"The Case for Open Borders": Racism

People holding a sign that says "Welcome asylum seekers and refugees." Image source.

Here's another quote from "The Case for Open Borders". From pages 214-215:

17. Closed Borders Are Racist

The nationality granted to you at birth determines whether you are free to move across international borders or are blocked by them. Not only border walls, but a web of multilateral visa agreements privilege certain passport holders and allow their free movement, while denying and immobilizing others. Such discrimination, while based in nationality, overlaps with both class and race. Citizens of Global North nations, made up of predominantly white citizens, are generally able to cross borders with ease. Citizens of the Global South, predominantly Black or Brown, are denied that same freedom.

The logic of apartheid and Jim Crow lives on when applied to migrants. "Looking at the data, it becomes apparent," writes sociologist Steffen Mau, that "most countries with either black or Islamic majorities are exempted from visa-free travel on a large scale." Even within Third World countries, whiter citizens have the wealth and connections to obtain passports and authorization for international travel. The pattern holds for nonauthorized migration as well: Black and Brown people are more readily denied, suspected, detained, and deported.