POL 254 FINAL EXAM
What "proposition" is Nafziger criticizing?
Nafziger argues against the proposition that a state has the right to exclude all aliens.
Describe the three frames that portray immigrants as victims
Racism/xenopobia global economy humanitarian
What changes were introduced by the 1986 of the Immigration Reform and Control Act?
- Selective ''amnesty'' and adjustment of the immigration status of some undocumented migrants. - Established for the first time federal sanctions against employers who knowingly hired undocumented workers, without any requirement that they determine the legitimacy of documents presented in that verification process. What this meant in practice is that the employer sanctions provisions generated a flourishing industry in fraudulent documents.
Describe the six policy narratives and social construction of target groups found by Newton in the congressional debates about the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act.
1. Government off our backs narrative 2. Family Farmer Narrative 3. The Corrupt Agriculturalist Counter Narrative 4. The Anti Discrimination Narrative 5. The Undeserving Illegal Narrative 6. The Deserving Illegal Counter-Narrative
List the three ways in which Congress has promoted a convergence of criminal and immigration law.
Congress has: a) Increased the number of immigration-related criminal offenses as well as the severity of punishment; b) Expanded the number of criminal offenses that require deportation; c) Delegated more immigration enforcement to state and local law enforcement officers.
Describe the three frames that portray immigrants as heroes
Cultural diversity Integrations Good Worker
What is the importance of emigration for Latin America?
Emigration is important as an escape valve for surplus labor and as a source of remittances. Remittances account for 2% of the GDP in Mexico, 14% in Guatemala, 19% in El Salvador and 20% in Honduras.
Who is an international migrant?
For the purpose of estimating the international migrant stock, international migrants are equated either with the foreign-born or with foreign citizens.
From a political perspective, why is international migration "deviant"?
It is a deviance from the prevailing norm of the organization of the world in nation states.
From a political perspective, "the perennial intrusion of racial and ethnic considerations in the determination of immigration policies is not merely the consequence of prejudice, conceived as an attribute of individuals..." If not prejudice, what is "the perennial intrusion of racial and ethnic considerations" the consequence of?
It is the effect of systemic mechanisms whereby societies seek to preserve their boundaries in a world populated by others, some of whom are deemed particularly threatening in light of prevailing cultural orientations. However morally abhorrent, the exercise of such forms of discrimination constitutes instrumentally rational behavior in relation to the universal striving toward a world of statist societies.
Describe the four frames that portray immigrants as a threat
Jobs Public Order Fiscal National Cohesion
What is Golash-Boza's explanation of mass deportation in the United States?
Mass deportation of men of color is part of the neoliberal cycle of global capitalism. It is a U.S. response designed to relocate surplus labor to the periphery and to keep labor in the United States compliant. The U.S. public accepts this policy response because it targets mainly immigrant men of color, who are perceived to be expendable in the current economy and unwanted in the broader society. Neoliberal economic changes created migration flows, attracted migrants to the United States, required a disposable labor force, and, of late, have made migrant labor disposable.
What is the ambivalence regarding illegal immigration among the US public?
The majority considers illegal immigration a problem and wants to stop it, using all sorts of measures. Still, there is an undercurrent of sympathy for those who endure the hardship of illegal status for a better life. Moreover, the untested view that illegal immigrants perform jobs that Americans don't want to do" adds a certain sympathy to their status.
What is Caren's position regarding the argument for restricting immigration "for the sake of the worst-off?"
We have to be wary of hypocritical uses of this sort of argument. If rich states are really concerned with the worst-off in poor states, they can presumably help more by transferring resources and reforming international economic institutions than by restricting immigration. Indeed, there is reason to suppose more open immigration would help some of the worst-off, not hurt them. At the least, those who immigrate presumably gain themselves and often send money back home as well.
What is the question that each immigration frame suggests a distinctive answer to?
What kind of problem (or positive phenomenon) is being attributed to immigration or immigrants?
What are the three "critical national developments" that have stimulated the immigration debate in America?
a) The terrorist attacks of 9/11 underscoring American vulnerability caused in part by an easily exploited immigration control system; b) The unprecedented numbers of new immigrants from diverse cultural and political traditions that have raised important questions about this country's capacity to integrate them into the American national community; c) The increasing awareness that the issue of illegal immigration represents not only a national security challenge but also a challenge to the very fabric and nature of American democratic life.
What is Nafziger's main argument?
Nafziger argues for a qualified duty to admit aliens when they pose no danger to the public safety, security, general welfare, or essential institutions of a recipient state.
What does it mean that it would take more than 80 years to deport all of the 11 million undocumented immigrants currently living in the United States at the pace of current mass deportations?
A mass deportation policy does not aim to remove all deportable people but to keep large sectors of the U.S. population deportable and thus vulnerable.
Define the non-discrimination norm.
Nations may create legal distinctions between citizens and non-citizens only if they serve a legitimate State objective and are proportional to the achievement of that objective.
Why is emotional attachment important and what is wrong with guestworker programs?
"Guestworker" programs allow foreign workers to focus on higher paychecks that can be sent "home." In such cases citizenship is primarily instrumental, sought for the advantages it confers. Yet a community requires more than instrumental membership and a "what's in it for me?" calculus to function and prosper. Emotional attachments provide a community with the psychological resources to weather disappointments and disagreements and to help maintain a community's resolve in the face of historic dangers. Emotional attachment and identification are the mechanisms that underlie sacrifice, empathy, and service.
What are the basic elements of the Dignity Campaign proposal?
* Giving permanent residence visas, or green cards, to undocumented people already here, and expanding the number of green cards available for new migrants. * Eliminating the years-long backlog in processing family reunification visas, strengthening families and communities. * Allowing people to apply for green cards, in the future, after they've been living in the U.S. for a few years. * Ending the enforcement that has led to thousands of deportations and firings * Repealing employer sanctions, and enforcing labor rights and worker protection laws, for all workers. * Ending all guest worker programs * Dismantling the border wall and demilitarizing the border, so more people don't die crossing it, and restoring civil and human rights in border communities. * Responding to recession and foreclosures with jobs programs to guarantee income, and remove the fear of job competition * Redirecting the money spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to rebuilding communities, refinancing mortgages, and restoring the social services needed by working families. * Renegotiating existing trade agreements to eliminate causes of displacement and prohibiting new trade agreements that displace people or lower living standards, including military intervention intended to enforce neoliberal reforms. * Prohibiting local law enforcement agencies from enforcing immigration law, ending roadblocks, immigration raids and sweeps, and closing detention centers
According to the authors, indicate which of the following statements is true or false.
