Immigration Outside the Law (Book 2014)

In 1975, Texas adopted a law allowing school districts to bar children from public schools if they were in the United States unlawfully. The US Supreme Court responded in 1982 with Plyler v. Doe, which allowed these children to get the education that Texas law would have denied. With Plyler, three questions emerged that remain central to the national conversation about unauthorized migration: What does it mean to be in the country unlawfully? What is the role of state and local governments in dealing with unauthorized migration? Are unauthorized migrants "Americans in waiting?" After the introduction lays out the book’s conceptual architecture, Immigration Outside the Law devotes one chapter to each of these three questions. Chapter 1 analyzes the meaning of unlawful presence. It shows how being present in the United States without lawful immigration status is inconclusive in several distinct but related ways. The result is a system of highly selective admissions, a large unauthorized population, and highly selective enforcement. Chapter 2 looks at the state and local role in matters relating to immigration and immigrants. Tracing the developments from early in the Republic through the American Civil War, and then to the modern give and take among federal, state, and local governments, Chapter 2 provides an analytical framework for assessing the vast array of state and local activity. Chapter 3 examines the integration of unauthorized migrants into American society. It analyzes the tension between the very idea of national borders and the commitment to equality that is part of American political and constitutional culture. Chapter 3 then explains why the integration of immigrants, including the unauthorized, is essential for reconciling the tension between borders and equality. The next three chapters explain how the first three chapters are intertwined. Chapter 4 shows how the meaning of unlawful presence and the role of states and localities combine to answer the question of who should be allowed to enforce immigration law. Because immigration law in action depends heavily on case-by-case discretionary decisions, it is unwise or even unconstitutional to expand the circle of officials with the power to enforce. Chapter 5 connects another pair of themes — the state and local role and the integration of unauthorized migrants — by discussing how small-scale communities might include or not include unauthorized migrants. Chapter 5 also explains why restrictions on state or local enforcement should not apply as strongly to restrict state and local measures to integrate unauthorized migrants. Chapter 6 links the meaning of unlawful presence with the integration of unauthorized migrants, in order to examine the reasons for conferring lawful immigration status and citizenship through birthright citizenship as well as various legalization proposals. Chapter 7 concludes by showing how the close connection between temporary workers and unauthorized migrants highlights the importance of three larger perspectives on immigration out-side the law. First, unauthorized migration is a fundamental force within the US domestic economy. Second, unauthorized migration is an essential aspect of international economic development. A third perspective considers how fundamental questions of US citizenship and integration should inform the treatment of unauthorized migrants. All three perspectives combine to lay the foundation for durable, effective responses to immigration outside the law.