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A Return to a National Origin Preference? Mexican Immigration and the Principles Guiding U.S. Immigration Policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 September 2011

Louis DeSipio
Louis DeSipio
Affiliation:
Departments of Political Science and Chicano/Latino Studies, University of California, Irvine. E-mail: ldesipio@uci.edu
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Abstract

The provocative question raised by Rogers Smith's “Living in a Promiseland? Mexican Immigration and American Obligations” is whether the tortured history of U.S.-Mexican relations and the racialized context of Mexican immigrant reception can best be ameliorated through targeted immigration policies that would create added opportunities for Mexican migrants relative to others. I argue that the current, more universally-principled system of U.S. immigration policy, supplemented by an inclusive legalization program, can better serve the needs of potential Mexican migrants and Mexican immigrants resident in the United States. Also, I am more skeptical than Smith is about the depths of Mexico's commitment to seeking binational strategies to address the needs of its émigrés abroad.

Type
Reflections Symposium
Information
Perspectives on Politics , Volume 9 , Issue 3 , September 2011 , pp. 567 - 569
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2011

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