- Border policies should be examined only against the benchmark of morality. - The duty of non-rejection at the border correlates with and derives from the right to seek asylum, a right that will not materialize if asylum seekers are rejected at the border. - If we accept the cosmopolitan presumption that borders have no moral significance, we cannot attribute any importance to the question of where rejection takes place, and should believe that refugees should be protected irrespective of whether they have physically crossed the border. - States have a moral duty to assist refugees at their borders because if a state refoules asylum seekers who arrive at its borders, this would be an abuse of the state's coercive power. - Article 33 of the Refugee Convention prohibits the return of persons to a country where they have a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership of a particular social group-in other words, it prohibits the return of refugees. - Part of the problem in present-day asylum practice is that states return people who would have applied for asylum if they had been given the chance to do so. - If a state wants to reject a migrant at the border and the migrant can be presumed to disagree with the return, an effective and purposive interpretation of the prohibition of refoulement requires that state to inquire as to why the person does not want to be returned.
What changes were introduced by the Hart-Celler Act of 1965?
- Dismantled the openly racist formulation of immigration control, reversed the explicitly racist exclusion against Asian migrations, abolished the system of national-origins quotas for the countries of Europe. - Established for the first time in US history an annual numerical quota to restrict ''legal'' migration from the Western Hemisphere. No more than 120,000 ''legal'' migrants (excluding quota exemptions) would be permitted from the entirety of the Western Hemisphere. - For both Hemispheres, some family members would be considered ''exempt'' from the quota restrictions, and thus could migrate without being counted against the quotas. - A kind of legalization procedure was available to undocumented Western Hemisphere migrants who were the parents of children born in the US. Mexican migrants would be required to serve a term as undocumented workers but then could eventually be ''legalized,'' contingent upon bearing a child in the US. This clause was eliminated in 1976.
In the United States, deportation is an administrative procedure and occurs without due process protections. Why does the United States deny due process protections to non-citizens?
- If you lack citizenship in the United States, technically, you do not have the right to be in the United Sates; remaining within the United States is a privilege that can be revoked at any time. Deportation simply involves revoking that privilege. - Deportation is not considered punishment. - The denial of due process to non-citizens in the United States rests on the false premise that immigrants are not part of U.S. society and that removing them simply involves returning them to where they belong.
What changes were introduced by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996?
- Included extensive provisions for criminalizing, apprehending, detaining, fining, deporting, and also imprisoning a wide array of ''infractions." - Barred undocumented migrants from receiving a variety of social security benefits and federal student financial aid.
Study the following definitions and be ready to match the right answers.
- Neoclassical Economics: Macro Theory International migration is caused by geographic differences in the supply and demand for labor. Workers from low-wage country move to high-wage country. - Neoclassical Economics: Micro Theory Individual rational actors decide to migrate because a cost-benefic calculation leads them to expect a positive net return, usually monetary, from movement. - Dual Labor Market Theory International migration is caused by a permanent demand for immigrant labor that is inherent to the economic structure of developed nations. - World Systems Theory The penetration of capitalist economic relations into peripheral, noncapitalist societies creates a mobile population that is prone to migrate abroad. - Network Theory Migrant networks increase the likelihood of international movement because they lower the costs and risks of movement and increase the expected net returns to migration. - Institutional Theory Once international migration has begun, private institutions and voluntary organizations arise to satisfy the demand created by an imbalance between the large number of people who seek entry into capital-rich countries and the limited number of immigrant visas these countries typically offer. - Migrations Systems Theory Migration flows acquire a measure of stability and structure over space and time, allowing for the identification of stable international migration systems. These systems are characterized by relatively intense exchanges of goods, capital, and people between certain countries and less intense exchanges between others.
What changes were introduced in the 1976, 1978, and 1980? What was the impact on Mexican immigration?
- The 1976 amendments to the Immigration and Nationalities Act established a fixed national quota for every individual country in the Western Hemisphere for the first time, now establishing a maximum number (excluding quota exemptions) of 20,000 legal migrants a year, for every country in the world. - In 1978, new law abolished the separate hemispheric quotas, and established a unified worldwide maximum annual immigration quota of 290,000. The Refugee Act of 1980 further reduced that maximum global quota to 270,000, and thereby diminished the national quotas of 20,000 per country to an even smaller annual maximum of 18,200 ''legal'' migrants (excluding quota exemptions). In the space of less than 12 years, therefore, from July 1, 1968 (when the 1965 amendments went into effect) until the 1980 amendments became operative, US immigration law had been radically reconfigured for Mexicans. Beginning with almost unlimited possibilities for ''legal'' migration from Mexico (literally no numerical restrictions), the law had now severely restricted Mexico to an annual quota of 18,200 non-exempt ''legal'' migrants. At a time when there were (conservatively) well over a million Mexican migrants coming to work in the US each year, the overwhelming majority would have no option but to do so ''illegally.''
According to Nozick's theory, indicate which of the following statements is true or false.
- The government would have no right to prohibit a farmer in the United States to hire workers from Mexico. - American workers have a right to be protected against competitive disadvantage resulting from Mexican workers. - If Mexican workers did not have job offers from an American, the government would have no grounds for preventing them from entering the country. - Individuals may do what they want with their own personal property, such as refusing to hire aliens or renting them houses. - The claim: "It's our country. We can admit or exclude whomever we want" is compatible with a property rights theory like Nozick's. - The state has no right to restrict immigration. - One of the primary goals of the original position is to minimize the effects of such contingencies as birthplace and parentage upon the distribution of social benefits. - To assign citizenship on the basis of birth might be an acceptable procedure, but only if it did not preclude individuals from making different choices later when they reached maturity. - One could justify restrictions on the grounds that immigration would reduce the economic well-being of current citizens. - The effect of immigration on the particular culture and history of the society would not be a relevant moral consideration, so long as there was no threat to basic liberal democratic values. - Restrictions on immigration for the sake of preserving a distinctive culture would be ruled out.
Why are boundaries important?
