Abstract

Do societies have an ethical responsibility to care for and about the health of undocumented migrants? Some people claim that societies have no responsibility to care for undocumented migrants because these migrants have no legal right to be in the country. But this view tends to ignore ethical responsibilities that are independent of legal status. Other people claim that all human beings, in virtue of their dignity and status as human beings, have a right to the highest standard of health. But this view tends to ignore ethical responsibilities that arise out of relationships between a society and the undocumented migrants who are living and working in that society. In this article, I take a different approach. In the case of undocumented workers, I try to show how these workers are used in the economy and why a widely accepted pattern of responsibility should be extended to them. In the case of undocumented young people, I try to show how these people are socialized in a society and why a widely accepted pattern of responsibility should be extended to them. Toward the end of this article, I reflect on the nature and limits of these arguments