Robert Turner
315 Ladd
Office Hours MW Noon - 2:30 pm, T-TH 2-3
or whenever my door is open or by appointment
Immigration Politics and Policy
GO 367 (4 credits)
Spring 2009
Immigration is one of the most important forces in American
society today –re-shaping cities, suburbs, and rural areas, altering
racial dynamics, influencing families, education, culture, labor markets, and
politics. This class will examine these
issues from an interdisciplinary perspective incorporating readings from economics,
sociology, demography, and political science as well as the depiction of
immigration in popular culture. Some of
the topics we will address are: the
historical evolution of American immigration policy, push and pull theories of
immigration, the economic costs and benefits of immigration, the assimilation
of recent immigrant, and the future direction of
Daniel Tichenor, Daniel J. Dividing
Lines: The Politics of Immigration Control in
Jorge Durand, Nolan J. Malone, and Douglas S. Massey, Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican Immigration in an Era of Economic Integration (2003)
George Borjas, Heaven's Door: Immigration Policy and the American Economy (2001)
Samuel P. Huntington, Who Are We: The Challenges to
Carol Swain, ed. Debating Immigration 2008
You should complete the assigned reading and assignment before class. Class will consist primarily of discussion and student presentations.
REQUIREMENTS & GRADING
As befitting your status at one of the “New Ivies”, I have high expectations of student performance. Grades will be determined by student performance on all of the following
1. Class participation/presentations (15%)
2. Explanation of Major U.S. Immigration Legislation 3-4 pages(15%)
3. Migration Paper 3-4 pages (15%)
4. Economic Analysis of Immigration 3-4 pages (15%)
5.
6. Final policy paper (25%)
COURSE ABSENCES
A well functioning class that promotes learning requires good attendance. You are allowed two personal days (absences), after that I will deduct 2.5% from your final grade. For example, you receive a 90%, but have missed four classes; your final grade is an 85%. You have an unlimited number of excused absences for illnesses, family crises, etc, though they count against your two absences. For each of these absences, you must provide written excuse from the Dean of Students’ office.
COURSE SCHEDULE
Jan 20 Introduction – Why Study Immigration?
Section I. US Immigration
Policy: Past and Present
Jan 22 Theoretical Foundations of Immigration Policy Reform
Jan 27 The Politics of Restrictionist Immigration Policy: Closing the Door?
Jan 29 The Politics of Immigration Policy Reform: Open- and
Closed-Doors Policies
Feb 3 The Politics of Immigration Policy Reform: The Prelude and Rise
of the Restrictionist
(and Expansionist) Approach to Illegal Immigration
Tichenor, Ch 8 “The Rebirth of American Immigration: The Rights Revolution, New Restrictionism, and Policy Deadlock.”
Feb 5 Tichenor Catch-up day.
Feb 10 A Comparative Perspective
on Immigration Politics and Policies
Gary P. Freeman and Bob
Birrell. Divergent Paths of Immigration
Politics in the
Christian Joppke. Are
"Nondiscriminatory" Immigration Policies Reversible? Evidence from the
Feb 11 Policy Paper Due
Section II. Immigration Policy
and the Mexican Immigration System or Do Fences Work?
Feb 12 Why do people migrate?
Massey, Chapters 1-3, p. 1-51
Feb 17 History of US-Mexico Migration
Massey, Chapters 4-5 p. 52-104
Feb 19 Policy Implications
Massey, Chapter 6 and 7 p. 105-164
Feb 24 A Contrasting Perspective
Gary P. Freeman, Can Liberal
States Control Unwanted Migration? The ANNALS of the
Mark Krikorian, Immigration Enforcement? Yes, We Can! August 2008 http://www.cis.org/node/742
Mark Krikorian, Enforcement at Work: The strategy of attrition is bearing fruit, http://www.cis.org/OpedsandArticles/EnforcementatWork
Office of Homeland Security,
“Immigration Enforcement Actions: 2006, Annual Report,” http://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/statistics/publications/enforcement_ar_06.pdf
Feb 27 Economics paper due.
Section III. Economic Impact of
Immigration: Who wins, who loses?
Feb 26 Who comes to
Borjas, Heaven’s Door, Preface, Ch 1, 2, 3
Mar 3 Who wins and loses from
immigration?
