Customer Reviews

Immigration In America's Future: Social Science Findings And The Policy Debate (Foundations of Social Inquiry)

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I do mostly agree with the blurb printed on the backcover of this book in that it is "an excellent introduction to, and overview of the immigration field." Heer certainly provided lots of historical and contemporary facts and data, which makes this book a good starting point for academic research. However, the author also outs himself as "a native-born, white, upper-middle-class professional of northwestern European origin." That alone must not necessarily mean anything, but he is also a proponent of very old-fashioned cut-throat capitalism. His final proposals for change in immigration jurisdiction is to auction off permits for residence in the US at "market value." Whoever is willing to pay the most for one of the 700,000 permits Leer wants to hand out annually will be allowed to settle in the US. While he does allow for a parallel asylum system for political refugees, this very cynical concept would effectively put an end to all immigration of economic refugees, who would not be able to pay whatever Leer's "market price" turns out to be. The author is especially proud of his ridiculous proposal for ensuring immigration mostly of qualified, younger professionals and preventing older, poorer, or unskilled people -- unable to bid -- to enter the US. I would have never expected such a heartless, cynical, and inhuman proposal from a professor of sociology. Adam Smith would be proud of him, but hopefully no contemporary politician or pressure group will ever seriously consider his crazy, misanthropic suggestions.