Suburban Crossroads: The Fight for Local Control of Immigration Policy [Paperback]

The political debate over comprehensive immigration reform in the United States reached a pinnacle in 2006. When Congress failed to implement federal immigration reform, this spurred numerous local and state governments to confront immigration policy in their own jurisdictions. In fear of becoming sanctuaries for immigrants, numerous local communities confronted and implemented their own policies to limit immigration. Thomas J. Vicino unravels the political debate behind local ordinances such as the controversial Illegal Immigration Relief Act and similar laws. He examines the evolution of the struggle for local control in three cities and suburbsbeginning in Carpentersville, Illinois, then in Farmers Branch, Texas, and ending in Hazleton, Pennsylvania. Drawing on numerous interviews, census data analysis, and field visits, Thomas J. Vicino carefully explains how and why the definition of local neighborhood problems determined the policy outcomes. These provocative findings offer new perspectives on the local and state immigration debate as well as new reflections on future directions in policy and planning for local communities.Thomas J. Vicino is assistant professor of political science and a member of the core faculty in the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern University.

This book expands knowledge of immigration policy at the local level. Studying campaigns to pass Illegal Immigration Relief Ordinances (IIROs) in Carpentersville, Illinois; Farmers Branch, Texas; and Hazleton, Pennsylvania, Vicino finds that substantial demographic change and suburban decline are features common to all three. Useful brief histories are given for each city, although that section would have been enhanced with detailed maps. Vicino then uses frame analysis to assess the arguments for and against the IIROs. Vicino uses policy analysis literature to identify three overlapping processes (or streams ): problem, solution, and politics. Vicino does a nice job l