Immigrant Nations and the Limits of the Right to Exclude

This article challenges the liberal nationalist Right to Exclude View, which holds that states may exclude immigrants to protect national self-determination. It critiques the underlying dichotomy between native nations and immigrant communities, arguing that resident immigrant groups and diasporas possess the key features of nations—shared beliefs, historical continuity, collective agency, territorial attachment and a public culture. These communities form ‘new immigrant nations’ with political agency and institutional presence in destination countries. As such, they are entitled to rights similar to those of native nations, including the right to influence immigration policies and invite fellow immigrants. The paper concludes that if immigrant groups are nations, then the moral and political grounds for exclusion are significantly weakened, calling for a rethinking of nationalist justifications for immigration restrictions.