From the Book Shelf

Be sure to check out Bill Hing’s new book, Deporting Our Souls: Values, Morality, and Immigration Policy (Cambridge University Press, 2006). It offers a fresh perspective on the current immigration debates and the U.S. government’s deadly efforts to close the border and overbroad policies directed at Arabs and Muslims in the name of national security. Hing uses real world stories of immigrants to make his points and drive them home.   To make the book even better, Hing makes the discussion readable.

In the past three decades, images of undocumented immigrants pouring across the southern border have driven the immigration debate and policies have been implemented in response to those images. The Oklahoma City bombings and the tragic events of September 11, both of questionable relevance to immigration policy have provided further impetus to implement strategies that are anti-immigration in design and effect. Deporting Our Souls discusses the major immigration policy areas – undocumented workers, the immigration selection system, deportation of aggravated felons, national security and immigration policy, and the integration of new Americans – and the various immigration reform proposals on the table.  Hing suggests his own proposals on how to address the policy challenges from a perspective that encourages us to consider the moral consequences of our decisions. He also thoughtfully reviews some of the policies that have been put forth and ignored and suggests new policies that would be good for the country economically and socially.

KJ