David G. Gutierrez

The “New Normal”? Reflections on the Shifting Politics of the Immigration Debate

The intensity of the recent debate over the presence of an estimated eleven to twelve million unauthorized persons in the United States often creates the impression that the current situation somehow represents a historical anomaly in the long-running debate over US immigration policy and citizenship law. This brief commentary contests that view, suggesting instead that the mass circulation and permanent presence of unauthorized persons has been a normative feature of US economic activity for more than a century and that the exigencies of global economic competition make it likely that this state of affairs will persist into the foreseeable future.