-have deep psychological & cultural/political significance. -Establishing boundaries is a key element in developing and maintaining a coherent personal identity. The ability to develop and maintain boundaries is a key element of personal identity and psychological functioning. - play a critical role in the development and maintenance of a country's national identity. No society can maintain viable national identifications and attachments without having some guidelines about who is or is not a member, and the basis by which the latter can gain entry. It is because individuals do identify as Americans and are willing to perform the hard but necessary tasks of citizenship that this country is able to survive. The question is not, therefore, whether a country has rules for entry and inclusion — all do. The question is how generous, fair, and transparent these rules are. On these grounds the United States does very well indeed. -Aside from helping to demarcate here from there, a country's borders represent the range of home within which citizens can expect their government to take appropriate and necessary steps to ensure their safety.
What political alliance regarding international migration is Bacon talking about?
A political alliance is developing between countries with a labor export policy and the corporations who use that labor in the global north. Many countries sending migrants to the developed world depend on remittances to finance social services and keep the lid on social discontent over poverty and joblessness, while continuing to make huge debt payments. Corporations using that displaced labor share a growing interest with those countries' governments in regulating the system that supplies it.
Explain how "policy narratives comprise a strategic rhetorical tool." (39)
A strong, believable narrative affects understanding of a problem and promotes the suitability of a particular solution. But a narrative's credibility also depends upon how well it taps into preconceived ideas about who is to blame for the problems or who is deserving of resources or punishments from government action. For this reason, the narratives become the vehicle for reproduction of social constructions and, as official pronouncements validated in policy, the narratives amplify these constructions.
What does the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) reveal about mass deportation?
Nearly half of all deportations involved people with no criminal record whatsoever, and large numbers of "criminal" deportations involve people with traffic offenses.
How did the geographical composition of immigrants change since the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act and what effect did it have on the racial and ethnic makeup of the U.S.?
After the replacement of the nation's European-focused origin quota system, greater numbers of immigrants from other parts of the world began to come to the U.S. Among immigrants who have arrived since 1965, half (51%) are from Latin America and one-quarter are from Asia. By comparison, both of the U.S. immigration waves in the mid-19th century and early 20th century consisted almost entirely of European immigrants. In 1965, 84% of Americans were non-Hispanic whites. By 2015, that share had declined to 62%. Meanwhile, the Hispanic share of the U.S. population rose from 4% in 1965 to 18% in 2015. Asians also saw their share rise, from less than 1% in 1965 to 6% in 2015.
What was the response of the Mexican government to the end in 1964 of the Bracero Program?
Anticipating unemployment pressures due to the end of the Bracero Program, the Mexican government simultaneously introduced its Border Industrialization Program, enabling US-owned, labor-intensive assembly plants (maquiladoras) to operate in a virtual free-trade zone along the US border. As a result, migration within Mexico to the border region accelerated.
Which view is Carens challenging and which alternative view does he offer?
Carens challenges the view that states have the legal and moral right to exercise the power to admit or exclude aliens in pursuit of their own national interest, even if that means denying entry to peaceful, needy foreigners. States may choose to be generous in admitting immigrants, but they are under no obligation to do so. Carens offer the alternative view that borders should generally be open and that people should normally be free to leave their country of origin and settle in another, subject only to the sorts of constraints that bind current citizens in their new country.
What difficulties does "national attachment" must confront?
Citizens will be swimming against the tide domestically, where many argue that multiculturalism and the primacy of ethnic group attachment is the preferred identification. And they also will be swimming against the tide internationally where liberal cosmopolitans of all types encourage them to look beyond their "parochial" national attachments. Along the way, they will have to endure the view that they are insufficiently sensitive or tolerant to "the other." They will be told they are not skeptical enough about America's professed ideals or sufficiently cynical about their realization. And they will be reassured that as long as they affirm their general belief in democracy, nothing further is needed.
Describe U.S. refugee policy in the Cold War period (since the 1950s)
Especially generous toward refugees from Communist regimes; reluctant toward friendly states.
In the 20th century, what has been the posture of states most international migrants aspire to entry?
Extreme restriction with exceptional measures for a) procurement of labor; b) accommodation of constituency claims to for family reunion; c) admission of some refugees.
What caused the "attachment gap" among immigrants?
Domestically, multiculturalism has sought to substitute ethnic and racial attachments for national ones, while international cosmopolitans seek to transcend what they see as narrow and suspect nationalistic connections to the American community with international ties, including encouraging new immigrant ties to their "home" countries.
What is common among the three theories Carens discussed (Nozick, Rawls, and utilitarians)?
Each theory begins with some kind of assumption about the equal moral worth of individuals. Each treats the individual as prior to the community. They provide little basis for drawing fundamental distinctions between citizens and aliens who seek to become citizens.
If the race or ethnicity of the salient immigrant group influences opinion, what are at least two potential explanations, according to Brader et. al?
First, group cues might alter public perceptions about the severity of the problem. Negative stereotypes about Latinos in particular might boost concerns about cultural assimilation, consumption of scarce public resources, crime, and so on. Thus, when the news media highlight Latinos in discussions about immigration, white citizens may come to believe that immigrants pose an even greater problem than if white Europeans were featured. Second, racial or ethnic cues may trigger emotional reactions, such as anxiety, which may cause changes in opinion and behavior independently of changes in beliefs about the severity of the immigration problem. When anxiety is triggered by threatening cues or conditions, it can facilitate opinion change and motivate information seeking and political action. We expect that news stimulates greater opposition when it highlights costs rather than benefits of immigration. But we also think that such reactions are tied to the immigrant groups made salient in the news. Group cues imbue the discussion of costs and benefits with emotional significance. In other words, group images cause changes in attitudes and behavior by triggering an emotional reaction, rather than by simply changing beliefs about the severity of the problem.
What factors contributed to the passage of the 1965 law?
First, the era's civil rights movement, which created a climate for changing laws that allowed racial or ethnic discrimination. A second factor was the growing clout of groups whose immigration had been restricted. Third, the economy was healthy, allaying concerns that immigrants would compete with U.S.-born workers. Fourth, some, however, say that geopolitical factors were more important, especially the image of the U.S. abroad in an era of Cold War competition with Russia. Fifth, labor unions, which had opposed higher immigration levels in the past, supported the 1965 law, though they pushed for changes to tighten employment visas. Finally, political players changed: President Lyndon B. Johnson lobbied hard for the bill, and a new generation of congressional leaders created a friendlier environment for it.
