This article argues that legal, voluntary, and permanent immigrants to states with histories of settler colonialism acquire urgent and high priority responsibilities to help repair structural injustices affecting Indigenous peoples. Building on Iris Marion Young’s social connection model of responsibility, I argue that choice is the fifth parameter for assessing responsibility: by voluntarily joining structurally unjust polities, immigrants assume heightened responsibilities compared with non-immigrants in these states. This claim is defended against objections concerning the burdens placed on immigrants and the transnational nature of settler colonialism. It affirms a principle of Indigenous priority as an ordering device when considering the responsibilities of immigrants. This produces a responsibility not to obstruct efforts to repair structural injustices, as well as responsibilities to build solidarity with Indigenous-led movements and to use one’s position to disrupt and repair unjust structures. These responsibilities are context dependent, but are difficult to override. By theorising immigration as the voluntary deepening of participation in unjust global structures, the argument clarifies how migration, membership, and cross border responsibility operate within states marked by structural injustice and develops the broader theory of structural injustice in international political theory.
