Immigrant Exclusion from Welfare: An Analysis of the 1996 Welfare Reform Legislative Process

Agrawal, Shantanu P

doi:10.1111/j.1747-1346.2008.00124.x

Cited by 6 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Republicans used their control of the House to push through a reshaping of the American welfare system on a scale not seen since the advent of the Great Society, which the Contract sought to dismantle (Agrawal, 2008 Finally, in what could only be characterized as the most draconian measures of the legislation, the Welfare Reform Act all but eliminated the ability of legal immigrants to gain access to social services. Emboldened by the belief that legal immigrants were using social services significantly more than citizens, Congress set out to "kick legal immigrants off the rolls."…”

Section: Setting the Stage For Immigration Reform In The 104th Congressmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Much of the scholarship on the immigrant provisions of the Welfare Reform Act focused on proving or challenging the principal assumption for those provisions--that legal immigrants used social services at a higher rate than Americans (Bean, Stevens & Van Hook, 2003;Borjas, 1999Borjas, , 2001Borjas, , 2002Borjas & Hilton, 1996;Fix & Passel 1999. Agrawal's (2008) analysis of the congressional debates on the Welfare Reform Act, however illumines the ways in which the act reflects neoliberal mentalities of rule.…”

Section: Setting the Stage For Immigration Reform In The 104th Congressmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Applying a "Foucauldian method of analysis to Congressional discourse," Agrawal (2008) explicitly concludes that debates over welfare reform evinced a "'neoliberal' conception of . .…”

Section: Setting the Stage For Immigration Reform In The 104th Congressmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Beyond the border

Wiebel¹

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The focus of this project is to consider U.S. immigration policy as a critical domain in the political management of populations in advanced liberal states. Rather than seeking to understand how discourses over U.S. immigration policy function to construct identity (national, ethnic, and/or immigrant), this project seeks to understand how debates over U.S. immigration policy function to shape, manage, and direct the conduct of migrants, immigrants, and citizens. The project avoids the emphasis in much of the extant scholarship on U.S. immigration policy on the question of identity in favor of an ethos of investigation indebted to Foucault's concept of governmentality.Studies of governmentality eschew grand theories or unitary conceptions of the state in favor of empirical studies of techniques, programs, strategies and technologies that seek to guide, shape, and direct the conduct of others. While much of the interest of governmentality studies centers on mundane mechanisms that shape conduct, I argue that debates over immigration policy function as critical sites where the state is articulated into activities of government. The state, therefore, is not conceptualized as a source of power to be smashed. As such, policy debates are not mere deliberations by politicians and experts about the merits of particular courses of action; they are sites at which populations are made visible and particular mechanisms for shaping conduct are elevated.As such, the project attends to policy discussions featured as part of an overall strategic shift in U.S. immigration policy from apprehension to deterrence which began in the early 1990s. The new strategy sought to prevent migrants from entering the U.S. rather than apprehending them once they were here. Analyzing congressional hearings and floor debates, this project argues that discussions of immigration control policies (ranging from the enhanced border policing initiatives, to measures aimed at eliminating the employment and social services magnets, to official English legislation), function as part of a complex of programs, techniques, procedures through which authorities embody 2 and give effect to particular ways of governing that seek to manage the conduct of populations both within and outside of the United States. Abstract Approved: ____________________________________ Thesis Supervisor ii To Vesta iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This project was a long time in the making. I would like to thank all those who helped me along the way. Special thanks to the Communication Studies Department at the University of Iowa who never gave up on me. I would like to particularly express my sincerest gratitude to my advisor David Depew for his encouragement, support, and intellectual guidance. Without his generosity and wisdom this project might never have come to fruition. I would also like to thank the other members of my committee. To David Hingstman for serving as my second reader and suggesting that I study immigration discourses. To Aimee Carrillo Rowe whose work on whiteness and anti-imm...

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Section: Setting the Stage For Immigration Reform In The 104th Congressmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Setting the Stage For Immigration Reform In The 104th Congressmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Beyond the border

Wiebel¹

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“…It is also well documented that legislation passed in the 1990s set the stage for the restrictive laws passed in the 2000s. For instance, the PRWORA (Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act) of 1996 restricted all immigrants and permanent residents from benefits such as welfare and Medicaid (Agrawal, ). In addition, the AEDPA and IIRIRA allowed state and local police to take part in the enforcement of federal civil immigration law.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lessons in Democracy: America's Tenuous History with Immigrants

Obinna¹

2018

J Historical Sociology

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Taking an uncompromising stance on immigration enforcement, theTrump administration has been sharply criticized for its policies and racially coded rhetoric of immigrants as criminalsorundesirables.Despitethiscriticism, theadministration's policies fall in line with historically widespread, exclusionary, nativist and xenophobic attitudes towards immigrants. Much of the American immigrant story has been a tortuous struggle for equality, integration and civil rights. This essay takes a critical look at the complicated history of immigration policy during the last century, focusing on the social, economic and political forces that helped shape legislation.

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“…Race and ethnicity theory is perhaps the most recognized framework for understanding how immigration influences the welfare state, according to which immigration increases diversity, erodes social solidarity and as a result should reduce public welfare spending (Borjas & Trejo, 1990;Hero & Preuhs, 2007;Nannestad, 2007;Agrawal, 2008;Hainmuller & Hiscox, 2010). In addition to the race/ethnicity theory, globalization compensation theory could also shed light on the discussion of immigration and welfare, which suggests that immigration could result in economic risks and increase the incentives for governments to spend more on welfare compensation.…”

Section: Immigration and Welfare Spending In The Usmentioning

confidence: 99%

Compensation or Retrenchment? The Paradox of Immigration and Public Welfare Spending in the American States

2017

State Politics Policy Q.

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By using American state-level data from 1999 to 2008, this article explores how the recent immigrant influx has influenced public welfare spending in the American states. By integrating the race/ethnicity and globalization compensation theory, I hypothesize that immigration will increase welfare spending in states with a bleak job market and exclusive state immigrant welfare policy; in contrast, immigration will decrease welfare spending in states with a good job market and inclusive state immigrant welfare policy. Empirical tests show evidence for both hypotheses, suggesting that the applicability of general political science theories depends on a combination of state policy and economic contexts.

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Immigrant Exclusion from Welfare: An Analysis of the 1996 Welfare Reform Legislative Process

Cited by 6 publications

References 21 publications

Beyond the border

Beyond the border

Lessons in Democracy: America's Tenuous History with Immigrants

Compensation or Retrenchment? The Paradox of Immigration and Public Welfare Spending in the American States

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