Immigration and Immigration Policy in the United States

Abstract Any policy that restricts immigration must establish a criterion for the admission of foreign nationals. The US policy gives explicit preference to family members of US citizens, with some consideration for an individual’s occupational background. Whether desired or not, this policy appears to have contributed to rising immigration of individuals with relatively low levels of discernible skill. Given ample opportunities for illegal immigration, the US government does not exercise full control over which individuals gain entry to the country. By choosing to concentrate enforcement efforts at the border, rather than at the place of employment, the US implicitly gives preference to illegal immigrants who are able and willing to evade border authorities. This may have further contributed to immigration of the less skilled.1 In this chapter, we briefly review US immigration policy and then discuss recent developments in immigration patterns and the economic performance of immigrants.