Uncharted Terrains: New Directions in Border Research Methodology, Ethics, and Practice

Chapter Three. Dilemmas in Immigration Policy Research

69 chapter three Dilemmas in Immigration Policy Research Judith Gans Liberal democrats need to find ways to affirm the genuine value that particular communities have for efforts to realize desirable goals in the world as it is constituted now, but they must do so without denying the dangers of these memberships. The greatest threats come from profound political and psychological tendencies to treat such communities as natural, in ways that seem to legitimate both oppressive internal hierarchies and harsh injustices toward outsiders. from civic ideals: conflicting visions of citizenship in u.s. history by rogers smith [W]ith huge differential incomes for equally productive people simply because of where they live; with international and internal migration offering individuals one of the few nearly sure-fire ways to escape poverty, with migrant remittances from rich to poor countries exceeding foreign aid; and with rich countries designing immigration policies to selectively attract the poor world’s most talented and motivated people—with all of this, it is obvious that international migration and global labor mobility truly are ‘development’ issues. from let their people come: breaking the gridlock on global labor mobility by lant pritchett Overview This chapter concerns itself with a specific dilemma in research about the structure of and approach to U.S. immigration policy. This dilemma has to do with how immigration debates get framed, the attendant assumptions about what constitutes a legitimate basis for setting immigration policy, and how this framing shapes research agendas. 70 • The Big Picture Immigration regimes derive from explicitly political processes. Immigration debates are highly charged. Immigration research agendas are inevitably framed so as to address some aspect of those debates. But because immigration debates focus on the interests of those within the political system , they often ignore ethical dimensions of policy that require weighing the interests of immigrants who are outside of the political system against those inside the system. It doesn’t have to be this way. Academic researchers are in a position to step back from immigration debates that focus exclusively on the interests and perspectives of those within the political system and to perform analyses that shed light on the complexities of immigration policy from broader perspectives. By articulating conceptual frameworks that do not derive directly from national political interests, academic researchers can illuminate the consequences of immigration regimes in wealthy countries for human beings in poor countries and bring moral and ethical questions to bear on immigration debates. Framing What is the “right” U.S. immigration policy? On what basis should U.S. immigration policy be determined? Which interests are salient? Are there other interests that should be salient? If so, on what basis? In short, what constitutes legitimate grounds for lining up guns at the border to keep people out? Is the fact of nationhood sufficient justification? How should competing interests of people within a nation be considered? Do people outside a nation have moral standing when considering a country’s immigration policy? Is the use of force to keep migrants out morally legitimate in the face of humanitarian crises? These are not straightforward questions. The nature of these questions might lead one to consider immigration policy in moral and ethical terms. Deeply embedded in American civic identity are egalitarian liberal democratic values that stress the inalienable right of an individual to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” These values imply sympathy for immigrants seeking a better life, yet the inscription on the Statue of Liberty aside, such sympathy has waned more than waxed throughout American history. In fact, moral and ethical dimensions of immigration policy—especially with regard to immigrants themselves—are notably absent from most immigration debates. Rarely do immigration debates focus on the plight of poor people seeking to migrate Dilemmas in Immigration Policy Research • 71 to wealthy countries. In fact, when poverty around the world is discussed, the focus is on solutions such as foreign aid that keep the poor in their home countries. There is a central asymmetry in discussions of immigration policy. An individual’s right to leave a country is generally understood as a basic right and is specifically enumerated in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Attempts by governments to interfere with this right are widely seen as totalitarian acts and illegitimate uses of state power. However, the question of where an individual might go is not typically addressed in terms of human rights. There is...