Various Arguments For and Against Open Borders

Open borders enable free movement of people across borders with limited or no restrictions. The concept of open borders is associated only with the flow of people and not with the flow of goods and services.

There are two ways, which makes the border an open border. First is the intentional legislation made by the concerned authorities to facilitate free movement of people. A very good example of this type is the Schengen Area, which led to the creation of border-less Europe and consists of 26 countries with an estimated area of around 43 lakh square kilometers. Secondly is a border which becomes open due to lack of supervision and adequate enforcement along the borders. An example of this type of border is India-Bangladesh border.

Advantages and Arguments for Open Borders

Advocates for open borders cite Rousseau’s words: “man is born free, yet everywhere he is in chains”. According to them, barbed wires, concrete walls built along the borders should be removed and all people should be allowed to freely roam in the earth irrespective of human made barriers known as borders. Countries welcome tourists, but when people want to settle down, find employment and make a living in these countries, then heavy restrictions are placed on those who are willing to do so. It is a matter of fact that while nations need income from foreigners through tourism, they are not willing to allow a foreigner to make a living in their country. Critics argue for opening up of the borders so that people can build a better life for themselves. The following are the arguments the advocates of open borders place to justify their idea.

Humanitarian angle to migrations

Not only nature’s discrimination leads to the migration of people in search of better opportunities, the need for open borders are also caused by the manmade discriminations and actions. Of late, these have been a major push factor for migration. Wars, natural calamities, gender discrimination, political instability, lack of opportunities etc., have forced people to seek asylum in other countries. Syrian war, for instance, have made more than 11 million people to flee their homes to other countries. Of them, most of them are women and children. Along with this, closed borders have compounded these injustices and have made the life of victims a hell. These have led to the suggestion that individuals should be able to move between countries at will. After all, there should be a humanitarian angle to all the restrictions placed.

Borders are against the fundamental right of self-determination

There is a well founded argument that freedom of movement is a basic human right. Therefore, border restrictions are wrong and are antithetical to the fundamental right of self determination. Prohibiting people to access better opportunities is violating this fundamental right. Man is born free and hence is entitled to such a right. To them, the universal declaration of human rights should not recognize the borders and should propound the rights universally, true to its name. Lastly, closed borders ends up in creating innumerable divisions within humanity by denying the asylum seekers various fundamental rights.

Justifiable demands of the people

Not all people are lucky to be born in a right place at a right time. The majority of the people want to make a better living for themselves and their families by participating in peaceful and voluntary economy building activities. Most people cross borders in search of a suitable economic opportunity, in that process they portray their skills and in many cases works for wages lesser than the natives. But lawmakers are unnecessarily quashing their dreams and underestimate their skill. The determined ones who cross the borders are made to face forced repatriation, involuntary detentions, and even imprisonment in some cases.

Opening borders can be Greatest anti-poverty program ever devised on earth

According to some experts, opening up of the closed borders would be the greatest anti-poverty program ever devised on earth. This program, according to some economists would not cost anything but will improve the lives of millions of people around the world and will double the world GDP. According to them, increased mobility of people is a biggest missed opportunity which could have profound impacts on the lives of the people. When the workers from poor nations move to advanced countries, their wages might double, triple, quadruple, or even increase tenfold. This leads to the financial empowerment. This financial empowerment of an individual has the potential to lift the whole family out of poverty. Also, the host country enjoys the benefit of employing cheap labourers and its income too rises. It becomes a win-win situation for both the parties. If this is not done then the potential of these labourers remains untapped.

Opening Borders Brings in lots of benefits for the host country

How would open border benefits the host country is a question often fielded towards the advocates of open borders. It is feared that keeping borders open and letting in people will have economic, political and cultural implications. But, open borders are also found to have some advantages as well.

Increases productivity of people

When the immigrants find better institutions, better technology, skilled manpower their productivity increases. This will lead to increase in national income and economic development. Moreover, the skill set, expertise and determination of people belonging to other countries are a terrible thing to waste.

Also, when native people start to compete with the outsiders from other countries, they tend to become more productive. They will be forced to work meaningfully to brighten up their prospects.

Improves the economy

Experts points out the case of EU. When borders were opened to facilitate free movement of people, countries like Spain, Portugal, Ireland etc., which were known for high output of immigrants to other countries started receiving immigrants from other countries. This trend prevailed in these countries till the occurrence of world economic crisis in 2007. This happened because of the increase in investments in the economies of these countries due to their adoption of open border policy. Huge investment led to economic development and people stopped moving out of these countries and in turn these countries started to attract talent from the outside world.

Decreases labour shortage

Open borders can meet the demand and supply of workers and can bring a balance between them. The major problem of labour shortage, especially in the advanced world can be addressed by it. Also, the wages charged by these outsiders for providing services such as gardening and housekeeping becomes less and affordable for many people in the advanced countries, which is not the case now. There is also substantial evidence that the number of women in to the work force gets increased if people are allowed to move freely.

Helps in wealth creation

Influx of people through open borders helps increase the property values and increases the wealth of the native people by raising rents. Studies suggest that the national income and per capita income also gets increased with the inflow of people from outside, which in turn trickles down to reach even the lowest strata of the society.

Reduces the expenditure on protecting their borders

It is argued that none of the countries can boast a record of fiscal responsibility with closed borders because the expenditure incurred on protecting the borders is very huge. For example, the estimates show that the US has spent more money on border enforcement than all other federal enforcement activities combined.

