The country is experiencing a cultural shock of astounding proportion, where the current political climate reflects a strict divide in socio-political perspectives. Perhaps first on the list of policies subject to such substantial partisan division are discussions on the future of immigration reform. Since 2016, the Trump campaign has constructed its identity around immigration policy, promising grandiose initiatives to not only keep immigrants away – but round up those already established within US borders (of both legal and unlawful status). Their success in the 2024 election suggests that the traditional pro-reform infrastructure has failed to adapt to the drastic changes in our political landscape, thus the emergence of the anti-immigrant core of the modern Republican Party and the hardening of the left’s reflexive pro-immigrant posture.
In an award winning synthesis of past attempts at immigration reform: Immigration Reform: The Corpse That Will Not Die, Charles Kamasaki analyzes the successes and failures of United States immigration policy, engaging historical detail to (1) explain the origin and potency of Donald Trump’s anti-immigration ideology and (2) underline the importance of developing novel perspectives concerning immigration reform. The author considers that it is now the reformers’ job – more than ever before – to adjust their tactics to reflect the drastic shifts in our political landscape.
Accordingly, the book concludes by presenting a series of questions encouraging discussion on this front. For instance, Kamasaki posits the following:
Will the current (in 2019, at time of publishing), larger, and thus inherently more cumbersome infrastructure of pro reform advocates and lawmakers be able to adapt to an ever-changing political landscape?
Subsequently,
How can we adjust our attitudes and reform tactics to allow for such change?
The author imparts a series of lessons to engage reformers in developing these methods. Having served many roles as a scholar and within the greater community of immigration politics, Kamasaki’s lessons fuse both historical and present political contexts, providing future reformers with a comprehensive framework to success. Among them are the following recommendations:
- Develop new messaging that is attractive to moderates and conservatives;
- Build direct relationships with GOP and moderate GOP lawmakers;
- Acknowledge the legitimacy of basic immigration enforcement;
- Develop, test, and accept policy innovations, without resorting to the “same old”;
- Assert leadership independent of political parties and traditional interests
In a vastly changed and sharply divided political landscape, Kamasaki’s analysis is invaluable to anyone bent on promoting meaningful change. The book may be purchased directly from the website HERE.
Immigration Reform: The Corpse that Will Not Die 