The Case for Open Borders: Author Q&A with John Washington

Reece Jones, Oct. 2, 2024

"“Open borders” has become an epithet that Republican use to attack Democrats, blaming many problems in the United States on the lack of attention to the border. However, rather than countering with a more humane policy on the border, the Biden Administration maintained and even expanded many of the Trump Administration’s strict immigration policies, including a June 2024 executive order that effectively banned asylum claims. Vice President Kamala Harris’s first campaign ads in her run for the presidency pledged to hire more Border Patrol agents in an effort to close the border. In his new book The Case for Open Borders, John Washington asks what it would look like if the world went in the opposite direction and embraced the idea of open borders. Washington envisions a future where all borders are open to free movement without reliance on identity documents or citizen affiliation while others are free to remain in place. Reece Jones spoke with Washington recently about why the right-wing claim of “open borders” remains such a powerful fear-mongering tactic and why borders cause us to forget our shared humanity. Washington argues that the call for open borders is not an idealist fantasy but a realistic and needed policy proposal for the current moment."