Borjas, Heaven’s Door, 4, 5, 6
Mar 5 An Economic Approach to Immigration- A Point System
Borjas, Heaven’s Door, Ch 10-11
March 7-15 Spring Break - Professor doing field research in Costa
Rica
Mar 17 The Opposing View
Executive Office of the
President, Council of Economic Advisers, Immigration’s Economic Impact,
Roger Lowenstein, The Immigration Equation, New York Times, July 9, 2006
Fiscal Policy Institute, Executive Summary, “Working for a
Better Life: A Profile of Immigrants in the New York State Economy,” 2007, p.
1-4 http://www.fiscalpolicy.org/publications2007/FPI_ExecSumm_WorkingforaBetterLife.pdf
Skim Ira Gang and Ann Piehl, Program on Immigrant and Democracy, Destination New Jersey: How Immigrants Benefit The State Economy http://www.eagleton.rutgers.edu/Immigration/NJImmigrationReport.pdf
Mar 19 Brain Circulation
AnnaLee Saxenian, Brain Circulation: How High-Skill Immigration Makes Everyone Better Off, The Brookings Institution http://www.brookings.edu/articles/2002/winter_immigration_saxenian.aspx
AnnaLee Saxenian, The New Argonauts, Chapter 1 http://thenewargonauts.com/SAXNEW_excerpt.pdf
Skim Richard Florida, Creative
Class War: How the GOP's anti-elitism
could ruin
Section IV American Identity in an Era of Mass Immigration- The
Huntington Challenge
Mar 24 A Crisis in American Identity
Mar 26 The American Identity
Peruse nativist websites http://www.fairus.org
and Dick Lamm, How to Destroy
Mar 31 Challenges to American Identity
Huntington, Ch. 9 Mexican Immigration and Hispanization v. Jack Citrin, et al. Testing Huntington: Is Hispanic Immigration a Threat to American Identity? Perspectives on Politics (2007), 5:1:31-48
--See also Pew Hispanic Center, Hispanic Attitudes Towards Learning English, http://pewhispanic.org/files/factsheets/20.pdf
Apr 2 Renewing American Identity
Huntington, Ch 11 and 12
Zolberg. Why Islam is like Spanish: Cultural Incorporation in Europe and the United States, Politics & Society, 1999
Peruse Center for Immigration The French Riots and U.S. Immigration Policy Panel Transcript, http://www.cis.org/articles/2005/frenchriots transcript.html
Section V. Whither US
Immigration Policy?
Apr 7 Public Opinion
Schuck, The Disconnect Between Public Attitudes and Policy Outcomes in Immigration, Swain. 17-32
Macedo, The Moral Dilemma of US Immigration Policy, Open Borders versus Social Justice 63-105.
Pew Hispanic Center, America's Immigration Quandary, No Consensus on Immigration Problem or Proposed Fixes http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=63
Pew Hispanic Center, The State of American Public Opinion on Immigration in Spring 2006:
A Review of Major Surveys, http://pewhispanic.org/files/factsheets/18.pdf
Pew Hispanic Center. 2007 National Survey of Latinos: As Illegal Immigration Issue Heats Up, Hispanics Feel a Chill. Washington, DC, December 2007. http://pewhispanic.org/files/reports/84.pdf
Apr 9 Demographics
Westoff, Immigration and Future Population Change in America, Swain 165-172
John R. Logan, Settlement Patterns in Metropolitan America
Apr 14 Hispanic Voting Behavior
Mark Hugo Lopez , The Hispanic Vote in the 2008 Election, Pew Hispanic Center, 11.5.2008 http://pewhispanic.org/reports/report.php?ReportID=98
James G. Gimpel, Latino Voting in the 2006 Election: Realignment to the GOP Remains Distant
Center for Immigration Studies, March 2007, http://www.cis.org/articles/2007/back307.html
Apr 16 Law and Policy
Bosniak, The Undocumented Immigrant: Contending Policy Approaches, in Swain ch 6
Pickus and Skerry, Good Neighbors and Good Citizens: Beyond the Legal-Illegal Immigration Debate ch 7
Apr 21 Immigration in Europe- A Comparative Perspective
Hansen, Randall. The Free Economy and the Jacobin State. in Swain ch 16
Howard, The Politics of Immigration and Citizenship in Europe. in Swain ch 17
Apr 23 and 28 Final Presentations