On Open Borders Day 2015, the 16th day of March, we marked the third anniversary of Open Borders: The Case. We also published the Open Borders Manifesto, a brief document summarising the objectives of the open borders movement.

The list of signatories is in alphabetical order, based on surname, and is current as of May 3, 2015, with minor edits based on email requests from people since then. If you would like to add yourself to the signatory list, please contact us (preferably via email: openborders@googlegroups.com) and provide your name, with professional or academic affiliations if applicable.

Open Borders Manifesto

Freedom of movement is a basic liberty that governments should respect and protect unless justified by extenuating circumstances. This extends to movement across international boundaries.

International law and many domestic laws already recognise the right of any individual to leave his or her country. This right may only be circumscribed in extreme circumstances, where threats to public safety or order are imminent.

We believe international and domestic law should similarly extend such protections to individuals seeking to enter another country. Although there may be times when governments should treat foreign nationals differently from domestic citizens, freedom of movement and residence are fundamental rights that should only be circumscribed when the situation absolutely warrants.

The border enforcement status quo is both morally unconscionable and economically destructive. Border controls predominantly restrict the movement of people who bear no ill intentions. Most of the people legally barred from moving across international borders today are fleeing persecution or poverty, desire a better job or home, or simply want to see the city lights.

The border status quo bars ordinary people from pursuing the life and opportunity they desire, not because they lack merit or because they pose a danger to others. Billions of people are legally barred from realising their full potential and ambitions purely on the basis of an accident of birth: where they were born. This is both a drain on the economic and innovative potential of human societies across the world, and indefensible in any order that recognises the moral worth and dignity of every human being.

We seek legal and policy reforms that will reduce and eventually remove these bars to movement for billions of ordinary people around the world. The economic toll of the modern restrictive border regime is vast, the human toll incalculable. To end this, we do not need a philosopher’s utopia or a world government. As citizens and human beings, we only demand accountability from our own governments for the senseless immigration laws that they enact in our name. Border controls should be minimised to only the extent required to protect public health and security. International borders should be open for all to cross, in both directions.

Signatories, listed in alphabetical order by surname:

