforcement Introduction to Philosophy

UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON COLLEGE OF LIBERAL ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

Short Paper #3 – Immigration Enforcement

This assignment is due on Fridady (12/11). It must be submitted online via Blackboard.

We live in a country that is more prosperous than most other countries in this fragile planet. This is not a perfect country, far from it, but it is comparatively pretty good for most people living it – for most people living in the US, even the very poor, living somewhere else would be even worse. So it makes sense that very many people want to move here. These are called pull factors in immigration: things that pull people towards the US. There are also push factors: things that push people away from where they are, like general violence and other kinds of social or personal problems. But of these many people looking for a better life, who should be allowed in? In this short paper, I want you to examine your views on the ideal immigration policy in light of the potential problems of enforcing it. More exactly, I want you to do three things. (A) I want you to begin by explaining what you think the ideal immigration policy for a country should be. There is a range of options here, from total openness to immigrants to total lockdown. In between these extremes, the options need to specify who can and cannot come in, when they can and cannot come in, and how they can and cannot come in. (B) I then want you to discuss how your ideal policy should be enforced. What do you think should be done to prevent foreigners from entering the country illegally (given the policy you have articulated). (C) Finally, I want you to discuss how your ideal policy and your views on enforcement avoid the problems mentioned by Mendoza in the reading: do they create an unjustifiable sacrifice of individual liberties all around, or do they create unjustifiable burdens on certain sub-groups and make them unequally protected under the law? If you prefer, you can also explain why these problems should be accepted (instead of avoided) anyway. Some general instructions:

1. Work on this assignment individually—no collaboration. 2. I will run these through Turnitin, so do not plagiarize. 3. Submit your completed assignment through Blackboard, in the Short Papers folder. 4. Late assignments will be penalized. Exceptions will be made only for extreme, and well-documented,

circumstances. 5. The assignment should be somewhere between 3 and 5 pages long, but it is typically okay if the

assignment is a bit shorter or a bit longer. You should use Times New Roman or Calibri font, size 11 or 12, and you should double space the text.

6. There are no other formatting requirements. Don’t ask me about bibliography, citation style, etc. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns. [email protected]