The Politics of Punishment and Protection: A Comparative Historical Analysis of American Immigration Control, 1990–2017

Abstract

This article examines the construction of immigration control in two US states with contrasting approaches to immigration: the rise of crimmigration and governing through crime in Arizona, and the development of immigrant protection and governing through support in Illinois. Analysis of state-level immigration control practices reveals that three interrelated processes play a critical role in formulating these divergent approaches to managing immigrants: the state's cultural orientation, structural relations, and institutional dynamics. These factors interact with each other in complex, multidirectional ways that condition and shape the respective states' political choices and administrative decisions. I highlight the significance of coalitions of local organizations who work in collaboration with state actors and mobilize state institutions in order to shape state legal regimes of immigration control. In illuminating the variegated trajectories of the construction of immigration control fields, and their use (or nonuse) of penal power as a response, this article provides a more nuanced understanding of the hybrid, dynamic, and contingent nature of immigration control in contemporary America.