Hitting a Wall? The Trump Administration Meets Immigration Federalism

Abstract

Immigration policy over the last decade has been characterized by sustained congressional inaction, unilateral executive action, and an intensification of policy activity at the state and local level. The combination of immigration federalism and congressional fecklessness means that, in spite of radical differences in policy intent, Donald Trump’s nativist agenda faces constraints similar to those that undermined Barack Obama’s integrationist agenda. The failure to chart a consistent legislative course for national immigration policy has propelled centrifugal forces at the state and local level, with three consequences. First, state and local governments have grown increasingly assertive in pressing their claims to policy authority via legislation, resolutions, executive actions, and court challenges. Second, wide policy differences have emerged across states, as have policy contradictions and conflicts within some states. Finally, while the federal government retains plenary power over immigration policy, the breadth of state and local laws governing immigrant lives increasingly constitutes a de facto encroachment into that authority.