Immigration to migration

Abstract

A nation of immigrants —but for the Ame r indians— the United States thinks a lot about the issue of immigration, and nor mally in terms of the assimilation of ethnic groups from distant lands into a national culture of complex identities under the ideal of individual citizenship. In the crisis mode produced by 9/11, the country’s security systems have been reordered, even threatening to refash ion much of the country around security issues. Yet it was not until 2006 that immigration —always a security issue— came to be the first order of political debate. The hard-nosed as pects (se dition and terrorism) had been tackled in terms of intelligence and defence policies. With that, it was possible to launch the great immigration debate, framing it around nationality and citizenry. The executive placed a huge bet, in the coin of political capital, to re-settle the national consciousness in terms of “who we are” (referring to the United States community) and how others can become part of that “we.” The president expected the debate to close triumphan t ly with the signing of a new immigration law; but the conditions were wrong and the two versions —a close-the-door version from the House and a guard-the-door version from the Senate— could not be reconciled. Immigration to Migration