• Thorvald Aagaard, Associate Professor, Director of Theater, Pacific Union College
• Brian C. Albrecht, PhD candidate, Economics, University of Minnesota
• Pedro H. Albuquerque, Associate Professor, KEDGE Business School
• Jesús Alfaro, Professor of Law, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
• Jesús María Alvarado Andrade, Professor, Constitutional Law, Universidad Francisco Marroquín and Universidad Central de Venezuela, and Member of the Venezuelan Association of Constitutional Law
• Deyvisson Bruno Alves de Paiva
• Jared Ashworth, PhD, Assistant Professor of Economics, Graziadio School, Pepperdine University
• Shanu Athiparambath
• Ben Bachrach
• Dhruva Balram, journalist and writer, India and Canada
• Dave Barnes
• Simon Bedford
• David Bennion, Attorney
• Daniel Bier
• Pietro Biroli
• Anurag Bishnoi, PhD candidate, Mathematics, Ghent University
• Niklas Blanchard, PhD candidate, Human Capital Management, Bellevue University
• Luke Blanshard
• Joseph Bonneau, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Computer Science, Stanford University
• Donald J. Boudreaux, Professor of Economics, George Mason University
• Sam Bowman, Deputy Director, Adam Smith Institute
• Geoffrey Brand
• Angel F. Bravo, Postdoctoral scholar, Physics, Delaware State University
• Jason Brennan, Assistant Professor, Philosophy, Georgetown University
• Beno Brito, Projects Director, Instituto Liberal do Centro-Oeste
• Steve Buller
• Jason Lee Byas, Fellow, Center for a Stateless Society
• Raul H Camarillo Lopez, PhD candidate Chemistry, The University of Manchester UK
• Bryan Caplan, Professor of Economics, George Mason University
• Leonel Caraciki
• Michael Carey
• Ryan Carey
• Jack Carney
• Simon Cartledge
• Richard Yetter Chappell, Lecturer in Philosophy, University of York
• Grieve Chelwa, PhD candidate, Economics, University of Cape Town
• Lars Christensen
• Michael Clark, Assistant Professor, Economics, Hillsdale College
• Andrew Jason Cohen, Associate Professor, Philosophy, Georgia State University
• Phillip Cole, Senior Lecturer in Politics and International Relations at the University of West of England
• Daniel Ferreira Costa
• Paul Crider
• Simon Daniel
• Nikolas Dias
• Isaac DiIanni, Senior Lecturer, Economics, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
• Christopher Dobrogosz
• Bryan Joseph Dodson
• Eli Dourado
• Charles DuHadway
• Robert Eckerson, Attorney
• Margaret A. Elberson
• Ross B. Emmett, Professor of Political Economy and Political Theory & Constitutional Democracy, James Madison College, Michigan State University
• Mustafa Erdogan, Professor of Political and Constitutional Theory, Istanbul Commerce University
• Luís Faria, Co-founder and President of the Executive Committee, Contraditório Think Tank
• Daniel Fernández Méndez, Professor, Economics, Universidad Francisco Marroquín
• Luis Figueroa, Professor of Ethics of Freedom, Universidad Francisco Marroquín
• Bryan T. Fine
• Nicholas Fletcher
• Scott Freeman
• Joshua Gans, Jeffrey S. Skoll Chair of Technical Innovation and Entrepreneurship, University of Toronto
• Fernando Terra Garcia
• Paul Geddes, Economics Instructor, Columbia College
• Jacob Aaron Geller
• Giuseppe Germinario
• Casey C. Glick, Graduate Researcher in Physics, UC Berkeley
• Zachary Gochenour, Visiting Assistant Professor of Economics, Western Carolina University
• Nathan Goodman, Lysander Spooner Research Scholar in Abolitionist Studies at the Center for a Stateless Society
• Maithreyi Gopalan, Ph.D. candidate, School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University
• Manick Govinda, Visiting Artists Co-ordinator, Manifesto Club
• Jameson Graber
• Joe Green, Associate Professor of Political Science, Dixie State University
• Priscila Guinovart
• Jeff Hallman
• John Halstead, PhD candidate, Political Philosophy, St Anne’s College, Oxford University
• Robin Hanson, Associate Professor of Economics, George Mason University
• Mikael Hellstrom, Instructor, Political Science, University of Alberta
• Christopher Hendrix
• Vinícius F. Hickel
• Javier S. Hidalgo, Assistant Professor, Jepson School of Leadership Studies, University of Richmond
• Fergus Hodgson, Editor-in-Chief, PanAm Post
• Jeffrey Horn
• Steven Horwitz, Charles A. Dana Professor and Chair, Department of Economics, St. Lawrence University
• Michael Huemer, Professor, Department of Philosophy, University of Colorado
• Giancarlo Ibarguen, Former President, Universidad Francisco Marroquín
• Tom Jackson
• Peter Martin Jaworski, Assistant Teaching Professor, McDonough School of Business, Georgetown University
• Scott A. Jenks, Instructor, Department of Medicine, Emory University
• Nathan Jones
• Emmanuelle Baya Julien
• Valdenor M. Brito Júnior, Attorney
• Angela Keaton
• Rick Kelo
• Bill Kerr
• William Kiely
• Milo King
• Gavin A. Kitchens
• Thomas L. Knapp, Director, William Lloyd Garrison Center
