Mass Immigration and the National Interest: Policy Directions for the New Century

U.S. immigration policy has stimulated the largest inflow of immigrants in the 1980s and 1990s of any time in the history of the United States. In this comprehensive analysis of mass immigration, the author shows how the policy was designed essentially by political considerations. Policy neglected immigration's economic impact at a time when the country was entering a fundamental economic adjustment. The United States does not face a labor shortage per se, but a shortage of quality labor. Yet immigration has led to a majority of new workers seeking unskilled jobs in declining sectors in manufacturing and services and has given rebirth to sweatshop enterprises and child labor law violations. For the first time in U.S. history, the author argues, the results of immigration policy are inconsistent with U.S. national interest.