ImmigrationProf Blog

Interview with Harold Holzer, author of Brought Forth on this Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT IN 6 MINUTES President Lincoln and Immigration

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Listen to an interview with Harold Holzer, author of  Brought Forth on this Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration.

KJ

From The Bookshelves: The Cemetery of Untold Stories

Y'all known novelist Julia Alvarez. I'm sure you read How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents sometime in the last 14 years. Well, she's got a new novel, just released in April: The Cemetery of Untold Stories. Here's the pitch:

Alma Cruz, the celebrated writer at the heart of The Cemetery of Untold Stories, doesn’t want to end up like her friend, a novelist who fought so long and hard to finish a book that it threatened her sanity. So when Alma inherits a small plot of land in the Dominican Republic, her homeland, she has the beautiful idea of turning it into a place to bury her untold stories—literally. She creates a graveyard for the manuscript drafts and the characters whose lives she tried and failed to bring to life and who still haunt her.

Alma wants her characters to rest in peace. But they have other ideas and soon begin to defy their author: they talk back to her and talk to one another behind her back, rewriting and revising themselves. Filomena, a local woman hired as the groundskeeper, becomes a sympathetic listener to the secret tales unspooled by Alma's characters. Among them, Bienvenida, dictator Rafael Trujillo's abandoned wife who was erased from the official history, and Manuel Cruz, a doctor who fought in the Dominican underground and escaped to the United States.

The Cemetery of Untold Stories asks: Whose stories get to be told, and whose buried? Finally, Alma finds the meaning she and her characters yearn for in the everlasting vitality of stories. Julia Alvarez reminds us that the stories of our lives are never truly finished, even at the end.

Add this to your summer reading list.

-KitJ

From the Bookshelves: The European Integrated Border Management: Frontex, Human Rights, and International Responsibility by Giulia Raimondo

The European Integrated Border Management:  Frontex, Human Rights, and International Responsibility by Giulia Raimondo

Here is the publisher's sales pitch:

"What are the human rights obligations of Frontex and its member states at the borders of Europe? Who is responsible when the rights of people crossing those borders are breached? Those are the main questions that this open access book addresses while exploring the evolution of the European integrated border management (EIBM).

The mode of administration of European borders has become a complex and polymorphous affair involving multiple actors working at different levels, with different competences and powers. In this context, borders are no longer lines on a map but enmeshed in a tapestry of different actors and technologies. This evolution not only puts to test the relationship between territory and public power, but it also requires a different understanding of the responsibility for the exercise of that power by a panoply of actors.

This book addresses the challenges related to the implementation of the EIBM and the human rights responsibilities that it can trigger. It entwines two separate but interlaced discourses: the first being a reflection on the concept of EIBM and its human rights impact; the second being the question of the attribution of international responsibility for violations that occurred in the implementation of the EIBM.

The ebook editions of this book are available open access under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 licence on bloomsburycollections.com. Open access was funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation."

KJ

From The Bookshelves: Oye, a Novel by Mellissa Mogollon

I'm calling it. Oye, a Novel by Mellissa Mogollon is going to be this-year's immprof summer/beach/airplane read. It looks so fun!

Check out the pitch:

Structured as a series of one-sided phone calls from our spunky, sarcastic narrator, Luciana, to her older sister, Mari, this wildly inventive debut “jump-starts your heart in the same way it piques your ear” (Xochitl Gonzalez). As the baby of her large Colombian American family, Luciana is usually relegated to the sidelines. But now she finds herself as the only voice of reason in the face of an unexpected crisis: A hurricane is heading straight for Miami, and her eccentric grandmother, Abue, is refusing to evacuate. Abue is so one-of-a-kind she’s basically in her own universe, and while she often drives Luciana nuts, they’re the only ones who truly understand each other. So when Abue, normally glamorous and full of life, receives a shocking medical diagnosis during the storm, Luciana’s world is upended.

When Abue moves into Luciana’s bedroom, their complicated bond intensifies. Luciana would rather be skating or sneaking out to meet girls, but Abue’s wild demands and unpredictable antics are a welcome distraction for Luciana from her misguided mother, absent sister, and uncertain future. Forced to step into the role of caretaker, translator, and keeper of the devastating family secrets that Abue begins to share, Luciana suddenly finds herself center stage, facing down adulthood—and rising to the occasion.

