Selected and reviewed
by James Park,
advocate of comprehensive immigration
reform.
Listed in order of quality, beginning with
the best.
The comments in black are intended to be objective facts about each
book.
The red comments are the
evaluative opinions of this reviewer.
1. Joseph
H. Carens
The Ethics of Immigration (New
York: Oxford University Press,
2013) 364 pages
(ISBN: 978-0-19-993383-9; hardcover)
(Library of Congress call number: JV6477.C37 2013)
Democratic
countries should embrace basic principles
for allowing people to move from one country to another.
Who should become citizens by place of birth (birthright citizenship)?
How should immigrants become citizens (naturalization)?
How should new immigrants be included (assimilation)?
How should foreign nationals become authorized permanent residents?
What about 'temporary' foreign workers?
Should foreign nationals gain status
according to the duration of
being settled in the new country?
Should rich countries encourage resident foreign nationals
to send money to relatives in their original homelands
as a way of helping poor countries?
Criminal laws apply equally to everyone found violating them,
without regard to immigration status.
How should each nation deal with unauthorized immigrants?
What rights should be extended to include irregular migrants?
Free public education is almost always provided for all children,
including the children of foreign nationals.
How should non-citizens be protected in employment?
Should employers be punished for employing unauthorized immigrants?
Which public benefits should be extended to non-citizens?
How should immigrants become full members of society?
What rights should come with getting married to a citizen?
This book discusses the moral principles behind the
immigration policies
of advanced democratic nation-states.
Sometimes the immigration laws create morally-ambiguous results.
But a clearer articulation of the underlying moral values
should help any advanced nation reform its laws concerning immigration.
Refugees are a special case of immigration:
They have been forced to leave their homelands
because of war, famine, natural disaster, or ethnic strife.
If they had stayed where they were, there was serious danger of death.
This can be shown by the fact that many who did stay
are now dead.
Receiving states do
have a right to limit what happens to refugees:
How many will be accepted in a given period of time?
How long will the refugees be permitted to stay?
If they have lived for a number of years in the 'refugee camps',
do they gain more claim to be allowed to stay?
If the conditions in their homelands improve,
should they be expected to return?
Should rich countries help to address the problems causing flight
rather than just accepting more people leaving intolerable conditions?
Many more people claim asylum
than are ultimately granted that right.
So how does each receiving country separate legitimate refugees
from do-it-yourself
immigrants who should have stayed in their
homelands?
The last 1/4 of the book shifts from immigration
policy
to thinking about completely
open borders.
This is not a practical suggestion for our present world.
Rather, Carens explores how complete justice and equity
might be actualized in an ideal world.
In the USA—large as it is—we have the right to move anywhere we
please.
And the European Union allows movement between member nations. Could the whole planet have
complete freedom of movement?
This would solve the problems of selection and exclusion.
It would abolish the concept of 'refugee'.
It would help to overcome the inequalities created by place of birth.
Since Carens is not proposing open borders
until equality and justice are achieved everywhere,
he does not much discuss the obvious problems
if all borders were opened today.
When two nations both have political justice and economic equality,
most people decide to stay in their homelands.
The author was born in the United States
but moved to Canada, where he became a naturalized Canadian.
Without advancing any specific proposals for immigration reform,
the author explores the moral rights underlying immigration.
The Ethics of Immigration
is a wise and compassionate book.
2. Pia M. Orrenius & Madeline Zavodny
Beside the Golden Door: U.S. Immigration Reform in a New
Era of Globalization
(Washington,
DC: AEI Press, 2010) 157 pages
(ISBN: 978-0-8447-4332-5; hardcover)
(ISBN: 978-0-8447-4351-6; paperback)
(Library of Congress call number: JV6483.O77 2010)
Instead of allowing immigration on the basis of
family connections,
immigration reform should shift to work-based authorization.
This book proposes that employers purchase from the U.S. government
permits (about $10,000 each for five years) to import workers for
specific jobs.
The number of permits auctioned each year for specific kinds of
workers
would be set by a government commission,
thereby allowing the numbers to be adjusted for economic conditions.
Also, permits owned by an employer could be sold to another
employer.
This would give market forces some impact on new immigration.
Foreign workers already living in the USA would be
allowed to stay
without the purchase of permits for them.
And they would eventually all be registered with the U.S. government.
The problem of
continued unauthorized immigration is slightly discussed. And the authors hope that their
permit system would solve at least some of the
problems of do-it-yourself immigration. Instead of the high-costs
associated with immigration
without permission,
which is usually paid by the immigrants themselves,
employers would pay extra for the
right to import the workers they need.