Happiness and health of people increases

With open borders, people are free to pursue their interests. They can avail of all the opportunities they get from the outside world. By pursuing what interests them and stay where they wish to stay, they tend to be happier and the prevailing stress levels among the people will get decreased. With a surrounding which interests them, their longevity may also increase.

Regionalism, racism, and other vices of the society gets sidelined

With open borders, people from various places intermix with each other. This will eliminate the feelings of regionalism, racism etc., from the society. People tend to start appreciating the diversity and the hatred towards others gets sidelined. This trend can be observed in metropolitan cities, where people coexist and leave peacefully despite intermixing of various people from varied backgrounds. On the other hand, in villages and small towns, groupings based on caste, religion are creating unnecessary tension among the people.

Moreover, with the whole world becoming more or less every body’s home land, the separatist tendencies and the demands like creation of separate region for separate sects gets sidelined.

Borders are Inconsistent with our fundamental moral beliefs and teachings

None of the ideas, be it utilitarian, libertarian, egalitarian or any other, declares that people from foreign countries are of less moral worth. Nationalism, according to the proponents of this argument, has robbed the rights, interests of the people from foreign lands and further questions their moral values.

Immigrants are not beggars

People enter a country predominantly to swap their labour and skills for wages. They come to work. Sometimes, the people like refugees take some time to become productive. Eventually, they will also start contributing to the economic development of a country.

Spread of knowledge and intermixing of cultures

Open borders also tend to help in spreading of knowledge with easy movements of scholars. The best practices from one place can get easily carried to other countries, enriching the lives of many people. Similarly, intermixing of cultures can result in the development of new form of art forms and enrich the cultural practices.

People can cross borders if capital and goods can

There is also an argument which states that the countries allow rich and influential to park their fortunes in their countries to evade taxes and these people are allowed to cross the border and settle down with ease. In this context, now the argument is why the governments are putting harsh restrictions on poor immigrants who also cross borders mostly to seek employment and participate in the economy building activity of the host country. Further, while multi-national corporations have open borders, the peoples’ rights, family unification etc., have closed borders.

Drawbacks and arguments against Open Borders

While the idea of open borders seems like a progressive dream, many arguments have been fielded against having open borders, making them practically impossible. These arguments mainly revolve around the negative effects of open borders on wages, culture, crime, security and politics among others. Unemployment, reduction in the benefits of public welfare schemes, free entry of people with criminal background are some of the threats to public safety and welfare.

Loss for natives

It is feared that the unrestricted entry of outsiders will result in unemployment among the native workers, increase in the crime rate, and outflow of more money out of the country in the form of remittances than these outsiders put back by paying taxes. This movement of people will also hurt their countries of origin due to ‘brain-drain’. The possibility of unemployment of the natives is the biggest concern for many governments. In this scenario, it is felt that the natives are penalized and their rights shattered.

Collapse of political system

Unfettered movement of people will collapse the governance and the form of government in the host countries. As outsiders increase, they may start influencing the local politics and in addition if they also get voting powers then they may start influencing the outcomes of the elections, which may not be in the interest of the host country. With majority, they may also get opportunity to rule the country. In case, if wrong person enters office, then it may collapse the development of the whole country and may be detrimental to the welfare of the people.

Threatens the security of the host country

It is argued that open borders offer open door for criminals and anti-national elements to enter a nation. A very recent example of Paris and Brussels attacks by the IS militants justifies this fear. In the recent Paris attacks, the attackers utilizing the open borders had easily entered the Paris from Belgium and some others entered the EU with crowds of migrants through Greece. Similarly, in India if borders are opened, then it will facilitate the free entry of terrorists and anti national elements. There may be a possibility of more Mumbai like attacks in the country. These anti-national elements may create instability and unrest in the host countries. Once they mingle with the local population, identifying them and repatriating them will also be a difficult operation. The problems the Bangladeshi immigrants create in the North Eastern states in India are an example.

Gateway for easy spread of diseases and epidemics

Open borders and free movement of people across borders will allow free movement of epidemics and diseases as well. With open borders, it will be difficult for the authorities to screen people with diseases. It will result in world wide spread of the epidemics and diseases and as a result many lives will be lost.

Unnecessary burden on other countries

With the Syrian war, it is estimated that 11 million people have fled to other countries. Neighboring countries like Lebanon, Jordan, turkey have struggled to cope with such a large exodus of refugees. Estimates show that every 1 in 5 people in Lebanon and every 1 out of 13 people in Jordan is a Syrian refugee. This has happened with closed borders, but if borders are freely opened, then the host countries may get crippled.

It is estimated that about 10% of Syrian refugees have seeked asylum in Europe. This has led to differences and political divisions among the European nations over the issue of sharing the burden of refugees.

Alters the original culture of the natives

It is feared that the original and cherished culture of a region gets altered with influx of a large number of outsiders. According to some studies, the cultural life of the natives in the sphere of music, films, literature, arts and fashions gets altered and with subsequent generations, the people forget their original customs and traditions.

Encroachment of property and rights of the natives

It is feared that with open borders, outsiders may encroach and claim property and other rights from the natives.

Environmental concerns

It is estimated the lifestyle choices of people in advanced countries like US have adversely affected the environment. With more and more people getting affluent due to their financial empowerment and migration to advanced countries, their consumption needs will increase and will create undue stress on the resources. It is likely to have detrimental effects on the environment.

Conclusion

Though many citizens primarily from the advanced countries question the rationale of open borders, the arguments fielded for or against open borders must be looked at to analytically examine the concept of open border. The arguments must also address the questions like what happens to the immigrants and the types of rights, social services, obligations they assume after entering a country.