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Introduction: Local Governments and Immigration

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Theories of Local Immigration Policy

Part of the book series: Politics of Citizenship and Migration ((POCM))

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Abstract

Filomeno offers an introduction to the study of local immigration policy and proposes a relational approach to advance this field of inquiry. Most studies articulate a localist narrative in which local problems associated with immigration prompt local policies, shaped by local conditions and with local consequences. Other studies show that local immigration policies cannot be understood apart from their context, including inter-governmental relations, transnational economic processes and international norms. After discussing the limits of the localist approach, Filomeno describes the ontological, theoretical and methodological principles of a relational approach, which can explain the emergence, variation and effects of local immigration policy in a context of globalization.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    The immigration policy and politics of the state/province level will be analyzed here only in terms of their relations with local immigration policy. For studies focusing on the immigration policy of state/province governments see, for instance, Boushey and Luedtke (2011), Filindra and Kovács (2011), Filindra (2013) and several chapters in the volume edited by Hepburn and Zapata-Barrero (2014).

  2. 2.

    By variation in local immigration policy, I mean primarily their ranging from exclusionary/restrictive to inclusionary/expansive policies. Exclusionary/restrictive policies are those that contribute to decrease immigration and restrict immigrants’ cultural, economic and political integration into society in the immigrant-receiving areas. Inclusionary/expansive policies do the opposite; they foster immigration flows and facilitate the social integration of immigrants. There are, however, other forms of variation in local immigration policy. For instance, variation in regards to policy domains: legal-political, socio-economic and cultural-religious (Alexander 2007).

  3. 3.

    This problem exists when the cases in a sample are not independent from each other. By assuming that the cases are independent, a researcher might mistakenly trace variations in a given attribute of the cases to their internal characteristics. In reality, these variations might be explained by the connections existing between the cases.

  4. 4.

    To know more about critical policy studies, read the volume edited by Orsini and Smith (2007).

  5. 5.

    To know more about critical urban studies, read the volume edited by Davies et al. (2010).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Political Science, University of Maryland, Baltimore, Maryland, USA

    Felipe Amin Filomeno

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Filomeno, F.A. (2017). Introduction: Local Governments and Immigration. In: Theories of Local Immigration Policy. Politics of Citizenship and Migration. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-45952-3_1

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