The Hot Topic of Illegal Immigration in America Today

Heated debates surrounding the issues that plagued the four comers of the world ensue on a regular basis, and to this day these issues are brought up in discussions at length. But, one hot topic that comes up more often than not and has yet to find itself resolved in a timely fashion is that of illegal immigration, that of border-crossing without a visa. To detain them or expel them from the U.S. imperative as it stands.

Kant’s most notable contribution to the field of ethics is the categorical imperative, his concentration during his study of ethics. Described as a supreme moral commandment from which a subset of moral laws derives from a categorical imperative is most stated on “act on treat humanity, whether in your own person or in another, always as an end, and never as only a means.” ( CITATION The17 N 1033 ] Succinctly, it puts forward the idea that people ought to treat themselves and each other as ‘ends in themselves’ i.e. as rational actors, and not as means to an end’ i.e. pawns in their endgame. To detain them or expel them from the U.S.

The U.S. government, under the rule of Republican Party as the majority in both houses of Congress, has pushed their agenda for tighter immigration and stronger patrolling of the U.S.-Mexican border to prevent this uncontrolled, illegal inflow of Mexican people. Since the 2016 presidential election of Donald Trump, now more than ever is the GOP’s agenda impelled and gaining momentum. It is the hope that maybe the categorical imperative can be the coup de grâce to Trump’s politicism,

Immanuel Kant, a product of the European Enlightenment and champion of liberal ideals, without a doubt would disapprove of Trumps’ manipulation of Republican values, as well as society and its problems, for his own personal gain as running counter to his professed belief in the treatment of all people as agents of their own instead of puppets. In other words, it’s a moral obligation that should have an absolute necessity in being proposed. Kant would argue that these illegal immigrants are people, like ourselves, and are rational actors.

To detain them or expel them from the U.S. would be to toss out the categorical imperative as it stands. In principle, the categorical imperative is an ideal everyonemust live up to to bring about a better tomorrow. In practice, the scope of the categorical imperative has yet to be ascertained as the issues of today have evolved since the time of Kant.

While the complexity of the categorical imperative is matched only by its far-reaching implications, it is safe to assume that Kantian ethics would assert the fundamental importance of respect and dignity for the individual as a rational person, and to deny them this is to reject their personhood altogether and see them only as means to an end, which is what Trump’s America is in the process of ensuring this occurs on their terms. To detain them. Trump’s politicism is very categorical imperative.

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