Define the three hypotheses Brader et. al. discuss in their paper.
First, the impact of information about the consequences of immigration on attitudes and behavior will depend on which immigrant groups are salient. We expect greater opposition when news emphasizing the harm from immigration contains images of Latino migrants than when it portrays white European migrants. Second hypothesis is that while any news emphasizing the costs of immigration should increase the perception that immigration is harmful to Americans, it will be more likely to trigger anxiety when the story calls attention to Latino, as opposed to white European, immigrants. Third hypothesis is that opinion change, information seeking, and political action should be more likely to the extent news about immigration arouses anxiety. We should expect greater anxiety when Latino immigrants are portrayed as low-skilled workers with potentially harmful consequences for American society than when they are portrayed as high-skilled or potentially beneficial. The competing hypothesis, in this case, is that Latino immigrants will trigger greater anxiety regardless of how they are portrayed. [Several national studies conducted over the last 15 years show that public support for various social and criminal control efforts is statistically linked to the perception that Hispanics--regardless of their citizenship status--represent a potentially troubling threat to society. In the U.S., recent research has demonstrated that Hispanics are often typified as dangerous, drug traffickers, drug users, predatory, ruthlessly violent, gang bangers, and chronic offenders with innate criminality. These negative stereotypes can be powerful. Not only does public support for increased social control result from stereotypes of Hispanics as criminals, but these stereotypes have the capacity to influence the implementation or obstruction of public policies, such as those relating to immigration reform. (Kelly Welch, 2013)]
What four themes about U.S. immigration policy does Newton uncover in the following 1996 quote from Rep. Steven Horn (R-CA)?Let me state the following premise about which there is little disagreement. It is the obligation of the Federal Government to secure the borders of the Nation from illegal entry and unauthorized invasion.... It is not a question of being anti-immigration. This country was founded by immigrants. I am the son of one of them.
First, the tendency in political discourse to describe immigration with the crisis language of "war" and "invasion," is as old as the immigration phenomenon. Second, "the obligation of the Federal Government" is about the dispute over state versus federal fiscal responsibilities in immigration administration and settlement. Third, "not a question of being anti-immigration" reflects the desire to avoid appearing racist. He wants to keep the unauthorized, the invaders, the bad kind of immigrants out. Fourth, the privileging of the European immigrant experience: there are good immigrants who founded this nation.
What was the "Bracero" program and what role did the civil rights movement and Chicano activists play?
From 1956 to 1959, between 432,491 and 445,197 Mexicans were brought into the U.S. each year on temporary work visas, in what was known as the "bracero" program. The program, begun during World War Two, in 1942, was finally abolished in 1964. The civil rights movement ended the bracero program, and created an alternative to the deportation regime. Chicano activists of the 1960s - Ernesto Galarza, Cesar Chávez, Bert Corona, Dolores Huerta and others - convinced Congress in 1964 to repeal Public Law 78, the law authorizing the bracero program. Farm workers went on strike the year after in Delano, California, and the United Farm Workers was born. They also helped to convince Congress in 1965 to pass immigration legislation that established new pathways for legal immigration - the family preference system. People could reunite their families in the U.S. Migrants received permanent residency visas, allowing them to live normal lives, and enjoy basic human and labor rights. Essentially, a family- and community-oriented system replaced the old labor supply/deportation program.
Study the following paragraph from Zolberg's "Patterns of International Migration Policy: A Diachronic Comparison" and be ready to fill in the blanks:
Given the way in which the world is structured, the work any person is capable of performing will bring much higher returns in an affluent than in a poor country, especially if "collective goods" as well as individual ones are taken into account. It is therefore quite reasonable for many people living in poor countries - even if they are themselves not among the poorest to aspire to relocate. The availability of such a vast reserve of cheap labor located abroad provides obvious opportunities for capitalists in the industrial countries, most prominently the possibility of cushioning the effects of the business cycle by procuring labor when it is needed and divesting themselves of it when it no longer is, without bearing the costs of maintaining it when unproductive. But the potential number of candidates to fill the ranks of cheap labor is much vaster than any conceivable demand in receiving countries, and for obvious reasons, many workers admitted on a temporary basis end up wanting to stay. It is evident that as ordinary residents, however, they become less valuable economically, and in the face of a tendency to settle, objections are also raised concerning their cultural impact on the receiving country. (119-120)
Golash-Boza says that the neoliberal cycle of restricted labor mobility and deportation is crucial to the maintenance of global apartheid. What is "global apartheid?"
Global apartheid is a system where mostly white and affluent citizens of the world are free to travel to where they like whereas the poor are forced to make do in places where there are less resources.
How many international migrants were in 2015?
Globally, there were 244 million international migrants in 2015.
Describe the U.S. immigration policy in the following years/periods: 1952, 1965, 1970s. 1952: the United States reaffirmed a very restrictive stance with respect to the main gate.
However, many ad hoc enactments in effect implemented more generous policy toward European refugees and family reunion in the post-World War II period. 1965: All traces of racial and ethnic discrimination were removed. However, quantitative limitations were maintained and extended to include the Western hemisphere, hitherto unrestricted in this respect. At about the same time, the long-standing temporary workers program, involving several hundred thousand annual entries from Mexico, was eliminated; instead, back door policy drifted toward benign neglect of the southern border, allowing for a massive flow of undocumented workers. 1970s: Mounting concern with undocumented workers exacerbated by high unemployment and fear of "hispanization," led to proposals for sanctions on employers of illegal aliens. Sanctions were resisted by the employers themselves as well as by U.S. citizens and residents of Hispanic culture.
Which reforms are included under neoliberalism? What are these reforms designed for?
Reforms include: deregulation; privatization of public enterprises; trade liberalization; promotion of foreign direct investment; tax cuts; and reduction in public expenditures. These reforms are designed to bring foreign currency into the national economy and to prepare the country to enter the global economy.
Study the following paragraph and be ready to fill in the blanks:
If the nation never has and, for the foreseeable future, never will stop all immigration completely, the management of immigration will perpetually be about constructing typologies of acceptable and unacceptable immigrants. By focusing on this process of classification, or the social construction of policy target groups, we can better grasp how group power and group image serve to affirm or collapse our definitions of who is worthy of reward through immigration policies. (18)
How to convince people that illegal immigration is not a victimless crime?
