The “right to belong” is a human right in two ways. First, there is the right to belong in a limited sense, i.e., to the extent necessary for individuals to secure all other human rights, such as those recognized by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Second, there is a deeper aspect of the right to belong, that which is necessary to flourish as a human being. To establish, first, that the right to belong in a limited sense should be a human right, I draw upon Hannah Arendt’s claim that stateless persons are without rights, as only communities can grant them. I argue that this limited level of belonging is a necessary but insufficient condition for human flourishing. Full human flourishing requires belonging on a deeper level. To articulate the nature of this deeper level of belonging I draw on Simone Weil’s definition of the “need for roots” and John Dewey and Jane Addams’ constructions of the self as social. I then show how “belonging” in a deeper sense necessarily connects with how a person is perceived and received by individuals and institutions in a community and argue that full perception by and participation in a community is necessary for humans to flourish. Thus, the right to belong imposes an ethical obligation on other members of the community to perceive undocumented immigrants as full human persons with the potential to lead flourishing lives.

“归属权”在两种方面是一项人权。首先，有权利享有有限的归属权，即在一定程度上个人享有保障所有其他人权的权利，例如《联合国世界人权宣言》所承认的那些权利。第二，归属权具有更深的方面，这对于人类的蓬勃发展是必不可少的。首先，为了确立有限的归属权应该是一项人权，我借鉴了汉娜·阿伦特（Hannah Arendt）的主张，即无国籍人没有权利，因为只有社区才能授予他们权利。我认为，这种有限的归属感是人类繁荣发展的必要条件，但条件并不充分。人类的全面繁荣需要更深层次的归属。为了阐明这种更高层次归属感的本质，我借鉴了西蒙妮·威尔（Simone Weil）对“需要根源”的定义，以及约翰·杜威（John Dewey）和简·亚当斯（Jane Addams）关于社会的自我建构。然后，我将说明从更深的意义上讲，“财产”必然与一个社区中的个人和机构如何看待和接受一个人有关，并指出，要使人类蓬勃发展，就必须充分理解和参与一个社区。因此，归属权对社区其他成员施加了道德义务，要求其将无证件移民视为具有可能过上繁荣生活的完整人。