The<i>de facto</i>Transnationalizing of Immigration Policy

Abstract

Abstract This chapter discusses the emergence of a de facto transnationalism in the handling of immigration issues. Transnationalism is applied to immigration policy developments that are viewed as fragmented and incipient, have not been fully captured at the most formal levels of international public law and conventions, nor in the national representations of the sovereign state. Discussions cover the operation of states under a new rule of law, the two cornerstones of immigration policy in developed countries — the border and individual as sites for regulatory enforcement, and the constraints faced by developed nations in formulating immigration policy.