Reducing the Fog? Immigrant Regularization and the State

In recent decades, the number of undocumented immigrants residing in developed countries has grown significantly. Their nebulous presence undermines states' ability to exert control over their populations and territories. In response, most host states have implemented large-scale regularizations to legalize undocumented immigrants' status. Yet we possess limited understanding of the impact these policies exert on the states themselves. This article examines the relationship between immigrant regularization, state capacity, and sovereignty. I argue that regularizations reveal a contradiction between popular images of state sovereignty and a state's actual capacity to wield authority. On one hand, regularizations facilitate the collection of information, enhancing taxation capacity, immigration control, and the rule of law. On the other, by implementing these policies, states concurrently demonstrate an inability to regulate migration and punish transgressors, thereby undermining perceptions of state sovereignty. Thus regularizations can transform states by revealing the tension between ideal images and concrete practices. Related Articles Byrne, Jennifer, and Gregory C. Dixon. 2013. “Reevaluating American Attitudes toward Immigrants in the Twenty-First Century: The Role of a Multicreedal National Identity.” Politics & Policy 41 (1): 83-116. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/polp.12002/abstract Correa-Cabrera, Guadalupe. 2013. “Security, Migration, and the Economy in the Texas–Tamaulipas Border Region: The ‘Real’ Effects of Mexico's Drug War.” Politics & Policy 41 (1): 65-82. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/polp.12005/abstract Bayes, Jane H., and Laura Gonzalez. 2011. “Globalization, Transnationalism, and Intersecting Geographies of Power: The Case of the Consejo Consultivo del Instituto de los Mexicanos en el Exterior (CC-IME): A Study in Progress.” Politics & Policy 39 (1): 11-44. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2010.00281.x/abstract Related Media Papademetriou, Demetrios. 2013. “The Fundamentals of Immigration Reform.” The American Prospect. March 12. http://prospect.org/article/fundamentals-immigration-reform Papademetriou, Demetrios G., and Will Somerville. 2008. Earned Amnesty: Bringing Illegal Workers Out of the Shadows. London: Centre Forum. http://www.centreforum.org/assets/pubs/regularisation-web.pdf Levinson, Amanda. 2005. The Regularisation of Unauthorized Migrants Literature Survey and Country Case Studies. Oxford: Centre on Migration, Policy and Society, University of Oxford. http://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/publications/reports-and-other-publications/regularisation-of-unauthorized-migrants/ Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP). 2013. Undocumented Immigrant's State and Local Tax Contributions. http://www.itep.org/pdf/undocumentedtaxes.pdf El numero de inmigrantes indocumentados que residen en naciones desarrolladas ha crecido significativamente en las ultimas decadas. Su presencia nebulosa subvierte la habilidad de los estados de ejercer control sobre sus poblaciones y territorios. En respuesta a lo anterior la mayoria de los estados anfitriones han implementado regularizaciones masivas para legalizar el estatus de inmigrantes indocumentados. No obstante, poseemos un entendimiento limitado del impacto que estas politicas ejercen sobre los mismos estados. Este articulo examina la relacion entre regularizacion de inmigrantes, capacidad del estado y su soberania. Argumento que las regularizaciones revelan una contradiccion entre imagenes populares de soberania del estado y la capacidad real del estado para ejercer su autoridad. Por un lado, las regularizaciones facilitan la recoleccion de informacion que aumenta la capacidad de los estados de ampliar su base gravable, de controlar a las poblaciones de inmigrantes y consolidar el estado de derecho. Por otro lado, al tiempo que implementan estas politicas los estados demuestran su incapacidad para regular la migracion y castigar a los transgresores, lo que exhibe las limitaciones de los estados para garantizar su soberania. Asi las regularizaciones pueden transformar a los estados al revelar la tension entre imagenes ideales y practicas concretas.