Document Type
Article
Publication Title
Wayne Law Review
Abstract
Since the mid 1980s, immigration reform has always included a mix of increased access to legal status for undocumented workers and escalation of border enforcement strategies. Recent events including the economic recession and Arizona’s passage of its own immigration enforcement regime have brought the border enforcement strategies more squarely into the public debate. Unfortunately, the debate continues to be grounded in the unsupported assumption that increased enforcement measures will decrease the number of unauthorized migrants that enter the country each year. This article critiques that assumption and argues instead that immigration policy must be seen in a larger context of international development, economic integration and historical ties between the U.S. and Mexico in particular. The article traces the work of several sociologists documenting the highly durable reasons that people migrate to the United States and the enduring patterns of migration despite enormous investments in border enforcement and despite the dangers migrants face in crossing the U.S. border. It concludes based on this work that the U.S. must shift away from traditional notions of sovereignty that have require defense of the border to the exclusion of all other concerns and move towards a more comprehensive approach that de-centers sovereignty and focuses on the economic and social concerns that force people to migrate in the first place.
First Page
1851
Last Page
1875
Publication Date
2009
Recommended Citation
Ragini Shah, No Matter What: The Inevitability of Mexican-US Migration and its Lessons for Border Control Strategies, 55 Wayne L. Rev. 1851 (2009).
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