Civic Membership as Reciprocity

Abstract

Immigration enforcement regimes operate on the pretense that states have the unilateral right to exclude migrants who have entered without their consent. This chapter contends that when unauthorized long-term residents provide necessary services to their adopted countries, citizens have a normative obligation to reconsider their collective decision to exclude them. The principle of civic membership as reciprocity stands for the proposition that a person should be able to earn restitution for immigration offenses and a pathway to citizenship by working with citizens to sustain public institutions. To account for each polity’s interest in preserving its identity through admissions and naturalization decisions, an individual state can modify the principle of civic membership as reciprocity to privilege forms of service that it has historically singled out for public honors. It can then apply this principle to consider why military service by unauthorized immigrants merits regularization and naturalization in countries with a strong citizen soldier tradition.