Immigration and Privilege
By Keith on Oct 2, 2016
“If he wins, I’m moving to Canada.” I take this quip as both the joke and the warning it is intended to be. But the quip highlights something else. Picking up and moving to another country is an option for individuals with edcuation, connections, and resources. To that list, I will add citizenship in a developed nation. Not everyone enjoys all of thse things, and this fact highlights something that is easy to overlook: the intersection of immigration and privilege.
The United States, like many of our allies, is a developed nation. And while US society (and societies in every nation) has classes of people with more or less privilege than others, a step back shows just how privilege much US citizenship carries. Do you want to visit Hong Kong, the UK, New Zealand, Germany, Chile, Egypt, the Philippines, Sweden, Mexico, or … ? Well if you are a citizen of the United States, just bring a passport. The same is true if you are a citizen of the UK, New Zealand, Germany, Sweden, etc. But if you are a citizen of Chile, Egypt, the Philippines, Mexico, or many others, you better do your research. Some places might let you in, but many will require a visa in advance. And getting that visa is no easy task. Ciku Kimeria, a citizen of Kenya, writes about the barriers many Africans face when traveling abroad. Kimeria describes a night she unexpectedly spent at the Istanbul airport because Kenyan citizens are not eligible for a Turkish visa upon arrival. This freedom of global movement that citizens of developed nations enjoy is a kind of privilege.
Why does this privilege exist? One answer is economics. The United States and other developed economies are afraid that if they let everyone into their countries, many will never leave. Policy makers in developed countries know that simply existing in a developed country is a privilege that billions of people do not have. The visa requirement keeps these billions of people from unfettered access, as Kimeria sadly knows. While a visa-free world would solve this particular issue of privilege, it would have many unintended consequences. And frankly, a visa-free world would is not politically possible. Still, it is important to always keep in mind the privilege that comes with the legal option of quick and easy global travel. This is a luxury of the developed world.