Whose America?: U.S. Immigration Policy since 1980

by Maria Cristina Garcia (Editor), Maddalena Marinari (Editor), Maria Cristina Garcia (Introduction), Maddalena Marinari (Introduction), Elliott Young (Contribution by)

Overview

A centerpiece of contemporary politics, draconian immigration policies have been long in the making. Maria Cristina Garcia and Maddalena Marinari edit works that examine the post-1980 response of legislation and policy to issues like undocumented immigration, economic shifts, national security, and human rights. Contributors engage with a wide range of ideas, including the effect of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act and other laws on the flow of migrants and forms of entry; the impact of neoliberalism and post-Cold War political realignment; the complexities of policing and border enforcement; and the experiences of immigrant groups in communities across the United States.

Up-to-date yet rooted in history, Whose America? provides a sophisticated account of recent immigration policy while mapping the ideological struggle to answer an essential question: which people have the right to make America their home or refuge?

Contributors: Leisy Abrego, Carl Bon Tempo, Julio Capó, Jr., Carly Goodman, Julia Rose Kraut, Monique Laney, Carl Lindskoog, Yael Schacher, and Elliott Young

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780252054501
Publisher:	University of Illinois Press
Publication date:	07/18/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	272
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Maria Cristina Garcia is the Howard A. Newman Professor of American Studies at Cornell University. She is the author of The Refugee Challenge in Post-Cold War America. Maddalena Marinari is an associate professor in history; gender, women, and sexuality studies; and peace studies at Gustavus Adolphus College. She is the author of Unwanted: Italian and Jewish Mobilization against Restrictive Immigration Laws, 1882–1965. Garcia and Marinari are two of the coeditors of A Nation of Immigrants Reconsidered: US Society in an Age of Restriction, 1924–1965.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction: Whose America?  Maria Cristina Garcia and Maddalena Marinari

1. Mass Elimination: Removing Immigrants in the Era of Mass Incarceration  Elliot Young
2. “Families Belong Together”: Immigration Policy as Legal Violence  Leisy J. Abrego
3. “Give Me Your Best and Brightest”: Chasing STEM Workers since World War II  Monique Laney
4. Legislating Diversity in the Immigration Act of 1990  Carly Goodman
5. In the Name of National Security: Ideological Exclusion from the Cold War to the War on Terror  Julia Rose Kraut
6. “Uncle Sam Wants You Dead or Deported”: How Fears of Sexuality, Gender, and Race Crafted U.S. Immigration Policy since 1980  Julio Capó Jr.
7. “Human Rights for All”: The Recent History of Immigration and Human Rights in the United States  Carl Bon Tempo
8. Sanctuary Is Justice: Resilience and Ingenuity in the Sanctuary Movement since 1986  Carl Lindskoog
9. Misreading History: The United States Supreme Court and the Thwarting of the U.S. Asylum System since the 1980s  Yael Schacher

Contributors

Index

Editorial Reviews

“A truly significant contribution to the field, especially the chapters that offer historically grounded approaches to policies and events with great contemporary importance and interest. Very few other books accomplish that feat.”--Charlotte Brooks, author of American Exodus: Second Generation Chinese Americans in China, 1901–1949

From the Publisher