Straddling the border : immigration policy and the INS / Lisa Magaña.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Magaña, Lisa.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

United States--Emigration and immigration--Government policy.

United States.

United States. Immigration and Naturalization Service.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (viii, 120 pages) : illustrations

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2003.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

With the dual and often conflicting responsibilities of deterring illegal immigration and providing services to legal immigrants, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) is a bureaucracy beset with contradictions. Critics fault the agency for failing to stop the entry of undocumented workers from Mexico. Agency staff complain that harsh enforcement policies discourage legal immigrants from seeking INS aid, while ever-changing policy mandates from Congress and a lack of funding hinder both enforcement and service activities. In this book, Lisa Magaña convincingly argues that a profound disconnection between national-level policymaking and local-level policy implementation prevents the INS from effectively fulfilling either its enforcement or its service mission. She begins with a history and analysis of the making of immigration policy which reveals that federal and state lawmakers respond more to the concerns, fears, and prejudices of the public than to the realities of immigration or the needs of the INS. She then illustrates the effects of shifting and conflicting mandates through case studies of INS implementation of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, Proposition 187, and the 1996 Welfare Reform and Responsibility Act and their impact on Mexican immigrants. Magaña concludes with fact-based recommendations to improve the agency's performance.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Acknowledgments

Chapter One. The Immigration Policy Process a recurring theme

Chapter Two. Immigration Policies and Their Impact on the INS

Chapter Three “We Aren’t Sexy Enough” working conditions at the ins

Chapter Four. The Immigration Reform and Control Act: A case study

Chapter Five. Social Services: A case study

Chapter Six. Where Are We in the Immigration Policy Process?

Appendix One. Immigration Reform and Control Act of November 6, 1986 (100 statutes-at-large 3359)

Appendix Two. Text of Proposition 187

Appendix Three. Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of August 22, 1996 (110 statutes-at-large 2105)

Appendix Four. Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of September 30, 1996 (110 statutes-at-large 3009)

Appendix Five. Policy Summary

Appendix Six. Protocol Questions

Appendix Seven. Immigration Laws, 1790–1996

Notes

Glossary

References

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references (p. [113]-118) and index.

ISBN:

9780292798656

0292798652

OCLC:

606010516