Immigration in the United States: New Economic, Social, Political Landscapes with Legislative Reform on the Horizon

This article provides a sweeping portrait of U.S. immigration history,  with special attention to post-1965 developments, as well as a succinct but comprehensive overview of the U.S. immigration system. Topics covered include: family and employment-based immigration, refugee admissions, temporary visitors, unauthorized immigrants, immigration enforcement, citizenship, and immigrant integration. The authors also probe today's economic, social and political issues as they relate to proposed comprehensive immigration reform. In looking at U.S. immigration history, the authors suggest a symbiotic relationship between economic development and peaks of immigration, namely the industrial revolution and today's transformation from a manufacturing to a knowledge-based economy. This relationship, however, is less deliberately crafted as it is determined by forces outside of Washington: "For a nation of immigrants and immigration, the United States adjusts its immigration policies only rarely... As a result, immigration policy has often been increasingly disconnected from the economic and social forces that drive immigration."

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