As Luciana chronicles the events of her disrupted senior year of high school over the phone to Mari, Oye unfolds like the most fascinating and entertaining conversation you’ve ever eavesdropped on: a rollicking, heartfelt, and utterly unique novel that celebrates the beauty revealed and resilience required when rewriting your own story.

-KitJ

From the Bookshelves: Handbook of Migration and Globalisation. Edited by Anna Triandafyllidou. (Elgar: 2d edition 2024)

Handbook of Migration and Globalisation. Edited by Anna Triandafyllidou.  (Elgar:  2d edition 2024)  Handbooks on Globalisation series

This thoroughly revised and updated Handbook brings together an international range of contributors to highlight the deep interdependence between migration and globalisation, and explore the impact of economic, social, and political globalisation on international population flows. It provides an interdisciplinary perspective on a discussion that has been intensifying and diversifying over the past 25 years.

This title contains one or more Open Access chapters.

 

KJ

From the Bookshelves: Encyclopedia of Citizenship Studies, Elgar (2024). Edited by Marisol García Cabeza and Thomas Faist

Encyclopedia of Citizenship Studies, Elgar (2024).  Encyclopedias in the Social Sciences series.  Edited by Marisol García Cabeza and Thomas Faist 

This Encyclopedia presents a comprehensive collection of entries addressing the normative claims and definitions of the critical concepts, principles, and approaches that make up the field of citizenship studies.

• Table of Contents  Download PDF

 

 

Part I: The History of A Concept

 

Part II: Approaches and Perspectives

 

Part III: Citizenship, Institutions and Membership Rights

 

Part IV: Agency: Actors, Social Action and Democracy

 

Part V: Territorial Scales, Geographies

 

Part VI: Issues and Policy Challenges for Citizenship

 

KJ

From the Bookshelves: Immigrant America: A Portrait, Updated and Expanded by Alejandro Portes & Rubén G. Rumbaut (Fifth Edition, April 2024)

Immigrant America:  A Portrait, Updated and Expanded by Alejandro Portes  & Rubén G. Rumbaut, Fifth Edition

Here is the publisher's description of the book;

"This revised and updated fifth edition of Immigrant America: A Portrait provides a comprehensive and current overview of immigration to the United States, including its history, the principal theories seeking to account for its diverse origins, the main types of immigrants, and the various forms of immigrants' incorporation within American society.

With the latest available data, Immigrant America further explores the economic, political, regional, linguistic, and religious aspects of immigration. It offers detailed analyses of the adaptation process experienced by adult children of immigrants and adds an updated and expanded concluding chapter on changing immigration policy regimes both past and present."

Here is the UC Irvine press release on the new edition.

KJ

From the Bookshelves: In the Shadow of Liberty: The Invisible History of Immigrant Detention in the United States by Ana Raquel Minian

In the Shadow of Liberty:  The Invisible History of Immigrant Detention in the United States by Ana Raquel Minian (April 2024).

Here is the publisher's abstract:

"A probing work of narrative history that reveals the hidden story of immigrant detention in the United States, deepening urgent national conversations around migration.

In 2018, many Americans watched in horror as children were torn from their parents at the US-Mexico border under Trump's `family separation' policy. But as historian Ana Raquel Minian reveals in In the Shadow of Liberty, this was only the latest chapter in a saga tracing back to the 1800s—one in which immigrants to the United States have been held without recourse to their constitutional rights. Braiding together the vivid stories of four migrants seeking to escape the turmoil of their homelands for the promise of America, In the Shadow of Liberty gives this history a human face, telling the dramatic story of a Central American asylum seeker, a Cuban exile, a European war bride, and a Chinese refugee.

As we travel alongside these indelible characters, In the Shadow of Liberty explores how sites of rightlessness have evolved, and what their existence has meant for our body politic. Though these `black sites' exist out of view for the average American, their reach extends into all of our lives: the explosive growth of the for-profit prison industry traces its origins to the immigrant detention system, as does the emergence of Guantanamo and the gradual unraveling of the right to bail and the presumption of innocence. Through these narratives, we see how the changing political climate surrounding immigration has played out in individual lives, and at what cost. But as these stories demonstrate, it doesn't have to be like this, and a better way might be possible."

