Americas Quarterly - Spring 2009

boatlift. Some of the worst excesses sential function of welcoming immi- immigrant advocates, the Obama these essays record, such as the man- grants in. For this, the new adminis- administration cannot be expected datory registration of Muslim immi- tration can actually build upon some to abandon workplace raids. But of-grants after 9/11, were dropped during elements of Bush’s legacy. ficials have said they will target their the Bush administration. But the edi- Despite all the shouting about the actions more closely on employers tors argue that the immigration sys- fence, there is considerable support who base their business model on tem, with the ne w security overlay, among Americans, in the wake of the exploiting unauthorized immigrant works to find more ways to exclude September 11 attacks, for effective workers. Napolitano has made it newcomers rather than welcome border enforcement. Customs and clear that she wants to avoid trau-them, and to force legal immigrants Border Protection (CBP) has nearly matic round-ups, while Hilda Solis, into illegality. They see an emerging completed the 670 miles ( 1,078 kilo- the pro-union Labor Secretary who “tiered system of rights,” with Amer- meters) of showy and costly physical is the daughter of Latino immigrants, ican citizens enjoying irrevocable barriers required by Congress, freeing has pledged to step up enforcement rights while non-citizen immigrants Homeland Security Secretary Janet of labor standards. have a tenuous legal status that can Napolitano to take a more pragmatic A tilt toward greater recognition “always be called into question.” approach, working with border com- of immigrants’ rights will buy Pres-

Fresh Look

In Illegal, Alien, or Immigrant, Lina Newton, a political scientist, analyzes changing depictions of “ deserving” and “undeserving” immigrants in congressional debates since 1986, in a text that is mainly for political theorists. She usefully shows how a surge in anti-immigrant sentiment among California voters in the mid-

1990s combined with the national
push for welfare reform to create a
new negative archetype, that of the munities, to secure the 2,000-mile ident Obama some time, but not a
immigrant freeloader, enemy of the ( 3,219-kilometer) southern line. CBP lot, before he has to confront the
taxpayer. It’s an image that haunts has spent nearly $1 billion to build a crisis of millions of illegal immi-
the debate to this day. “virtual fence” of cameras and sensors grants. While Jeffrey Passel’s recent
These books illuminate some of that has been plagued with techno- surveys suggest that border enforce-
the complexities that President Ba- logical problems. ment, coupled with the recession, is
rack Obama faces as he weighs what Napolitano, drawing on her experi- dissuading immigrants from com-
to do about immigration. Border co- ence as governor of Arizona, has said ing, years of field research by Wayne
operation with Mexico on the issue that both fences and sensors can be Cornelius, Douglas Massey and oth-
reached a low ebb. Factory raids appropriate in the right places, and ers have shown that in the absence
frightened immigrant communi- she ordered a review that could yield of legal migration channels, border
ties, but recent surveys by the Pew a less spectacular but more practical enforcement also deters those here
Hispanic Center and the Migration plan. DHS will spend $720 million from going home. As the recession
Policy Institute, both non-partisan of the economic stimulus money deepens, more unauthorized immi-
groups, suggest that raids have been on long-neglected improvements grant workers are leaving as they
less effective at forcing illegal im- at ports of entry, which will help to lose jobs. But millions are hunker-
migrants to depart than job losses sharpen inspectors’ scrutiny but also ing down, clinging to low-wage work
resulting from the recession. The to facilitate travel and trade. Mean- and retreating from community life.
angry debate over immigration has while, the mayhem that feuding Mex- The economic collapse has made it far
subsided, but it would doubtless re- ican drug traffickers have brought to more difficult for President Obama
ignite if President Obama began a the borderlands has forced Mexico to propose immigration reform, and
push for comprehensive reform. and Washington to intensify their also far more problematical for him
The new President’s larger task is dialogue. to postpone it.
to restore the balance in the immi- There is also bipartisan support
gration paradigm, reorienting the for enforcement inside the country Julia Preston is the National Immi-
system so that it keeps dangerous to discourage illegal migration. De- gration Correspondent for The New
people out but also returns to its es- spite calls for a moratorium from York Times.