Illegal immigration is most certainly not a victimless crime. It fuels criminal transport gangs. It makes some immigrants into the modern version of indentured servants. It subjects some to death in passage. It results in bribes to officials, which in turn corrupts government. It breeds an underground of illegal activity, including document forgery and identity theft. It allows exploitation of workers by their employers. It promotes disrespect for the country's laws. It creates enormous costs for the United States in terms of hospital and other service uses. It breeds a sense of insecurity among Americans that their borders are unsafe and insecure.
What changed between the 1930s, World War II, and the mid-1950s regarding immigration policy towards Mexicans?
In the 1930s, Mexicans were massively deported. During WWII, the U.S. and Mexico established the "Bracero Program" for the massive importation of Mexican labor. Encouraged by the government and employers, some have estimated that four undocumented migrants entered the US from Mexico for every documented bracero. In 1954-55, some 2.9 million ''illegal'' Mexican/migrant workers were expelled under 'Operation Wetback."
What were the statistics of Mexican immigration in the United States in 2000 and what reasons did President Fox have for seeking U.S. immigration reform?
In the year 2000 there were approximately 25 million people of Mexican origin residing in the United States. About 10 million were immigrants. Of these, and estimated 4.7 million were "undocumented. Remittances increased from an estimated $3.6 bn. in 1995 to $6.5 bn. in 2000 to $23 bn. in 2005. Fox was seeking immigration reform for several reasons. First, he wanted to protect the fundamental human rights of Mexican citizens (many were dying trying to cross the border). Second, he wanted to protect the "right" of Mexicans to seek work in the United States and keeping sending remittances. He suggested European style labor mobility. Third, he wanted to gain political support. He proposed amnesty and a generous guest-worker program.
Why did the U.S. political system fail to move forward on comprehensive immigration legislation after 2000? What are the effects of this impasse?
Immigration became victim of the country's increasing polarized political atmosphere and immigration became a proxy for many of the underlying economic and social factors that have driven the age of acrimony. In the Republican Party, September 11 increased the force of cultural conservatives and weakened business interests. Increase in minorities strengthened Democrats, but also Republicans' opposition to immigration. Minority voters may not see immigration as their major issue, but the way Republicans talk about it leaves in them the impression that it is about the fitness of their ethnicity to be part of the American society. The growing power of the Tea Party has toughened GOP's stance on immigration. The political impasse has had negative results: - The reliance on increasingly stringent and expensive security measures (militarization at the border, increasing pace of removals and deportations). The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have large and growing budgets. President Obama deported the largest number of people since the 1950s, nearly 400,000 each year. - The insertion of states and localities into immigration legislation and policy. Arizona's Proposition 200 (denying public benefits to illegal immigrants; requiring public employees to report anyone suspected of being in the country illegally). Between 2005 and 2010, 6,637 bills were introduced in all 50 states legislatures. In April 2010, Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona signed SB 1070, a law that accorded the police broad power to detain anyone suspected of being in the country without authorization. - The reliance of presidential executive action.
What is the purpose of immigration policies in the U.S., according to Bacon?
Immigration raids and deportations in the U.S. are not intended to halt it. In an economy in which immigrant labor plays a critical part, the price of stopping migration would be economic crisis. The intent of immigration policy is managing the flow of people, determining their status here in the U.S., in the interest of those who put that labor to work. Within this system of displacement and migration from their place of origin, U.S. immigration policy determines the status of migrant labor. It doesn't stop people from coming into the country, nor is it intended to. Its main function is to determine the status of people once they're here. And an immigration policy based on providing a labor supply produces two effects. Displacement becomes an unspoken tool for producing workers, while inequality becomes official policy. The unquestioned assumption is that migrants will not have the same rights as people living in the community around them. All the immigration bills debated by Congress over the last few years are based on this assumption. Guest worker and employment-based visa programs were created to accommodate labor needs. When demand is high, employers recruit workers. When demand falls, those workers not only have to leave their jobs, but the country entirely.
What is the Secure Communities program, why did it provoke intense opposition, and how did the Obama administration change the implementation of the program?
In 2003 the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) established "Secure Communities" to identify criminal aliens, prioritize them according to the severity of their crimes, and facilitate their removal from the country. Secure Communities relied heavily of electronic data sharing. In participating states and communities, fingerprints of all arrestees were checked against DHS immigration records as well as FBI criminal history records; when matches occurred, ICE could place detainers on individuals in order to conduct interviews or take them into custody - and decide on deportation. Secure Communities provoked intense opposition for the following reasons: - Led to the unlawful detention of thousands of U.S. citizens - Focused disproportionately on Latinos, who accounted for 93 percent of all detainees - Denied due process to a large majority of detainees - Deported arrestees with low-level offenses, such as traffic violations, as well as individuals who had no criminal histories. - The removal process itself was unduly heartless - Placed a substantial strain on local resources In August 2011, the Obama administration declared that DHS would thenceforth render decisions on a case-by-case basis. Deportation proceedings would no longer affect individuals who posed no public safety threat. In June 2012, Obama issued an executive order allowing work permits and preventing deportation for as many as 1.4 million undocumented immigrants under the age of 30 who were brought to the United States as children.
According to the Southern Poverty Law Center, how are guest workers treated?
In 2007 the Southern Poverty Law Center issued a report, Close to Slavery, documenting the treatment of guest workers. No one gets overtime, regardless of the law. Companies charge for tools, food and housing. Guest workers are routinely cheated. Recent protests have exposed the exploitation of guest workers recruited from India to work in the Mississippi shipyard of Signal International. They paid $15-20,000 for each visa, lived in barracks in the yard, and had to get up at 3.30 to use the bathroom because there weren't enough for everyone. The company cut the wages, held six workers prisoner for deportation, and fired their leader, Joseph Jacobs. In 2006 Santiago Rafael Cruz, an organizer for the Farm Labor Organizing Committee, was murdered when the union tried to set up an office in Mexico to end the corruption and abuse by guest worker contractors. If workers protest this treatment, they're put on a blacklist and won't be hired the following year. Protesting wouldn't do much good anyway. The U.S. Department of Labor almost never decertified a guest worker contractor, no matter how many complaints were filed against it. The paper industry depends on this system. Twenty years ago, it stopped hiring unemployed workers domestically, and began recruiting guest workers. As a result, labor costs in the forests have remained flat, while paper profits have gone up.
