Immigrant America: a portrait

Abstract

This book, a study of the odysseys of millions of newcomers from all over the world to the United States, has itself been an odyssey. We began work on the first edition of Immigrant America, our portrait of a rapidly evolving and permanently unfinished reality, in the 1980s. Over the ensuing decades each new edition of this book has sought to depict and explain major changes in the size, composition and forms of U.S.-bound international migration flows, the immigrants' patterns of settlement and modes of incorporation in the American economy, polity and culture, and the societal reaction to these newcomers and their children. Each edition has seen the introduction of entirely new chapters — on the second generation, religion, immigration policies — and the revision, expansion and thorough updating of all others, the book itself changing to reflect a world on the move. This fourth edition is no exception, although in two respects — the addition of the opening chapters on history and theory — it differs notably from its predecessors. We start with an analysis of three distinct phases spanning the last century and a third: (1) the Great European Waves of the period from 1880 to 1930, which accompanied the American industrial revolution, reached a historic zenith in 1910 when 14.7 percent of the total population was foreign born, and ended with the triumph of restrictionist legislation; (2) a period of Retrenchment from 1930 to 1970, which spanned the Great Depression, World War II and its aftermath, reaching a historic nadir in 1970 when only 4.7 percent of the population was foreign born; and (3) a period of Rebound from 1970 to the present, which remains the focus of the book — an era of economic restructuring, widening economic inequality, and the sharply increased migration of low-wage laborers, professionals, entrepreneurs, refugees and asylees, combining to reach a foreign-born total of 40 million by 2010. Migration during this new era grew by more than a million a year, ending with the Great Recession and unprecedented state persecution of millions of undocumented immigrants. This state policy included the creation of a vast network of immigrant detention centers and historic deportation levels, even as unauthorized migration decreased to net zero. One leitmotif of the book is the counterpoint between the widespread demand for immigrant labor by different sectors of the American economy and the activities of nativists and xenophobes across the three successive phases of U.S.-bound immigration. Indeed, throughout successive chapters, we look to the historical record to place present concerns in a broader comparative context. History does not repeat itself, but it echoes. The second chapter adds a needed theoretical anchor for the rest of the book. There is no comprehensive theory of international migration, but we review a wide range of theories organized into four major categories: those that seek to explain the determinants of the origins of migration, its continuation and directionality, the uses of migrant labor, and patterns of migrant settlement and adaptation. We aim to show how these theoretical considerations, from classic studies to competing contemporary emphases, apply to the condition of different immigrant minorities and their descendants — and incorporate them in subsequent chapters as we examine their patterns of settlement (and the emergence of “new destinations”), economic and political adaptation, resilient and emergent ethnicities, language and religion, transnationalism and assimilation, intra- and intergenerational change. Our final chapter aims to lay out the basis for a sound understanding of the origins of contemporary immigration and for viable policies toward it. Here we dissect the disconnect between the public perception of immigration and the underlying realities rooted in the political economy of the nation and in the historical linkages between the United States and immigrants' countries of origin. Two prevailing ideologies toward immigrants — to exclude them or assimilate them — seldom succeed in their intended goals, leading to a host of policy contradictions and unintended consequences. The social sciences have not been very good at predicting specific major events — the literature is littered with failed grand predictions — but we can anticipate with reasonable confidence other phenomena, such as steady states and trends, which we spell out in some detail. The importance of alternative outcomes will largely determine the extent to which the nation will be able to maintain its economic viability and political leadership in a changing global system.