How should we understand the political morality of migration? Are travel bans, walls, or carrier sanctions ever morally permissible in a just society? This book offers a new approach to these and related questions. It identifies a particular vision of how we might apply the notion of justice to migration policy - and an argument in favor of expanding the ethical tools we use, to include not only justice but moral notions such as mercy/

Political controversy about migration is becoming more frequent, more heated, and for certain groups, decidedly more urgent. This raises pressing questions not only in the realms of policy-making and public discourse, but also for philosophical accounts of migration. Do liberal states have the right to exclude unwanted outsiders, or should all borders be open? How should we begin to theorize the morality of refugee and asylum policy? If states can exclude unwanted outsiders, what ethical principles govern the determination of who gets in? Justice, Migration, and Mercy offers a way in which these questions might be answered by providing a vision of how we can understand the political morality of migration. Michael Blake offers a novel, and plausible, account of the right to exclude on which that right is grounded on a more fundamental right to avoid unwanted forms of political relationship. Far from simply justifying exclusion, however, Blake examines the best justifications for exclusion in an effort to determine its limits. In doing so, he challenges the current global realities of migration which ensure open borders for a select few and closed borders for the majority, most often the most marginalized in society. His account sheds light on more specific questions of justice in migration, such as the permissibility of travel bans and carrier sanctions. He also offers a particular vision about how to go beyond questions of right and liberal justice, towards a declaration of the sort of community we wish to be. Blake then identifies the moral notion of mercy as a central one for the moral analysis of migration, a move which leads to the conclusion that we ought to show mercy and justice in constructing migration policy as well as in public debate.

Political controversy about migration is becoming more frequent, more heated, and for certain groups, decidedly more urgent. This raises pressing questions not only in the realms of policy-making and public discourse, but also for philosophical accounts of migration. Do liberal states have the right to exclude unwanted outsiders, or should all borders be open? How should we begin to theorize the morality of refugee and asylum policy? If states can exclude unwanted outsiders, what ethical principles govern the determination of who gets in? Justice, Migration, and Mercy offers a way in which these questions might be answered by providing a vision of how we can understand the political morality of migration. Michael Blake offers a novel, and plausible, account of the right to exclude on which that right is grounded on a more fundamental right to avoid unwanted forms of political relationship. Far from simply justifying exclusion, however, Blake examines the best justifications for exclusion in an effort to determine its limits. In doing so, he challenges the current global realities of migration which ensure open borders for a select few and closed borders for the majority, most often the most marginalized in society. His account sheds light on more specific questions of justice in migration, such as the permissibility of travel bans and carrier sanctions. He also offers a particular vision about how to go beyond questions of right and liberal justice, towards a declaration of the sort of community we wish to be. Blake then identifies the moral notion of mercy as a central one for the moral analysis of migration, a move which leads to the conclusion that we ought to show mercy and justice in constructing migration policy as well as in public debate.

"Public political debate about migration has become increasingly important and increasingly heated; substantive engagement with the morality of migration, however, is more uncommon. This book defends a moderate account of the right to exclude, on which the state may exclude some unwanted would-be migrants-but on which there are significant constraints on how and when that right can be exercised. The book grounds this in a particular vision of how exclusion might be justified, on which states are possessed of a presumptive right to avoid unwanted forms of political relationship. This account of the right to exclude is then applied in more specific questions of justice in migration, such as the permissibility of travel bans and carrier sanctions. The book also offers a particular vision about how to go beyond questions of right and liberal justice, toward a declaration of the sort of community we wish to be. The book identifies the moral notion of mercy as a central one for the moral analysis of migration; we ought to show mercy and justice in the construction of migration policy, and each of these moral norms has a role to play in public discourse"--

When Mercy Seasons Justice is a powerful story of redemption, resilience, and humanity, set against the backdrop of the modern-day refugee crisis and Catholic Church scandals. In this moving debut novel, former Congressman David Bonior weaves together an inspiring story of two characters who dare to defy the status quo. The first is Pope Francis, the kind-hearted, unconventional leader who struggles to usher his church out of a crisis riddled with scandals. The second is Maria Elena, a Honduran mother desperate to save her four children from their terror-stricken community. As Maria and her children head north to seek asylum in McAllen, Texas, Francis grapples with unfaithful bishops and a male-dominated clergy, who rebel against the drastic changes the Church desperately needs. Just as Maria and her family must rely on the help of good Samaritans they meet along their journey—including an artistic gardener, two priests in the mold of Francis, and a New York Times reporter—Francis must seek the advice of his trusted aides, Father Soto and Sister Mary Vernard, to lead the Church through one of its biggest upheavals since the Reformation. Will Maria and her children survive their harrowing search for asylum? And, at this significant turning point in the history of the Church, will Pope Francis redefine his male-dominated papacy—and, ultimately, his legacy? When Mercy Seasons Justice is a timely narrative of hope, faith, and redemption, that intertwines the struggle of two parallel souls trying, despite all odds, to search for virtue and compassion in a world seemingly full of corruption.

Where Justice and Mercy Meet: Catholic Opposition to the Death Penalty comprehensively explores the Catholic stance against capital punishment in new and important ways. The broad perspective of this book has been shaped in conversation with the Catholic Mobilizing Network to End the Use of the Death Penalty, as well as through the witness of family members of murder victims and the spiritual advisors of condemned inmates. The book offers the reader new insight into the debates about capital punishment; provides revealing, and sometimes surprising, information about methods of execution; and explores national and international trends and movements related to the death penalty. It also addresses how the death penalty has been intertwined with racism, the high percentage of the mentally disabled on death row, and how the death penalty disproportionately affects the poor. The foundation for the church's position on the death penalty is illuminated by discussion of the life and death of Jesus, Scripture, the Mass, the Catechism of the Catholic Church, and the teachings of Pope John Paul II. Written for concerned Catholics and other interested readers, the book contains contemporary stories and examples, as well as discussion questions to engage groups in exploring complex issues.

This volume considers the interconnection of racial oppression in the U.S. South and West, presenting thirteen case studies that explore the ways in which citizens and migrants alike have been caged, detained, deported, and incarcerated, and what these practices tell us about state building, converging and coercive legal powers, and national sovereignty. As these studies depict the institutional development and state scaffolding of overlapping carceral regimes, they also consider how prisoners and immigrants resisted such oppression and violence by drawing on the transnational politics of human rights and liberation, transcending the isolation of incarceration, detention, deportation and the boundaries of domestic law. Contributors: Dan Berger, Ethan Blue, George T. Diaz, David Hernandez, Kelly Lytle Hernandez, Pippa Holloway, Volker Janssen, Talitha L. LeFlouria, Heather McCarty, Douglas K. Miller, Vivien Miller, Donna Murch, and Keramet Ann Reiter.