FAMILIES IN US IMMIGRATION DETENTION: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO DO “THE RIGHT THING”?
FAMILIES IN US IMMIGRATION DETENTION: WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO DO “THE RIGHT THING”?

Summary/Abstract: The methodology of normative ethics can help policymakers to design better migration governance policies and practices. As a means to tap into the core values of liberal states, normative ethics indicates a novel way out from the contemporary muddle of shifting public opinion, intense media scrutiny, and international pressures. Looking specifically at the Obama Administration’s response to the summer 2014 “surge” of asylum-seeking women and children from Central America, the paper describes how this turn to detention as a tool of migration management falls short of minimum standards of fairness, justice, and common morality. The paper concludes that there is an ethical imperative to improve these gaps, including through implementing alternative to detention programs that are more consistent with ethical and sustainable approaches to immigration and asylum governance.

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