Inclusion and Exclusion: Immigration Reform and Latino Political Mobilization

• In Event: 333 - Section on International Migration Paper Session. Political Integration of Immigrants and Their Adult U.S. Citizen Children: Mechanisms of Inclusion and Exclusion

Abstract

All legal systems to regulate immigration entail forms of inclusion and exclusion. In recent years, we have seen repeated attempts at immigration reform, which in the end failed. The purpose of this paper is to review the history of immigration laws in the US from the beginning of the 20th century to the beginning of the 21st century, seeking to identify the characteristics of immigration reform in the past that did succeed. The past thus informs the present. At the same time, attention is paid to the new forms of political mobilization and civic engagement that, as a result of these failed attempts at reform, have developed in the contemporary Latino community, serving to attach them more to the US as would be Americans. Recommendations for successful immigration reform are issued.

Author

• Silvia Pedraza, University of Michigan