This book is better grounded in the facts of
immigration than most others.
Useful numbers are provided for almost anything one might like to know
about past immigration into the USA. Good data is one of the major
strengths
of this book.
It seems to
this reviewer that the permit system is far too complicated to be enacted by the U.S. Congress
and signed by the President. It might just add another
dimension of possible distortion and corruption
to immigration regulations that are already far too complicated.
But the shift
to work-based visas and away from family-based
connections has much to recommend it. Should we even give a definite
priority to potential immigrants who already have employment
contracts for specific jobs in the USA?
Work-based immigration would mean that immigrants
would depend
much less on income-support from various levels of government.
Both high-skilled and low-skilled workers could be welcomed to
America,
based on the actual job-openings that are not being filled by Americans.
This would help the authorized immigrants and their families.
And it would definitely boost the U.S. economy.
This book
deserves to be more widely read. The problems of our current system
of immigration are clearly explained. Even if we do not agree with the
particular solutions suggested, at least we have a good example of
one possible way to fix the problems. Readers might be inspired to think of other ways to achieve
the same goals.
3.
Michele Wucker
Lockout:
Why America Keeps Getting Immigration Wrong
When Our Prosperity Depends on Getting it Right
(New York: Public
Affairs, 2006) 285 pages
(ISBN: 978-1-58648-356-2; hardcover)
(Library of Congress call number: JV6483.W83 2006)
Our present
immigration laws and regulations
are far too complicated,
resulting in locking out some of the best and brightest
people who would like to come to the USA
and become American citizens.
Hundreds of examples of offered of would-be
immigrants
who were turned away by tiny details of immigration
regulations.
Work-based immigration should replace family
connections.
When Americans are not filling the job-openings,
then employers should be permitted to import
the talented people needed from other countries.
Many of the people who have made America what it is
today
were born in other countries.
4. Joseph H. Carens
Immigrants and the Right to Stay
(Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press, 2010) 114
pages
(ISBN: 978-0-262-01483-0; hardcover)
(Library of Congress call number: JV6483.C37 2010)
Recounting the
lives of a few foreign nationals who have
become constructive, law-abiding residents of the United States,
Joseph Carnes argues for allowing foreign nationals to stay based on the length of time
they have already lived in the USA.
If they are are well-integrated into their local communities,
they have a substantial reason to be granted U.S. citizenship.
"Irregular immigrants" should be offered pathways to citizenship
similar to the pathways open to all regular immigrants.
In the second half of this short book,
six other authors offer their responses to this plan for amnesty.
Chapter 2 of Orderly Immigration: Creating a
New America also urges a radical change in the
established practice of returning all foreign nationals
to their homelands. The title of that chapter is: "End Deportation of Persons Likely
to Qualify for a Pathway to Citizenship under
Immigration Reform".
Blanket amnesty
will probably not be offered again. So there must be
carefully-considered criteria for separating those foreign nationals who will
be permitted to stay in the
USA from those citizens of other
countries
settled in the United States without authorization who will be carefully returned to their
homelands.
5.
William A. Schwab
Right to DREAM:
Immigration Reform and America's Future
(Fayetteville,
AK: University of Arkansas Press,
2013) 145 pages
(ISBN: 978-1-55728-638-3; paperback)
(Library of Congress call number: JV6483.S39 2013)
A professor of
sociology at the University of Arkansas
makes a passionate appeal for the passage of the DREAM Act,
which would offer a pathway to American citizenship
to foreign children brought into the USA without permission.
Here is a summary of each chapter:
1. DREAMers are not to blame for the fact of living
in the USA.
The violations of immigration laws were committed by their parents.
Most DREAMers are more American than Mexican (or other
nationality).
2. The stories of three students illustrates common
patterns of immigration:
The parents came to the USA (without authorization)
because they could make a better life for themselves in America.
They were often helped by others who had immigrated before them.
After getting settled in new homes and jobs,
the parents paid to have their children join them in the USA.
Sometimes the whole family entered the United States together.
3. Immigrants make impressive
contributions to the U.S. economy.
4. America is a rich and diverse culture.
Immigration will mainly expand our wealth and diversity.
The children of foreign nationals should not be excluded
from legitimate employment once they are old enough to seek jobs.
5. Recent immigrants are being integrated into
American culture
better and faster than any other wave of immigrants.
6. Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)
allows DREAMers to register with the Department of Homeland Security
and be granted most of the rights that would come with the DREAM Act.
Individual states have already taken some actions
to allow foreign nationals to get drivers' licenses
and pay in-state tuition at state institutions of higher education.
When the DREAM Act finally becomes law,
a number of other benefits will be achieved.
7. Profiles of two DREAMers who illustrate
what good sense it would make for the USA to allow them to stay.
8. DREAMers are organizing themselves all around the
USA
in order to make their case before the general public.
As more people actually see and meet college students
who are going to make positive contributions to America,
support for allowing them to stay in the USA increases.
A constant
irritation for this reader and reviewer is the tendency of the author to overstate
his case.
For example, whenever controversial numbers are available,
he chooses the statistics that favor the claims he wants to make.
I entirely agree with the purpose of this book —that
all children of foreign nationals settled in the USA
should be registered and eventually offered pathways to citizenship—
but I do not endorse the use of impressive but questionable statistics.
However, the book does also include some data that everyone accepts.
This book makes
the case for allowing foreign
nationals who were brought into the USA while
they were still children to remain in America, to study, to
work, and eventually to become American
citizens.
Passing some modification of the DREAM Act
might become the first step toward comprehensive immigration reform.
6.
Mark Krikorian
The New Case Against Immigration:
Both Legal and Illegal
(New
York: Sentinel,
2008) 294 pages
(ISBN: 978-1-56523-035-5; hardcover)
(Library of Congress call number: JV6465.K75 2007)
Even advocates of
immigration reform should read this book
because it gives the basic arguments against all forms of immigration.
Most readers
will probably come to different conclusions, recognizing that this author has
selected facts and opinions
that favor further restricting immigration of all types.
Here are the basic points made in each
chapter:
1. Assimilation has not worked for Hispanic immigrants
as it did for all previous waves of immigrants.
They have kept their own language and culture. Future decades will prove whether
or not this is correct.
2. Some areas of the USA are in danger of becoming majority Hispanic.
The author believes that this would change American for the worse. If most voters had Hispanic
backgrounds, how would they change America? Krikorian quotes many Hispanics who
want to 'take back'
the land in the southwest, once part of Mexico.
Many examples of the Mexican government influencing
American society:
courts, demonstrations, voting, law-enforcement, legislation.
All foreign governments have a right to protect their citizens abroad,
but has Mexico gone too far?
For example, is it legitimate for Mexican consulates
to help coordinate demonstrations for changing U.S. immigration laws?
In Mexico, foreigners are explicitly excluded from political
activities.
3. The present system of immigration controls
did not prevent the 9-11-2001 attacks.
All of the highjackers had violated U.S. immigration laws.
But only one potential highjacker was detained before the attacks.
So many applications for visas, etc. are received
that there is tremendous pressure just to approve all of them
without looking at the details.
Very high percentages of fraud result.
Immigration officials would be able to do their jobs
better
if there were far fewer people admitted into the USA.
4. Immigrants join the American labor force mostly
at the lower levels.
This necessarily depresses wages for workers already in those jobs.
And because of lower educational levels,
immigrants do not rise as easily in the organizations for which they
work.
Only in later generations do these disparities resolve.
Earlier waves of immigration came into an America
where most workers were not educated beyond high school.
And advanced education was not needed
for their agricultural and
industrial employment.
But now most employers are asking for higher levels
of education.
And high-skilled immigrants usually do get better jobs.
5. Because of the greater needs of immigrants,
at least at first, the various levels of government pay out more
for having immigrants than the immigrants contribute in tax-revenue.
When immigrants are already beyond employment age,
they cannot be expected to pay taxes.
But all will benefit from government programs of
welfare, education, health-care, public roads, etc.
Another government cost that is generally higher for
immigrants
is the criminal-justice system.
6. Most of the population increase in the USA is due
to immigration.
But most people already living in America do not want a larger
population.
Our qualify of life is generally not improved when more people try to
live
in the same space occupied by fewer people in the previous generation.
Air, water, traffic, waste-disposal are all affected by a larger
population.
7. The basic solution to all problems created by
immigration
is to control the sheer number of people coming into the USA each year.
The author recommends cutting immigration by half
and eliminating many special provisions in current law.
Seven specific kinds of reform:
1. No jobs for unauthorized foreign nationals.
2. Every immigrant must be fully and correctly identified.
3. Close coordination between the IRS and immigration officials.
4. Using state and local law-enforcement to uphold immigration laws.
5. Keeping track of visa holders, making sure they leave as agreed.
6. Step up normal deportation of non-citizens.
7. Local and state laws should discourage immigrants without
authorization.
