Immigration and the Politics of American Sovereignty, 1890–1990. By Cheryl Shanks. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press, 2001. 400p. $59.50

Extract

As its title suggests, this study argues that U.S. immigration policy has been fundamentally shaped by national sovereignty. In so doing, Cheryl Shanks usefully reminds us that immigration is one of those policy domains—like foreign policy—that is inescapably and fundamentally regime shaping. At the same time, she seeks to demonstrate that “to preserve or enhance sovereignty is a policy choice” (p. 2), albeit one whose determinants change over time. Indeed, the bulk of this work is an historical analysis of the Congressional Record, scrutinizing how U.S. sovereignty has been conceived of differently over the last century and how this has influenced immigration policy. This effort leads Shanks to the provocative conclusion that “immigration policy has become more restrictive as trade policy has become less protectionist” (p. 253); more specifically, that as we have become less concerned with racial and ideological admission criteria, we have become more concerned with total numbers of immigrants and their “quality,” in terms of human capital. For Shanks, the point is that the tension between maintaining sovereignty and fostering involvement in an open and dynamic world economy is central to understanding contemporary immigration policy.