Who has the right to control the border? Should borders be open or closed? What even is the border? And how should philosophy approach an issue which raises fundamental philosophical questions at the most general level whilst impacting the lives of so many in the most political and concrete manner? These are some of the questions at the heart of the contemporary debate on migration and borders, which this article follows. Section 1 presents the ways in which the philosophical debate on migration and borders has typically been framed, drawing out the distinction between the legitimacy of migration control and the right or wrong of closed or open borders. Section 2 explores the normative positions that have been taken in this debate, and includes a discussion of approaches that have looked more closely and critically at what the border actually is. This section passes fluently into Sect. 3, which explores areas of future research.