The New Immigration Federalism

Since 2004 the United States has seen a flurry of state and local laws dealing with unauthorized immigrants. Though initially restrictionist these laws have recently undergone a dramatic shift toward promoting integration. How are we to make sense of this new immigration federalism? What are its causes? And what are its consequences for the federal-state balance of power? In The New Immigration Federalism Professors Pratheepan Gulasekaram and S. Karthick Ramakrishnan provide answers to these questions using a mix of quantitative historical and doctrinal legal analysis. In so doing they refute the popular demographic necessity argument put forward by anti-immigrant activists and politicians. Instead they posit that immigration federalism is rooted in a political process that connects both federal and subfederal actors: the Polarized Change Model. Their model captures not only the spread of restrictionist legislation but also its abrupt turnaround in 2012 projecting valuable insights for the future.