This paper examines the democratic status of irregular immigrants from the vantagepoint of different models of democratic inclusion. The argument developed is thatirregular immigrants are in fact members of the democratic state by virtue of beingsubjected to the legally binding norms in the territory of the state. The extension of thevote and other political rights to irregular immigrants nevertheless remains problematicdue to their ‘illegal’ status. Because this status follows from the restrictive borderpolicies implemented by most contemporary states, it shows that the ideal ofdemocratic inclusion is scarcely reconcilable with a policy of restrictive cross-bordermovement. The conclusion defended in the paper is that the interest in keeping bordersrestricted reduces the prospects for democratic inclusion in contemporary states.