National insecurities

Description

Dierdre Moloney provides a history of key elements of deportation and exclusion policies: who created them, how they worked. Along the way she makes it clear that they discriminate against some people—often by design, sometimes not. As she states it, they function as a “social filter” to shape the future U.S. population. Current policy and the people it affects re-enter the conversation at regular intervals. Moloney labels her work as social history and public policy history. As social history the book pays attention to race and gender, socio-economic status, sickness and ability. Because people’s religious or political beliefs also tied specifically to exclusion, Moloney includes chapters on those categories as well. As social history it also provides evocative stories of those who faced deportation or exclusion, people who might otherwise have no voice. As public policy history National Insecurities chronicles the development of the policies and agencies of exclusion, from some background on early local provisions to the initial laws and offices up to Immigration and Citizenship Enforcement –ICE and the category of “enemy combatants”. Two nice additions are appendices of the [1] numbers of people deported or “returned” 1892-2008, and [2] an appendix of key laws through the mid-1990s (shortened from the USCIS site).

Description

"For over a century, deportation and exclusion have defined eligibility for citizenship in the United States and, in turn, have shaped what it means to be American. In this broad analysis of policy from 1882 to present, Deirdre Moloney places current debates about immigration issues in historical context. Focusing on several ethnic groups, Moloney closely examines how gender and race led to differences in the implementation of U.S. immigration policy as well as how poverty, sexuality, health, and ideologies were regulated at the borders. Emphasizing the perspectives of immigrants and their advocates, Moloney weaves in details from case files that illustrate the impact policy decisions had on individual lives. She explores the role of immigration policy in diplomatic relations between the U.S. and other nations, and shows how federal, state, and local agencies had often conflicting priorities and approaches to immigration control. Throughout, Moloney traces the ways that these policy debates contributed to a modern understanding of citizenship and human rights in the twentieth century and even today."--Publisher's description

Subjects

Other Editions

• National insecurities: immigrants and U.S. deportation policy since 1882University of North Carolina Press2012-01-01
• National InsecuritiesUniversity of North Carolina Press2012-01-01
• National InsecuritiesUniversity of North Carolina Press2012-01-01
• National InsecuritiesUniversity of North Carolina Press2015-01-01