Here is a review from the ABA Journal.

KJ

The Case for Open Borders: A Podcast with John Washington

The Case for Open Borders: A Podcast with John Washington by The Border Chronicle

The longtime border journalist talks about his new book The Case for Open Borders (2024)  on open borders and the quest for a more just and open world.

Read on Substack

 

Here is the publisher's abstract of the book:

 

"A beautifully-written, broadly accessible, and forthright argument for a solution to the migration crisis: open the gates.

Because of restrictive borders, human beings suffer and die. Closed borders force migrants seeking safety and dignity to journey across seas, trudge through deserts, and clamber over barbed wire. In the last five years alone, at least 60,000 people have died or gone missing while attempting to cross a border. As we deny, cast out, and crack down, we have stripped borders of their creative potential — as lines of contact, catalyst, and blend — turning our thresholds into barricades.

Brilliant and provocative, The Case for Open Borders deflates the mythology of national security through border lockdowns by revisiting their historical origins; it counters the conspiracies of immigration’s economic consequences; it urgently considers the challenges of climate change beyond the boundaries of narrow national identities. 

This book grounds its argument in the experiences and thinking of those on the frontlines of the crisis, spanning the world to do so. In each chapter, through detailed reporting, journalist and translator John Washington profiles a character impacted by borders. He adds to those portraits provocative analyses of the economics and ethics of bordering, concluding that if we are to seek justice or sustainability we must fight for open borders.

In recent years, important thinkers have begun to urge a profoundly different approach to migration, but no book has made the argument as accessible or as compelling. Washington’s case shines with the multitudinous voices of people on the move, a portrait in miniature of what a world with open borders will give to our common future."

 

KJ

 

From the Bookshelves: Law, Migration, and the Construction of Whiteness: Mobility Within the European Union by Dagmar Rita Myslinska

 

Law, Migration, and the Construction of Whiteness:  Mobility Within the European Union by Dagmar Rita Myslinska (Routledge, 2024)

The publisher's description of the book:

 

"This book addresses the hidden dynamics of race within the European Union.

Brexit supporters’ frequent targeting of European Union (EU) movers, especially those from Central and Eastern Europe, has been popularly assumed as at odds with the EU project’s foundations based on equality and inclusion. This book dispels that notion. By interrogating the history, wording, omissions, assumptions and applications of laws, policies and discourses pertinent to mobility and equality, the argument developed throughout the book is that the parameters of CEE nationals’ status within the EU have been closely circumscribed, in line with the entrenched historical positioning of the west as superior to the east. Engaging current legal, economic, political and moral issues--against the backdrop of Brexit and contestations over EU integration and globalisation--this work opens avenues of thought to better understand law’s role in producing and sustaining social stratifications. Europe is a postcolonial space, as this book demonstrates. By addressing fractures within the construct of whiteness that are based on ethnicity, class and migrant status, the book also provides a theoretically nuanced, and politically useful, understanding of contemporary European racisms.

This book will appeal to scholars, students and others interested in migration, EU integration and EU citizenship, equality law, race and ethnicity, social policy, and postcolonialism."

KJ

From the Bookshelves: Welcoming the Stranger: Abramic Hospitality and Its Contemporary Implications. Edited by Ori Z Soltes and Rachel Stern

WELCOMING THE STRANGER:  ABRAHAMIC HOSPITALITY AND ITS CONTEMPORARY IMPLICATIONS.  Edited by Ori Z Soltes and Rachel Stern

Foreword by Endy Moraes.  Contributor(s): Lindsay Balfour, Thomas Massaro, Craig Mousin, Carol Prendergast, Zeki Saritotprak, Ori Z Soltes, Rachel Stern, Mimi E. Tsankov and Mohsin Mohi-Ud-Din

Here is the publisher's abstract: 

"Embracing hospitality and inclusion in Abrahamic traditions

One of the signal moments in the narrative of the biblical Abraham is his insistent and enthusiastic reception of three strangers, a starting point of inspiration for all three Abrahamic traditions as they evolve and develop the details of their respective teachings. On the one hand, welcoming the stranger by remembering “that you were strangers in the land of Egypt” is enjoined upon the ancient Israelites, and on the other, oppressing the stranger is condemned by their prophets throughout the Hebrew Bible.