Mark Krikorian has created a
comprehensive book on immigration reform, filled with thousands of relevant
facts and reliable numbers. He does not call for
universal deportation of all foreign nationals.
Most will stay and be offered reasonable pathways to U.S. citizenship.
But for the protection of the people already living in the USA
and in order to preserve our good quality of life,
we should limit all future immigration.
7.
Ediberto Román
Those Damned Immigrants:
America's Hysteria over Undocumented Immigrants
(New
York: New York University Press: www.nyupress.org,
2013) 186 pages (ISBN:
978-0-8147-7657-5; hardcover) (Library
of Congress call number: JV6483.R66 2013)
A law professor
attempts to answer the claims of opponents of immigration.
8.
Lina Newton
Illegal, Alien, or Immigrant: The Politics of Immigration
Reform
(New
York: New York University Press: www.nyupress.org,
2008) 227 pages
(ISBN: 978-0-8147-5842-7; hardcover)
(Library of Congress call number: JV6465.N498 2008)
Immigration reform
was debated in the U.S. Congress in the 1980s & 1990s.
This book reviews the arguments and rhetoric on both sides —lawmakers
who favored freer immigration and those opposed.
The book is built around these quotes from the public record. And the same claims and
counter-claims are heard today.
Unfortunately, the problems lawmakers were trying to
fix
also remain with us today.
Thus, more reforms are needed.
9. David Coates & Peter Siavelis, editors
Getting Immigration Right:
What Every American Needs to Know
(Washington,
DC: Potomac Books: www.potomacbooksinc.com,
2009) 290 pages
(ISBN: 978-1-59797-265-9; paperback)
(Library of Congress call number: JV6465.G48 2009)
This collection of
academic writings generally favors immigration reform.
The contributions vary in quality.
In this
reviewer's opinion, these are the best chapters: 3. Changing Concepts of
Citizenship and Nationalism across Time and Space. 10. Eight Myths about Immigration
Enforcement.
Because the
authors collect and organize facts, their chapters are necessarily
tied to the past.
Most of us know enough aboutlast 100
years of immigration. Now we need creative ideas to shape the next 100 years
of immigration.
Like most
books about immigration reform, this one has too many pages about
the well-known problems and too few pages about possible
solutions.
[last]
James Leonard Park
Orderly Immigration: Creating a New America
(Minneapolis,
MN: Existential Books: www.existentialbooks.com,
2018) about 200 pages
(ISBN: 978-0-xxxx-xxx-x; paperback)
(Library of Congress call number: JV64xx.xx P37 2018)
This book begins with the major problem of foreign
nationals
already settled in the USA without any official authorization.
Immigration reform must decide what will happen with these millions of
people.
The author suggests that the
vast majority will be permitted to stay in
the USA.
But perhaps 10% will be returned to their original homelands
because they will not qualify for American citizenship.
The main reason for returning non-citizens to their
homelands
will be criminal
behavior while residing in the USA.
Once immigration reform establishes the criteria for
staying,
deportation of foreign nationals just because they violated
immigration laws
will no longer be a sufficient reason for returning them to their
homelands.
All foreign nationals will be brought out of the
shadows
and registered with the Department of Homeland Security.
If they are not going to be deported for violating ordinary laws,
they will be authorized to live and work in the USA.
This comprehensive registration of all foreign
nationals
has already begun with signing-up DREAMers,
children of foreign nationals who were brought into the USA as
children.
Eventually, the author recommends establishing a
National Identity Bureau,
which would have the pictures, names, addresses, etc.
of everyone living in
the USA.
This might be called Directory
USA.
If the United States decides to offer pathways to
citizenship
for most of the foreign nationals already settled in the USA, careful criteria for
selecting new Americans will have to be established.
And these same standards can be applied to everyone on Earth
who would like to emigrate to the USA
and eventually become an American citizen.
This book was first published (free-of-charge) on
the Internet: https://s3.amazonaws.com/aws-website-jamesleonardpark---freelibrary-3puxk/OI.html. This
URL leads to the table of contents, linking to all 19 chapters.
After some discussion of its contents in a Facebook Seminar,
it will be published in 2015 or 2016 as a printed and bound book.
And most of the reviews in this bibliography —Books
on U.S. Immigration Reform—will
be included at the end.