The Immigration Crucible: Transforming Race, Nation, and the Limits of the Law

233 Pages·2012·2.661 MB·English

by  Philip Kretsedemas

“What does the Emancipation Proclamation have to do with the Patriot Act, or Jim Crow with Bush Administration mem- K
R Transforming Race, Nation, and the Limits of the Law
os about immigration enforcement? Why have Democrats been tougher than Republicans on ‘border control,’ and how ET
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did a Haitian-born, naturalized U.S. citizen's loss of ‘the right to have rights’ foreshadow Arizona's controversial pro- E
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filing law? In an even-handed tone, Philip Kretsedemas answers these and other surprising questions. His book chal- M
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lenges thoughtful readers of all political positions to rethink their assumptions about immigration—and immigrants— S
and to ask what it really means to be part of twenty-first-century America.”
—Mark Dow, author of American Gulag: Inside U.S. Immigration Prisons T
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IN THE DEBATE OVER U.S. IMMIGRATION, all sides now support policy and practice that expand the parame- IM
ters of enforcement. Philip Kretsedemas examines this development from several different perspectives, explor- M
ing recent trends in U.S. immigration policy, the rise in extralegal state power over the course of the twentieth IG THE
century, and discourses on race, nation, and cultural difference that have influenced politics and academia. He R
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also analyzes the recent expansion of local immigration law and explains how forms of extralegal discretionary T
authority have become more prevalent in federal immigration policy, making the dispersion of local immigra- IO
tion laws possible. N

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While connecting such extralegal state powers to a free flow position on immigration, Kretsedemas also U
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observes how these same discretionary powers have been used historically to control racial minority popu-
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lations, particularly African Americans under Jim Crow. This kind of discretionary authority often appeals to
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"states rights" arguments, recently revived by immigration control advocates. Using these and other examples, E
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Kretsedemas explains how both sides of the immigration debate have converged on the issue of enforcement T
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and how, despite differing interests, each faction has shaped the commonsense assumptions defining the debate. a IMMIGRATION
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“Even though comprehensive immigration reform has become a political football over the last few m
decades, there are only a few Americans who understand the evolution of immigration legal policy in
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within the United States over the course of our history. Kretsedemas takes the reader on a sobering R
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narrative history of immigration policy in America in modern times. His book is a must-read for any- e
one seeking to overhaul our flawed immigration policies.” , N
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—Arsalan Iftikhar, international human rights lawyer, global media commentator, and managing editor of The Crescent Post io
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“An ambitious and sophisticated account of how U.S. law treats the most vulnerable among us.” nd
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—David Cole, author of Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional Freedoms in the War on Terrorism h
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“This book recovers the complexity of immigration and government efforts to govern it. One of the it
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most exciting and well-written books on the subject.” o
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—Saskia Sassen, author of Territory, Authority, Rights: From Medieval to Global Assemblages th
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PHILIP KRETSEDEMAS is associate professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He is
the coeditor of Keeping Out the Other: A Critical Introduction to Immigration Enforcement Today and Immigrants,
Welfare Reform, and the Poverty of Policy.
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ISBN: 978-0-231-15761-2 M
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS / NEW YORK B
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cup.columbia.edu A Philip Kretsedemas
Printed in the U.S.A.
Cover design by : Thomas Stvan 9 780231 157612
the immigration crucible

t he
I M MIGRAt ION
c Ruc I ble
transforming race, nation, and the limits of the law
Philip Kretsedemas
columbia university press | new york
Columbia University Press
Publishers Since 1893
New York Chichester, West Sussex
Copyright © 2012 Columbia University Press
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Kretsedemas, Philip, 1967–
The immigration crucible : transforming race, nation, and the limits of the law /
Philip Kretsedemas.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
isbn 978-0-231-15760-5 (cloth : alk. paper) — isbn 978-0-231-15761-2 (pbk. : alk. paper) —
isbn 978-0-231-52732-3 (ebook)
1. United States—Emigration and immigration—Government policy—History—20th century.
2. United States—Emigration and immigration—Government policy—History—21st century.
3. Immigrants—Government policy—United States—History—20th century.
4. Immigrants—Government policy—United States—History—21st century.
5. United States—Emigration and immigration—Political aspects.
6. Emigration and immigration law—United States—History.
7. Immigration enforcement—United States.
I. Title.
jv6483.k74 2012
325.73—dc23
2011036609
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper.
This book is printed on paper with recycled content.
Printed in the United States of America
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
p 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
References to Internet Web sites (URLs) were accurate at the time of writing.
Neither the author nor Columbia University Press is responsible for URLs
that may have expired or changed since the manuscript was prepared.

book design by vin dang
for my father,
alexander kretsedemas, 1939–2009

contents
List of Tables ix
Preface xi
1 introduction: an untimely intervention on the u.s.
immigration debate 1
Puzzling Evidence: The Contradictions of Immigration Enforcement
and the Politics of Immigration Policy 5
Immigrants and State Power: On the Margins of the Law 6
2 a different kind of immigration, a new kind of
statelessness 13
Almost Stateless: Migrant Marginality in an Era of
“Nonimmigration” 17
Policing Professional-Class Migrant Workers 31
Racial-Ethnic Disparities and Nonimmigrant Flows 36
Permutations of Statelessness 43
3 the secret life of the state 47
On Necessity, Revolution, and the Modern State 50
The Expansion of Executive Authority Under the Modern
Presidency 53
viii contents
“Populist Rebellion” and the Neoliberal State 57
Executive Authority, Globalization, and Immigration Policy 62
Applying Executive Discretion to Immigration Enforcement 68
4 concerned citizens, local exclusions: local
immigration laws and the legacy of jim crow 73
Local Enforcement and Local Immigration Laws: The Policy
Context 76
Segregation or Coercive Integration? The Political Dynamics and
Outcomes of Local Exclusionary Laws 83
Interpreting the Law: Egalitarian Norms/Inegalitarian Practices 92
Racial Disparities, Local Enforcement, and the Silence of
the Law 96
5 race, nation, immigration: stranded at the
crossroads of liberal thought 104
Beyond the Limits of the Law 105
Cultural Pluralism, Ethnicity Theory, and the Problem of Laissez-
Faire Racism 107
Unlikely Convergences: Liberal Multiculturalism and Cultural
Conservatism 111
Looking Beyond the Cultural Primordialist vs. Social Constructionist
Divide 115
The Immigrant as an Agent of Transformation 117
A Nietzschean Critique of “Race Thinking” 121
The Problem with Practicality 130
Rethinking the Nation: A New American Dilemma 134
6 conclusion: the immigration crucible 137
Immigration Policy and Enforcement Under the Obama
Administration 139
Immigration Policy, National Identity, and the Limits of Executive
Authority 144
Notes 153
Bibliography 183
Index 205
tables
table 2.1 Visitors, Temporary Workers, and Immigrants,
1981–2009 25
table 2.2 Annual Growth of Guest Worker and Unauthorized
Migrant Population, 2000–2009 27
table 2.3 Relationship Between Immigration Flows,
Nonimmigrant Flows, and Expansion of
Immigration Enforcement 33
table 2.4 Immigrants, Nonimmigrants, and Unauthorized
Migrants by National Origin 40
table 3.1 A Typology of Strategic Uses of Executive Authority
Over the Law 71
table 4.1 Local Immigration Laws Enacted, 2005–2009 77