What is the PEW's estimation of unauthorized immigration in 2009 and 2014?
In 2014, 11.3 million unauthorized immigrants lived in the U.S., according to the latest preliminary Pew Research estimate. That estimate is essentially unchanged since 2009, as the number of new U.S. unauthorized immigrants roughly equals the number who voluntarily leave the country, are deported, convert to legal status or (less commonly) die.
Explain what De Genova means by "It is deportability, and not deportation per se, that has historically rendered Mexican labor as a distinctly disposable commodity." (179)
In its real effects, the true social role of much of US immigration law enforcement (and the Border Patrol, in particular) has historically been to maintain and superintend the operation of the border as a ''revolving door,'' simultaneously implicated in importation as much as (in fact, far more than) deportation
What are the causes and effects of migration of indigenous workers from Oaxaca to California?
Indigenous Oaxacan migrants are the workforce that has been produced by NAFTA and the neoliberal changes in the global economy. Further, the U.S. food system has long been dependent on the influx of an ever-changing, newly-arrived group of workers that sets the wages and working conditions at the entry level in the farm labor market. The rock-bottom wages paid to this most recent wave of migrants - Oaxaca's indigenous people - sets the wage floor for all the other workers in California farm labor, keeping the labor cost of California growers low, and their profits high. Economic crises provoked by the North American Free Trade Agreement and other economic reforms are now uprooting and displacing these Mexicans in the country's most remote areas. There are no jobs, and NAFTA forced the price of corn so low that it's not economically possible to plant a crop anymore.
What is the relationship between neoliberalism and emigration, immigration, and deportation?
Neoliberalism caused disruptions in internal economies and caused emigration. Neoliberalism changed the U.S. economic structure with manufacturing moving abroad and with an increase in the service sector where the low-paying positions were filled up with immigrant workers. Neoliberalism demands cut-backs in social services and strengthening of enforcement, which includes both, mass incarceration and mass deportation so that poor people do not pose a threat to the rich.
What is the "Corporate Agenda on Immigration," according to Bacon?
New guest worker programs are the heart of the corporate program for immigration reform, and are combined with proposals for increased enforcement and a pro-employer program for legalization of the undocumented. Guest worker proposals have two characteristics. They allow employers to recruit labor in one country and put it to use in another, and they tie the ability of workers to stay in their new country to their employment status. If they aren't working, they have no right to stay. These inevitably lead to a different social, political and economic status, in which workers don't have the same rights as those around them, and can't receive the same social benefits. A second element in the corporate program is legalization, but in a program tailored more to protect employers from legal charges for hiring undocumented workers than helping families adjust their status. Congress' comprehensive bills all would have imposed waiting periods from 11 to 18 years on immigrants applying for legalization, during which time they would be as vulnerable as ever. But their employers would be protected from charges they'd violated employer sanctions, while they organized the recruitment of new workers through guest worker programs. Because of the record of abuse of guest worker programs, and because working outside those programs offers an attractive alternative, the third necessary element of this kind of corporate reform is an increase in enforcement against undocumented labor in the workplace, and unauthorized border crossing. These proposals seek to end spontaneous migration, in which people decide for themselves when to come and where to go, by making it impossible to work without a work visa and contract. In its place they substitute a regimented system in which people can only migrate as contracted labor. Deportations, firings and guest worker programs all make labor cheaper and union organizing harder.
What are the PEW's population composition projections for 2055 and 2065?
Non-Hispanic whites are projected to become less than half of the U.S. population by 2055 and 46% by 2065. No racial or ethnic group will constitute a majority of the U.S. population. Meanwhile, Hispanics will see their population share rise to 24% by 2065 from 18% today, while Asians will see their share rise to 14% by 2065 from 6% today.
Explain why the deportation regime is characterized as an "on-off switch," "categorical," and "harsh."
On-off switch: Immigration law does not distinguish between a student who violates the terms of her visa by working more hours than permitted, a recreational user of marijuana, and a serial arsonist; all are deportable. Categorical: In many cases, immigration judges and officials lack the authority to stay deportation and are prohibited from considering the impact of deportation on the non-citizen's spouse or minor children. Harsh: Deportation often destroys families as parents are frequently separated from their minor children.
How does Renshon define patriotism?
Patriotism or national attachment includes a warmth and affection for, an appreciation of, a justifiable but not excessive pride in, and a commitment and responsibility to the United States, its institutions, its way of life and aspirations, and its citizens.
"How do the scales on the basis of which groups are judged to be assets or liabilities arise?"
Prejudice, xenophobia, and other individual level-explanations only go halfway. An alternative starting point is the observation that constituted societies commonly strive to achieve and maintain a certain degree of cultural homogeneity, and that the codes which delineate the preferred culture often take the form of an emphasis on distinctions between "us" and "others," whereby the latter function as a negative anti-cultural model to be avoided. The "others" are always mythical: but the myth is often thought to be incarnated by actual groups, whose known attributes may in fact have contributed to shaping the myth in the first place.
When policy choices about immigration are defended in the public sphere, scientific research about immigration takes a back sit to what?
Science takes a back set to stories and myths that play to the fears and prejudices, as well as the positive biases and interpretations, of the American immigrant experience. Policy designs rest on a national mythology about what types of immigrants made America, and which ones lack the values, traits, or contributions that would earn them inclusion in that story.
What is the demographic significance of Latinos in the United States?
Second-generation (U.S. born) offspring is the main motor of population growth. In 2013, the U.S. had an estimated 19 million foreign-born residents (46% of all immigrants) from Latin America. In 2012 there were an estimated 11.4 million unauthorized immigrants, 78% were from Latin America.
How did U.S. immigration policy change after September 11?
Security became the preeminent issue and the Bush administration doubled the size of the Border Patrol. In 2004 Bush tried a proposal for guest-worker program plus amnesty, but failed. In 2005 the House of Representatives put forth tough proposals, and when the Senate was going to take up the issue, Latino communities erupted in protest. The Senate later approved a guest-worker program, a potential path to citizenship, and a shortened border wall, but the Houses rejected it. The only thing the Senate approved in 2006 was the construction of a barrier 1,200 kilometers in length at a projected cost of $1.2 billion.