These sentiments are repeated in the New Testament and the Qur’an and elaborated in the interpretive literatures of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Such notions resonate obliquely within the history of India and its Dharmic traditions. On the other hand, they have been seriously challenged throughout history. In the 1830s, America’s “Nativists” sought to emphatically reduce immigra­tion to these shores. A century later, the Holocaust began by the decision of the Nazi German government to turn specific groups of German citizens into strangers. Deliberate marginalization leading to genocide flourished in the next half century from Bosnia and Cambodia to Rwanda. In the aftermath of September 11, 2001, the United States renewed a decisive twist toward closing the door on those seeking refuge, ushering in an era where marginalized religious and ethnic groups around the globe are deemed unwelcome and unwanted.

The essays in Welcoming the Strangerexplore these issues from historical, theoretical, theo­logical, and practical perspectives, offering an enlightening and compelling discussion of what the Abrahamic traditions teach us regarding welcoming people we don’t know.

Welcoming the Stranger: Abrahamic Hospitality and Its Contemporary Implications is available from the publisher on an open-access basis.

Published by The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted, Ostracized and Banned Art and the Fordham University Institute on Religion, Law and Lawyer’s Work"

KJ

From the Bookshelves: Legal Phantoms: Executive Action and the Haunting Failures of Immigration Law by Jennifer M. Chacon, Susan Bibler Coutin, and Stephen Lee

Legal Phantoms:  Executive Action and the Haunting Failures of Immigration Law by Jennifer M. Chacon, Susan Bibler Coutin, and Stephen Lee (Stanford University Press, 2024)

 

The publisher's description of the book:

 

"The 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program was supposed to be a stepping stone, a policy innovation announced by the White House designed to put pressure on Congress for a broader, lasting set of legislative changes. Those changes never materialized, and the people who hoped to benefit from them have been forced to navigate a tense and contradictory policy landscape ever since, haunted by these unfulfilled promises. Legal Phantoms tells their story.

After Congress failed to pass a comprehensive immigration bill in 2013, President Obama pivoted in 2014 to supplementing DACA with a deferred action program (known as DAPA) for the parents of citizens and lawful permanent residents and a DACA expansion (DACA+) in 2014. But challenges from Republican-led states prevented even these programs from going into effect. Interviews with would-be applicants, immigrant-rights advocates, and government officials reveal how such failed immigration-reform efforts continue to affect not only those who had hoped to benefit, but their families, communities, and the country in which they have made an uneasy home. Out of the ashes of these lost dreams, though, people find their own paths forward through uncharted legal territory with creativity and resistance."

Click here for discussion of the book.

KJ

The Walls Have Eyes: Surviving Migration in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Petra Molnar (forthcoming May 2024)

The Walls Have Eyes: Surviving Migration in the Age of Artificial Intelligence by Petra Molnar

The publisher's blurb of the book:

A chilling exposé of the inhumane and lucrative sharpening of borders around the globe through experimental surveillance technology

In 2022, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced it was training “robot dogs” to help secure the U.S.-Mexico border against migrants. Four-legged machines equipped with cameras and sensors would join a network of drones and automated surveillance towers—nicknamed the “smart wall.” This is part of a worldwide trend: as more people are displaced by war, economic instability, and a warming planet, more countries are turning to AI-driven technology to “manage” the influx.

Based on years of researching borderlands across the world, lawyer and anthropologist Petra Molnar’s The Walls Have Eyes is a truly global story—a dystopian vision turned reality, where your body is your passport and matters of life and death are determined by algorithm. Examining how technology is being deployed by governments on the world’s most vulnerable with little regulation, Molnar also shows us how borders are now big business, with defense contractors and tech start-ups alike scrambling to capture this highly profitable market.

With a foreword by former UN Special Rapporteur E. Tendayi Achiume, The Walls Have Eyes reveals the profound human stakes of the sharpening of borders around the globe, foregrounding the stories of people on the move and the daring forms of resistance that have emerged against the hubris and cruelty of those seeking to use technology to turn human beings into problems to be solved.

