Two traditions of American reform: immigration regulation and the lessons of history.

Abstract

"Immigration reform long has produced fierce conflict among U.S. policymakers over how to regulate racial and ethnic diversity, economic opportunity, and global involvement in American life. This essay attempts to provide an historical perspective on recent innovations in [U.S.] immigration policy, comparing them with restrictionist and expansionist traditions in U.S. political development. While recent reforms exemplify an unprecedented openness in keeping with a more inclusive democracy, their failure to address public anxieties about porous borders inadvertently breathed life into a new anti-immigrant politics that may threaten these policy achievements."