Since IRCA, what is the "general division" that characterizes the immigrant rights movement?
Since IRCA, a general division has marked the U.S. immigrant rights movement. On one side are well-financed advocacy organizations in Washington DC, with links to the Democratic Party and large corporations. They formulate and negotiate over immigration reform proposals that combine labor supply programs and increased enforcement against the undocumented. On the other side are organizations based in immigrant communities, and among labor and political activists, who defend undocumented migrants, and who resist proposals for greater enforcement and labor programs with diminished rights.
In the long term, why is "instability" a remarkable feature of labor migration from the Third World to industrial democracies?
Sooner or later any foreign workers comes to be conceived of not only an economic actor but as a cultural, social, and political actor (moral actor), hence as potential member of society.
What is the basic agreement among those in the original position (behind the "veil of ignorance") regarding migration and what is its qualification?
The basic agreement would be to permit no restrictions on migration. The qualification is that this liberty depends on the "reasonable expectation" that unlimited immigration would damage public order and this expectation would have to be based on evidence and ways of reasoning acceptable to all.
At the end of the 19th century in the United States, what circumstances were perceived as a threat to the country's survival when the Supreme Court gave its opinions restricting immigration, according to Nafziger?
The answer is simple. Of the three landmark cases decided during the period 1889-1893, two upheld legislation designed to exclude or expel what were explicitly feared to be nonassimilable yellow hordes and the third upheld the exclusion of a Japanese, ostensibly on the basis of her indigency.
Study the following paragraph from Zolberg's "Patterns of International Migration Policy: A Diachronic Comparison" Page 123 and be ready to fill in the blanks:
Study the following paragraph and be ready to fill in the blanks. In the permanent face of a large mass of external population propelled into the migration stream by economic distress or brutal force, the countries of putative destination have steadily moved in recent times toward the adoption of extremely restrictive entry policies... As it appears impossible to operate guestworker programs without incurring permanent settlement, entrepreneurs are henceforth much more likely to relocate their capital in cheap labor regions than to import workers from the Third World. Immigration into the affluent societies is thus likely to remain limited to a small stream of family reunion and a cautious intake of refugees. It is obviously rational for affluent societies to erect walls in order to protect the desirable economic, cultural, and political conditions they have achieved, and there is no gainsaying that these states owe it to their own populations to provide them with such protection. But one should understand these policies for what they are: a collective device to prevent the redistribution of existing world resources to the benefit of the disadvantaged. (123)
What is the "grand bargain" and why does Renshon not trust it?
The "grand bargain" is 10 million illegal immigrants (and their families) become legal in exchange for as-yet-unspecified "enforcement." Renshon does not trust it because enforcement is not implemented as promised and because the "grand bargain" does not deal with the core issue: How is it possible to integrate the almost one million new legal immigrants who arrive here each year, on average, into the American national community?
What visa categories were created by the 1965 amendments to the Immigration and Naturalization Law and what was the annual percentage breakdown?
The 1965 law also included a quota for refugees, who were granted 6% of annual visas, compared with 74% for families; 10% for professionals, scientists and artists; and 10% for workers in short supply in the country.
What is the DREAM Act?
The Dream Act, first introduced in 2003, bill would allow undocumented students graduating from a U.S. high school to apply for permanent residence if they complete two years of college or serve two years in the U.S. military. Estimates are that it would enable over 800,000 young people to gain legal status, and eventual citizenship. For seven years thousands of young "sin papeles," or people without papers, have marched, sat-in, written letters and mastered every civil rights tactic to get their bill onto the Washington DC agenda. Many of them have "come out" declaring openly their lack of legal immigration status in media interviews, defying authorities to detain them. Three were arrested when they sat-in at the office of Arizona Senator John McCain, demanding that he support the bill, while defying immigration authorities to come get them. When it was originally written, the bill would have allowed young people to qualify for legalization with 900 hours of community service, as an alternative to attending college, which many can't afford. However, when the bill was introduced, the Pentagon pressured to substitute military for community service. Many young activists were torn by this provision, and ultimately, the bill did not pass Congress, even with that change. Nevertheless, many immigrant rights activists view the DREAM Act as an important step towards a more basic reform of the country's immigration laws.
How might building walls pose a policy contradiction?
The United States was embracing economic integration through NAFTA on the one hand and constructing walls along the border on the other. The resulting policy contradiction emerged on three levels. One was symbolic and political: The construction of a wall long the U.S. - Mexican border seemed utterly inconsistent with the spirit of economic partnership. A second was procedural and institutional: Although NAFTA made no provision for labor migration, the U.S. emphasis on unilateral assertion undermined the principles of cooperation and consultation enshrined in the free-trade agreement. The third level was substantive: Experience around the world showed that economic integration fostered social integration.
Why was the Clinton administration interested in resolving the Haitian crisis after the 1992 overthrow of President Aristide?
The crisis in Haiti was generating a massive flow of refugees.
How did changes in the composition of migratory flows affect U.S. public opinion?
The decline in immigrants from Europe/Canada and the rise in immigrants from Latin America/Asia prompted xenophobic, nativistic reactions among the U.S. public. In some parts of the country, particularly California, racist feelings erupted in virulent denunciation of Mexicans, condemned as "illegal aliens."
What was President Obama's immigration policy?
The economic recession and the loss of jobs led to a tighter immigration policy. States like Arizona took matters in their own hands to deal with undocumented immigrants with significant levels of popular support. The Obama administration expanded the Border Patrol and accelerated expulsion of undocumented immigrants.
Which two principles to govern society people would choose behind a "veil of ignorance," according to Rawls?
The first principle would be guarantee equal liberty for all. The second would permit social and economic inequalities so long as they were to the advantage of the least well off and attached to positions open to all under fair conditions of equal opportunity.
What was the growth of the U.S.'s foreign born population from 1965 to 2015? What was the share of the total U.S. population?
The foreign-born population grew from 9.6 million then to a record 45 million in 2015. The share of the U.S. population that is foreign born increased from 5% in 1965 to 14% today and will push it to a projected record 18% in 2065.
What characterized the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (commonly referred to as the Hart-Celler Act) and what effect did it have on immigration flows?
