Peter Singer's ethics of immigration: Reconstruction and critique

This article has two aims: to reconstruct and critically evaluate Peter Singer's ethics of immigration. It begins by outlining the fundamental principles and core commitments of Singerian utilitarianism, before proceeding to a reconstruction of Singer's account of immigration. The reconstruction first examines Singer's rejection of the ex-gratia approach, the mutual aid argument, and the all-or-nothing line of reasoning. It then focuses on Singer's normative framework for migration policy, specifically his claims about the limits of our obligations toward refugees, his characterization of asylum seekers as “queue jumpers”, and his defense of resettlement as an ethically preferable alternative to existing migration regimes. After reconstructing this normative framework, the article critically evaluates it, asking (i) whether it is consistent with the core commitments of Singer's utilitarianism, and (ii) whether it provides a practically defensible framework for migration policy. Finally, it addresses Singer's critique of the definition of a refugee in the 1951 Refugee Convention.