KJ

From the Bookshelves: The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers by Zeke Henrnandez

The Truth About Immigration: Why Successful Societies Welcome Newcomers by Zeke Henrnandez, forthcoming June 2024

Here is the blurb for the book by a Wharton professor:

"The go-to book on immigration: fact-based, comprehensive, and nonpartisan.

Immigration is one of the most controversial topics in the United States and everywhere else. Pundits, politicians, and the public usually depict immigrants as either villains or victims. The villain narrative is that immigrants pose a threat―to our economy because they steal our jobs; our way of life because they change our culture; and to our safety and laws because of their criminality. The victim argument tells us that immigrants are needy outsiders―the poor, huddled masses whom we must help at our own cost if necessary. But the data clearly debunks both narratives. From jobs, investment, and innovation to cultural vitality and national security, more immigration has an overwhelmingly positive impact on everything that makes a society successful.

In The Truth About Immigration, Wharton professor Zeke Hernandez draws from nearly 20 years of research to answer all the big questions about immigration. He combines moving personal stories with rigorous research to offer an accessible, apolitical, and evidence-based look at how newcomers affect our local communities and our nation. You'll learn about the overlooked impact of immigrants on investment and job creation; realize how much we take for granted the novel technologies, products, and businesses newcomers create; get the facts straight about perennial concerns like jobs, crime, and undocumented immigrants; and gain new perspectives on misunderstood issues such as the border, taxes, and assimilation.

Most books making a case for immigration tell you that immigration is good for immigrants. This book is all about how newcomers benefit you, your community, and your country. Skeptics fear that newcomers compete economically with locals because of their similarities and fail to socially assimilate because of their differences. You'll see that it's exactly the opposite: newcomers bring enduring economic benefits because of their differences and contribute positively to society because of their similarities. Destined to become the go-to book on one of the most important issues of our time, this book turns fear into hope by proving a simple truth: immigrants are essential for economically prosperous and socially vibrant nations."

KJ

From The Bookshelves: When McKinsey Comes to Town by Walt Bogdanich and Michael Forsythe

When McKinsey Comes to Town: The Hidden Influence of the World's Most Powerful Consulting Firm is a 2022 book by investigative journalists Walt Bogdanich and Michael Forsythe. As the official pitch states: "McKinsey... asserts that its role is to make the world a better place, and its reputation for excellence and discretion attracts top talent from universities around the world. But what does it actually do?"

Chapter 4 of the book--McKinsey at ICE--should send immprofs to their libraries for this compelling read.

The central focus of the chapter is the December 4, 2019 reporting by ProPublica in the New York Times: How McKinsey Helped the Trump Administration Carry Out Its Immigration Policies.

For the core allegations regarding McKinsey and ICE, you can just access the NYT piece. (It's online after all, and to get to the book, you'll need your library.) Here's the absolute kicker from that 2019 reporting: McKinsey gave ICE "money-saving recommendations" including "proposed cuts in spending on food for migrants, as well as on medical care and supervision of detainees."

Now, here's something from the chapter that you won't get from the article itself: McKinsey fought back against the NYT piece by PAYING GOOGLE TO RANK ITS RESPONSE ABOVE THE ARTICLE ON WEB SEARCHES. Color me naive, I didn't know that was a thing you could do.

The chapter presents a scathing story of how McKinsey execs--and the ICE-specific McKinsey group--presented their work to colleagues within the firm who were horrified to learn about the company's entanglement with ICE. When there was an internal call to withdraw from this work--along with a call from hundreds of McKinsey employees to give back any part of their paychecks attributable to the work for ICE--the head of the ICE work responded by staying he was "hurt" by the "inaccurate portrayals" of the group's work.

When I was graduating from college, landing an entry level gig at McKinsey was really making it. Never been gladder that I went to law school.

-KitJ

A refugee family was going hungry — until a fast food manager risked his job to help

The Light of Seven Days, River Adams (2023)

Author River Adams' family came to the U.S. in 1991 as Jewish refugees from the Soviet Union. During a difficult financial time, Adams' fast-food manager and unsung hero risked his job to help feed them.  A nice story!