The law was passed in the same spirit as the civil Rights Act of 1964 and Voting Rights Act of 1965, but also with an eye to the United States' image abroad regarding racial equality. Although the "Western Hemisphere" was not subject to quotas, Mexicans were brought in as non-permanent immigrant labor. INA 1965 unleashed the largest influx of immigrants since the beginning of the century and radically changed the immigrant flow composition from Europe to Latin America and Asia.
Define the "microanalytic" and "macroanalytic" theories of International Migration?
The microanalytic theory is little more than a formal model of individual movement in response to unevenly distributed opportunities. The macroanalytic theory views International Migration as a process generated by structural unevenness attributable to capitalism organized at a global scale.
Which two sets of considerations explain this instability?
Two considerations explain instability: economic and integrative considerations. Maximization of benefits from labor supply is in conflict with protection of cultural integrity. One solution is constraining workers to their economic role by limiting access to citizenship. Capitalists tend to favor labor importation, until a recession happens. Then, capitalists and the guardians of the moral order come closer.
What conclusion Nafziger arrives at after reviewing the practice of states regarding immigration policy?
The practice of states has conformed with either a qualified duty to admit some aliens under some circumstances or a highly qualified version of the exclusionary proposition, that aliens may be excluded only if they objectively pose a serious danger, individually or collectively, to the state, its people, or essential institutions. (841)
Study the following paragraph from Carens "Aliens and Citizens: the Case for Open Borders" Page 256-257 and be ready to fill in the blanks.
The purpose of the "veil of ignorance" is "to nullify the effects of specific contingencies which put men at odds" because natural and social contingencies are "arbitrary from a moral point of view" and therefore are factors which ought no to influence the choice of principles of justice. Whether one is a citizen of a rich nation or a poor one, whether one is already a citizen of a particular state or an alien who wishes to become a citizen - this is the sort of specific contingency that could set people at odds. A fair procedure for choosing principles of justice must therefore exclude knowledge of these circumstances, just as it excludes knowledge of one's race or sex o social class. We should therefore take a global, not a national, view of the original position... The "veil of ignorance" offers a way of thinking about principles of justice in a context where people have deep, unresolvable disagreements about matters of fundamental importance and yet sill want to find a way to live together in peaceful cooperation on terms that are fair to all. That seems to be just as appropriate a context for considering the problem of worldwide justice as it is considering the problem of domestic justice. (256-257)
What fundamental tension is revealed when international migration is conceived as deviant?
The tension revealed is between individuals seeking to maximize their welfare and states seeking to maximize collective goals by controlling the exit or entry of individuals.
In which two "very different ways" are human beings assessed in immigration policy?
The two ways are economic and moral.
How is the deviant nature of international migration reflected in the discussions of implementation of Art 13(2) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: "Everyone has the right to leave a country, including his own, and to return to his country."
There is no concomitant principle: "Everyone has the right to enter any country." In practice, the consensus is that every state has the right to deny entry to foreigners.
What did the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, the 1921 Quota Law, and the 1924 Immigration Act have in common? Why were quotas not applied to the Western Hemisphere?
They all represented concerns with the racial/ethnic composition of the U.S. and tried to protect its White/Western European component. Quotas were not applied to the Western Hemisphere due to the dependency of employers upon Mexican workers.
Newton discusses three perspectives "on the impact of groups on the policy process in order to explain policy change" (17). What "unifies the interest group, contextual change, and race-based frameworks?" Why does she think these perspectives are "somewhat less satisfying?"
What unifies these three perspectives "is the notion that policy evolves as a resolution for conflicts among competing groups or competing ideological forces." These perspectives are less satisfying in explaining why "relatively politically weak or systematically maligned groups reap significant benefits."
What does it mean in practice that the "legal proceedings for determining deportability are civil in nature?"
Whereas he criminal defendant is afforded the constitutional protections enshrined in the Fourth (search warrant and probable cause), Fifth (due process, prohibits self-incrimination), Sixth (fair and speedy public trial), Eighth (prohibits cruel and unusual punishment) and Fourteenth (equal protection) amendments, the non-citizen facing deportation has only the protection of the Due Process Clause. Because it is a civil decision, deportation is not punishment.
Define the "seeming paradox" in Mexican migration to the United States.
While no other country has supplied nearly as many migrants to the US as has Mexico since 1965, virtually all major changes in US immigration law during this period have created ever more severe restrictions on the conditions of ''legal'' migration from Mexico.
What are the six recommendations Renshon proposes aimed at increasing the identification of immigrants and Americans alike with an American national identity and the attachments to the national community?
a) Cultural Integration. Federal, state, and local governments, in partnership with business, education, and civic leaders, should develop and help maintain welcome centers throughout the United States whose sole purpose would be to help immigrants and their families adjust to the culture of this country and its institutional practices. The additional possibility of setting up such centers abroad for immigrants whose applications for a permanent visa have been approved should also be examined. By "culture" Renshon means things like: how to get a drivers license, how insurance is handled in the United States, how to fill out a job application, how to shop in an American store, and how to make an appointment at a doctor's office. b) English. Federal, state, and local governments should take steps to ensure that any immigrant who wishes to acquire or improve his or her English skills can do so without charge. English study centers should be set up abroad to aid those who are awaiting permanent visas. c) English in the work place. To the extent possible, English should be facilitated as the language of professional and public affairs in the United States d) Schools. Schools remain the most critical institution for helping young people develop knowledge, a realistic appreciation of their country, and an understanding of the common cords that link each of us to each other as well as to those who have gone before us. e) Non-citizens should not vote. Non-citizens should not be allowed to vote in national, state, or local elections; citizenship would lose its value. f) No illegal immigration. Every effort should be made to discourage illegal immigration, including but not limited to: placing pressure on foreign governments to help stem the flow of such immigrants, making business and other institutions responsible for correct information about persons working for them to ensure they are doing so legally, exacting substantial penalties for non-compliance, and taking steps to expedite removal of illegal immigrants. It also is absolutely essential to remove the many incentives for illegal immigration, including, but not limited to: driver's licenses, in-state tuition rates, government disbursements of any kind, access to bank loans, etc. We must also make a real commitment to "no amnesties" and enforce national immigration policy — with limited exceptions for specialized circumstances such as natural disasters or personal tragedies.
