Dividing Lines

by

Daniel Tichenor

Princeton University Press 2002

Caitlin Patler and Angelica Salas of CHIRLA gave me this book in November and at 300 pages of small print it looked intimidating so I put off reading it for a few weeks. When I finally picked it up I found it to be well organized, informative and a compelling read.

Tichenor tells the history of immigration politics in the America by showing the shifting alliances of groups and their interest in the level of immigration and the rights that should be given to immigrants. He uses a simple two by two grid throughout the book to illustrate this changing alliance. For instance the labor movement went from pro-immigrant around 1890 to anti-immigrant for most of the 20th century and became pro-immigrant again in the 1980's.

Dividing Lines also shows difference in the politics of legislation versus enforcement and between what the public says they want and what the politicians actually enact. For instance the book shows why we have laws mandating employer sanctions and yet we have almost no enforcement of those laws by the executive branch.

This book is an excellent read about the politics of immigration and should be considered by everyone who wants to understand the current state of immigration politics.

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