Debating Immigration

Book Overview

Debating Immigration presents twenty-one original and updated essays, written by some of the world's leading experts and pre-eminent scholars that explore the nuances of contemporary immigration in... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1108454674
• ISBN13: 9781108454674
• Release Date: August 2018
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Length: 444 Pages
• Weight: 1.42 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.0" x 6.4" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Strong collection of essays

Yale Law School Professor Peter H. Schuck observes: "In a polity in which only 17 percent of the public thinks that immigration levels should be higher and 39 percent thinks they should be lower, one would expect that at least some legal scholars who write about immigration issues would favor restriction. If so, one would be wrong. In over two decades of immersion in immigration scholarship, I have not encountered a single academic specialist on immigration law who favors reducing the number of legal immigrants admitted each year." The Disconnect Between Public Attitudes and Policy Outcomes in Immigration [In Debating Immigration, Chapter 2, p.17, the link is to an unedited version.] So, Carol M. Swain, a law and political science professor at Vanderbilt, has done the academic world a service (although one it probably won't appreciate) with her new book Debating Immigration. She brings together 16 chapters from academic and think tank luminaries such as Nathan Glazer, Amitai Etzioni, Douglas S. Massey, and Steven A. Camarota, along with lively essays from journalists Peter Brimelow and Jonathan Tilove. Swain is one of the more unusual and admirable scholars in public policy. Growing up black and poor in rural Virginia, one of twelve children, she dropped out of 9th grade and married at 16. In her mid-20s she started back to school. Eventually, she earned tenure at Princeton as an expert on how Congress operates. Her views are difficult to categorize politically. I would say she's an advocate of black enlightened self-interest, left of center on economics, right of center on culture. For example, her 2002 book The New White Nationalism sensibly advocated depriving white nationalists such as Jared Taylor of their best issues by restricting immigration and cutting back on affirmative action, especially for immigrants and affluent blacks. Needless to say, that hasn't happened. That whites and blacks have a common interest on immigration is obvious from a logical standpoint. But there's not much of a market for logic. Many black leaders, such as the Reverends Jackson and Sharpton and Minister Farrakhan, have no interest in striking a deal with whites on immigration because they are not in the business of enlightened self-interest for blacks. They are, instead, entertainers, riffing endlessly and lucratively on that old crowd-pleasing tune Sticking It to the White Man. If the average white person doesn't want more immigrants, well, then, these black leaders will help bring in more just to spite whitey. Swain's own chapter in Debating Immigration points out the uselessness of the Congressional Black Caucus on immigration bills. She notes that one reason for this is that quite a few black Representatives come from districts that are increasingly Hispanic. I'd add that the weird math of the "rotten borough" syndrome is encouraging black politicians to favor the immigration that will eventually destroy them. It works like this: Noncitizens aren't

It's a particularly strong pick for any collection

College-level collections and many a high school library will want to consider DEBATING IMMIGRATION: it offers an unusually well-balanced collection of debates on various immigration issue positions which gathers reasonings from Left, Right and Middle about immigration and border issues, and provides a wide range of theories, approaches, and ideologies. As such it's a particularly strong pick for any collection including social issues and debating in its holdings, with essays both scholarly and accessible at the college level. Diane C. Donovan California Bookwatch

Have you ever really looked?

Did you know an educated America in not in the best interest of either Conservative, or Libral? So we have this incorrigible debate over the pros and cons of immigration. Americans are ill prepared for the tech jobs of todays economy. True, but we allowed things to be this way. We allow people to serve on our school boards who have no children in the school systems. Decision making positions, with no vested interests. The result, ill-educated children, who are unprepared, or underprepared, for today's job market. So we try to make up for these short comings by crying for the importation of Engineers, Teachers, (after abusing teachers for decades),Nurses (again abusing them), Scientists, and Researchers, just to name a few. We have sadly dropped the ball of education in America. With crowded schools and too few teachers, and schools. Tax breaks here and there, and now the result. We have to import workers. So we compound the issues by pealing away money to teach the newly arrived how to speak English, and allow the newly arrived to partake in every social program available. This all costs money. More taxbreaks. Not to mention illegal immigration, Emergency room costs, education costs, law enforcement, etc., etc. When people legally immigrate to America, why should I and my fellow Americans foot the bill. Why cannot the immigrant pay his or her own way? Why have we allowed our social programs, healthcare, etc., to be shared with the newly arrived immigrants, in such huge numbers? Why, well because those running these programs lack any commonsense in terms of numbers. America is always talking about the needs it cannot afford for the citizens already here. So why take on an even larger burden? Such as printing voting ballots in other languages, for example, because the mewly arrived have not, or will not take the time to learn English. This costs money, tax payer money, yours and mine. Why illegal immigration alone costs this nation 6 billion dollars a year, then throw in another 4.9 billion for legal immigration and you see where this is all headed. This book deals with the pros and cons of this and more. At the same time too many Americans are not informed as to how this system breaks down. Such as those seeking asylum for political oppression, religious oppression, and even sexual oppression. There happens to be, at this time a giant backlog which will take years to dissolve. More money. Say you want to move to America, and you want to bring with you family members. Well they get a green light, as well. If these family members happen to be elderly, these people automatically get into SSI (Social Security Supplimental Sceurity Income). Not to mention medicare etc. As you know the Social Security program is on it's last leg. So why not let the world in on the program? You know what we have. Once again your money. No one appears to be listening to the other side. We have groups of lawyers who work on behalf of