EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

In this essay, Andrew Yuengert combines Catholic social teaching and economic analysis to examine the future of immigration policy. Catholic social teaching brings the seldom-used concept of “rights” to the policy conversation. This rights language immediately transforms the debate. Instead of evaluating immigration policy solely from the point of view of the host country, the situation of the immigrant is placed at the fore.

The right to migrate, according to Yuengert, has three component supports: the right of family to sustenance; the priority of the family over the state; and the right of economic initiative. Taken together, these lead us to a view of immigrants as creative persons with inherent dignity, rather than social burdens and economic drains.

An economic perspective is brought to bear in this paper in order to establish the extent to which the right to migrate is morally violable. The right to migrate in the Catholic social tradition is analogous to the right to property; that is, it is not absolute. Whether or not this right may be infringed upon depends in large part on the economic impact on the three relevant groups: the immigrant, the host country to which the immigrant moves, and the immigrant’s native country. Yuengert’s economic analysis allays fears that immigrants pose a threat to the national interest, either in the areas of the economy or labor markets. What’s more, a brief examination of the national security issues at stake identify concerns about terrorism as largely unaffected by the issues of permanent immigration policy.

This paper concludes by examining the two key foundations of the right to migrate in Catholic social teaching, which flow out of the concept of the universal common good: the principles of solidarity and subsidiarity. The right to migrate is viewed by some as an unjust and severe restriction of a nation’s ability to control its own borders. But, in the final analysis, we must consider that the appropriate recognition of the right to migrate will open up horizons of cooperation and growth that are lost when immigrants are viewed merely as burdens.

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Andrew M. Yuengert, Ph.D., received his doctoral degree in economics from Yale University and his bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Virginia. He is the John and Francis Duggan Chair of Economics at Seaver College, Pepperdine University, where he has taught economics for nine years. Professor Yuengert has also taught at Bates College in Maine, and was a research economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. His research interests include labor economics, finance, the empirical study of religion, economic philosophy, and Catholic social thought.

This paper is based on the book by Andrew M.Yuengert, Inhabiting the Land, Christian Social Thought Series, No. 6 (Grand Rapids: Acton Institute, 2004). Inhabiting the Land will be published in February, 2004 and will be available at www.acton.org/bookshoppe.