• Tristan Knight
• Anna Krupitsky
• Chandran Kukathas, Chair of Political Theory, Department of Government, London School of Economics
• Michelangelo Geovanny Landgrave Lara, PhD Student, UC Riverside
• Daniele Latella
• Mark LeBar
• John Lee
• Daniel Lin, Professorial Lecturer, American University
• Anthony Ling, Editor-in-Chief, Caos Planejado
• Raffaele Lo Moro
• Ryan P. Long
• Roderick T. Long, Professor of Philosophy, Auburn University and President, Molinari Institute
• Ray Lopez
• Trent MacDonald, PhD candidate, School of Economics, Finance and Marketing, RMIT University
• Pedro Magalhães, Attorney and PhD candidate, Law and Economics, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität Frankfurt
• Akiva Malamet
• Rafael Bortoluzzi Massaiol
• Kevin McGartland
• Jeremy McLellan
• Justin Merrill
• Jared Meyer, Fellow, Manhattan Institute for Policy Research
• Gary Miguel
• Raphael Moras de Vasconcellos
• Walter Morris, Director, Acton School of Ballet
• Joe Munson
• Darren Nah, PhD candidate, Politics, Yale University
• Vipul Naik
• Janet Neilson, Program Developer, Institute for Liberal Studies
• Chad Nelson, Attorney and Fellow at the Center for a Stateless Society
• Russell Nelson
• Joel Newman
• Sebastian Nickel
• Eric Nielsen
• Eric Nunley
• Federico Oliveri, Research Fellow, Sciences for Peace Interdisciplinary Centre, University of Pisa
• Yaël Ossowski, Programs Director, European Students for Liberty
• Betsy Palmieri, Executive Director, Hudson Valley Community Coalition
• George Pareja
• Andrew Pearson
• Ryan Pelkey
• Luis Pellicano
• Alicia Perez
• Graham Peterson, PhD candidate, Sociology, University of Chicago
• João Arthur Piccolotto Jordão Gacia
• Kaveh Pourvand, PhD candidate, Political Theory, London School of Economics
• Daniel Pryor, Fellow, Center for a Stateless Society
• James Rapp
• Shaun Raviv
• Jose L. Ricon
• Dylan Risenhoover
• Darrel Robinson, PhD Candidate, Political Science, Uppsala University
• Fabio Rojas, Associate Professor, Department of Sociology, Indiana University
• John Roccia
• Chase H. Roycroft, Student, College of Arts & Sciences, UNC
• Trish Ruebottom, Assistant Professor, Goodman School of Business, Brock University
• Khalilah Sabra, Executive Director, Muslim American Society Immigrant Justice Center
• Anthony Sandoval
• Antonio Saravia, Assistant Professor of Economics and Director, BB&T Center for Undergraduate Research in Public Policy and Capitalism, Mercer University
• Paul Sas
• Philip Saunders
• Yaakov Schatz
• Eric Schmidt
• James Schumacher
• Andrew Scobie
• Hafiz Noor Shams, Founding Associate, Institute for Democracy and Economic Affairs
• Joshua Shurley, PhD candidate, Politics, University of Manchester
• Sarah Skwire, Fellow, Liberty Fund, Inc.
• Ben Smith
• Evelyn Smith
• Nathan Smith, Assistant Professor of Economics and Finance at Fresno Pacific University
• Ilya Somin, Professor of Law at the George Mason University School of Law
• Nancy Speckmann, Lecturer in Political Science (Retired), San Diego State University
• Piero Stanig, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Università Bocconi
• Marilyn Steffen
• Wouter Stekelenburg
• Barry Stocker, Assistant Professor in Philosophy, Istanbul Technical University
• Drew Stonebraker
• Scott Sumner, Professor, Economics, Bentley University
• Kyle Swan, Assistant Professor of Philosophy, California State University Sacramento
• Alex Tabarrok, Bartley J. Madden Chair in Economics at the Mercatus Center at George Mason University
• Batur Talu
• Laron Tamaye
• Fernando R. Tesón, Tobias Simon Eminent Scholar, Florida State University
• Pedro Trujillo Alvarez, Director, Department of Political Science, Universidad Francisco Marroquín
• David Tufte, Associate Professor, Department of Economics and Finance, School of Business, Southern Utah University
• Bas Van der Vossen, Assistant Professor, Department of Philosopy, UNC Greensboro
• Brian Wagers
• Tyler Walker
• Hansjörg Walther
• Ladan Weheliye
• Nicholas Weininger
• Christoph Widenhorn
• Michael Wiebe, PhD candidate, Economics, University of British Columbia
• Samuel Wilson
• Stephen Winkler
• Barrett Young
• Barry York OAM, Historian
• Zachary Yost
• Andy Yu, PhD candidate, Philosophy, Oxford University
• David Zetland, Assistant Professor of Economics, Leiden University College
• Matt Zwolinski, Associate Professor, Philosophy, University of San Diego
• Raj Kosaraju
• Alex B. Farnham
• Annabelle Sreberny, Emeritus Professor, SOAS, University of London
• Felipe Micaroni Lalli
• Gülin De Vincentiis
• Claudia Lindemann, DPhil Student Clinical Medicine, University of Oxford
• Robert Sakula
• Miguel Vázquez Carrero
• David Ramon

Reminder: If you are interested in attaching your name to this declaration, please contact us (preferably via email: openborders@googlegroups.com) and provide your name, with professional or academic affiliations if applicable.