At last the map was finished. Called Wild World, it had taken Anton Thomas three years to draw and included pictures of 1,642 animals. There was something else special about it too: it contained no human-drawn borders. 

Thomas says that it represents an "idealistic planet". A growing number of people seem to share his idealism.

Many of the elections being held around the world this year have immigration high on the agenda. Britain's prime minister Rishi Sunak says that he is determined to stop the small boats carrying illegal migrants across the Channel. He is also determined to send unwelcome newcomers to Rwanda.

Labour's Keir Starmer has promised to make border policing more efficient. Reform's Nigel Farage says he wants to reduce net migrationThe difference between the number of people moving into a country (immigrants) and the number of people leaving the country (emigrants). to zero.

In the US, the number of people entering the country from Mexico is a headache for Joe Biden, one which Donald Trump is determined to exploit. The words quoted on the Statue of LibertyA joint French-American project, finished in 1886, the statue celebrates the abolition of slavery and international friendship. Its original name was Liberty Enlightening the World. - "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free" - ring hollow.

But there are those who believe that restricting immigration is immoral. Some insist that national borders should be abolished altogether.

One expert, Alex Tabarrok, writes in The Atlantic that freedom of movement is a basic human right. He says that most people who live in a rich country do so because they were lucky enough to be born there. That does not give them more of a right to enjoy its benefits than people born elsewhere.

He adds that immigrants bring new skills and help an economy.

Michael Sandel raises some difficult questions in his podcast The Global Philosopher. Since most people believe that it is wrong to stop someone leaving a country, "why is it not equally wrong to prevent that same person from arriving?".¹

Is it a good idea?

Yes: It is incredibly unfair that some people have miserable lives just because they were born in a poor country rather than a rich one. Migrants bring drive and enterprise and should be welcomed.  

No: There would be chaos. According to Gallup, 15% of adults - over 750 million - would move to another country if they could. Of those, 158 million would head for the US and 34 million to the UK.  

Or... Migration affects not only the places people move to but the places they leave. It is hugely damaging if a country trains doctors and nurses only to see them move abroad for better pay.