Immigration & Public Policy
New York City has always prided itself on being an immigration-haven, as it has been the cornerstone of immigration to the US, with millions of newcomers entering America through the city’s open doors. Although these immigrant groups come with their own customs, traditions, and values, they also must gradually acclimate to life in the city. Jacob Riis’ scrupulous research shines light upon a myriad of truly fundamental issues that all immigrant groups inevitably must confront. Despite many great strides to improve the plight of newcomers, there are a number of persisting problems that continue to plague the lives of immigrants. As a result, it becomes hard to pinpoint merely one topic/theme that is the most intriguing and complex. Thus, similar to Henry, I thought public policy, in terms of immigration, would be a great topic. City politics, without a doubt, dictates the lives that immigrants end up leading. Public policy, albeit boring at first glance, is actually incredibly interesting because it not only reveals information about how the law regulates immigration but also helps us understand the views and ideas our city has, in regards to immigration.
Even though it might seem a little ridiculous and far-fetched, the lecture by Joseph Salvo, our family history projects, and our readings in both Binder & Reimers’ and Foners’ texts, provide valuable background information about this topic. The talk by Joseph Salvo, Director of the Population Division, shed light upon current immigration patters and trends; he also delved further and explained the various concerns that this raises. The family history projects made mention to how the government was able to accommodate for certain immigrant families or how the law made it difficult for others to adjust. Finally, our class discussions on our reading highlight the importance of immigrant policy; for example, we briefly discussed the 1965 Immigration-Nationality Act, a federal law that made amendments to immigration law and transformed immigration criteria. Thus, we already possess some of the knowledge and resources complete a shnazzy project about the topic. For more information and whilst doing research, we could contact the Immigration Advocates Network, the Mayor’s Office for Immigrant Affairs, the Parks and Recreation Department, etc. There is no shortage of material for our class to utilize.
One of the cool things about focusing on immigration-related policy in NYC is that there are a variety of different approaches available for us to pursue. Perhaps we could focus on the ramifications of immigration policies on a specific ethnic group or on the population of a certain borough. If not, we could hone in on a specific time frame and only look at political agendas from this period. It would be fascinating to see the initial stance that public policy took, how immigration policy has evolved, the underlying reasons for this change, and what is shaping current immigration-related policy. Our focus could be on more present-day issues and how public policy either addresses these problems or leaves existing cleavages in the law, through which immigrant families slip. How does public policy regulate immigrants? Do policies end up benefitting immigrants or being a source of detriment? Why? In what aspects does public policy really address and work to ameliorate problems faced by immigrants? How does it not?
When issues such as housing, economic standing, education, etc. are incredibly intertwined, public policy provides a perfect middle-ground/foundation for our class to learn about all of these topics. By focusing on immigration-related policy, we have the luxury of being as specific or as general as we’d like. Therefore, I believe that public policy is a topic that requires equal parts involvement, analysis, and passion.