KJ

From the Bookshelves: Patterns of Exploitation: Understanding Migrant Worker Rights in Advanced Democracies by Anna Boucher

Anna Boucher's new book, Patterns of Exploitation: Understanding Migrant Worker Rights in Advanced Democracies, is now available with the Oxford University Press.

Here is the abstract:

Numbering an estimated 164 million globally, migrant workers are an essential component of contemporary businesses. Despite their number and indispensability in the global economy, migrant workers frequently lack the legal protections enjoyed by other workers. In Patterns of Exploitation, Anna K. Boucher looks at workplace violations across four major immigration countries: the United States, Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom. Incorporating interviews, the Migrant Worker Rights Database, and in-depth analysis of court cases, Boucher uses legal storytelling to document individual migrant experiences and assess the patterns of exploitation that emerge in case narratives. This unique mixed-methods approach provides a novel understanding of migrant workplace violations across a variety of immigration contexts. 

IE

Anti-immigrant pastors may be drawing attention – but faith leaders, including some evangelicals, are central to the movement to protect migrant rights

In "Anti-immigrant pastors may be drawing attention – but faith leaders, including some evangelicals, are central to the movement to protect migrant rights" in The Conversation, Brad Christerson, Reverend Dr. Alexia Salvatierra, and Robert Chao Romero contend that religious beliefs can provide motivation, hope and endurance in the long and often discouraging task of mobilizing people for social change.

As they in their new book, co-authored with sociologist Nancy Wang Yuen, “God’s Resistance: Mobilizing Faith to Defend Immigrants,” faith leaders, including some evangelicals, are central to the current movement to protect immigrant rights, and they have been for over a hundred years.

KJ

Immigration Law Professors at Book Event in San Diego

From Cesar’s Barrio

Immigration Professors Carrie Rosenbaum, César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, and Pooja Dadhania.  Photo courtesy of Carrie Rosenbaum

Immigration law professor Carrie Rosenbaum is pictured above with another immigration law professor César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández and Pooja Dadhania at his book appearance yesterday at the Logan Heights Branch Library in San Diego. Cesar was discussing his new book, Welcome the Wretched: In Defense of the ​“Criminal Alien”.  The book event was open to the public.  Carrie shared that the talk ended with a spirited Q&A, with audience members engaging the author in discussing possibilities for a more humane approach to immigration law. Carrie's favorite moment was when César read part of page 230 of his book with a surprising reference to Confederate General Robert E. Lee. Curious? Check out page 230. 

KJ

From the Bookshelves: Harold Holzer, Brought Forth on this Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration

Harold Holzer, Brought Forth on this Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration (Dutton 2024)

The publisher's summary of the book:

"From acclaimed Abraham Lincoln historian Harold Holzer, a groundbreaking account of Lincoln’s grappling with the politics of immigration against the backdrop of the Civil War.

In the three decades before the Civil War, some ten million foreign-born people settled in the United States, forever altering the nation’s demographics, culture, and—perhaps most significantly—voting patterns. America’s newest residents fueled the national economy, but they also wrought enormous changes in the political landscape and exposed an ugly, at times violent, vein of nativist bigotry.

Abraham Lincoln’s rise ran parallel to this turmoil; even Lincoln himself did not always rise above it. Tensions over immigration would split and ultimately destroy Lincoln’s Whig Party years before the Civil War. Yet the war made clear just how important immigrants were, and how interwoven they had become in American society.

Harold Holzer, winner of the Lincoln Prize, charts Lincoln’s political career through the lens of immigration, from his role as a member of an increasingly nativist political party to his evolution into an immigration champion, a progression that would come at the same time as he refined his views on abolition and Black citizenship. As Holzer writes, `The Civil War could not have been won without Lincoln’s leadership; but it could not have been fought without the immigrant soldiers who served and, by the tens of thousands, died that the `nation might live.’ An utterly captivating and illuminating work, Brought Forth on This Continent assesses Lincoln's life and legacy in a wholly original way, unveiling remarkable similarities between the nineteenth century and the twenty-first."

The author was interviewed on Civil War Talk Radio.  Click here for the New York Times review of the book.

 

KJ