Customer Reviews

Lockout: Why America Keeps Getting Immigration Wrong When Our Prosperity Depends on Getting It Right

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My favorite camera store in Tucson, AZ had two wonderful Mexican-American women employees who became close confidants and surrogate mothers of mine. We spent hours discussing not only photography, but also politics and immigration, noting with much dismay, the porous border existing between southern Arizona and the adjoining Mexican state of Sonora (For example I can recall at least two instances where young pregnant Sonoran women had moved into my apartment complex, staying long enough to deliver their babies in a Tucson hospital, before returning, almost immediately, to Sonora.). Both were proud to be American citizens, recognized the necessity of speaking in English in public, and were strongly opposed to government funding of bilingual education in public schools (But in private, amongst themselves, their families, and close friends, they enjoyed speaking the Mexican Spanish they had known since their youth.). If theirs were views widely held by Tucson's Mexican-American community - and I have much reason to believe that they were - then I'm not surprised that eight years after I had moved back to New York City, the citizens of Arizona voted in favor of Proposition 120 by a 56% to 44% margin, requiring public officials to verify the legal status of those seeking public assistance or the right to vote, and to deny them to those unable to offer such proof. I have no doubt that my Tucson friends would greet Michele Wucker's "Lockout: Why America Keeps Getting Immigration Wrong When Out Prosperity Depends On Getting It Right" with ample interest, but also harbor some reservations about her positive, somewhat practical, view of immigration to the United States, both now and in the future. These may be reservations that I too might share, but I would also add that Wucker's latest book is one deserving of wide readership, regardless of how one perceives this issue.

Journalist Michele Wucker, a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute of The New School, has written eloquently on the dismal histories of the Dominican Republic and Haiti in her first book, "Why the Cocks Fight", in which she contends that the disastrous immigration policies of successive Dominican Republic regimes towards Haitian immigrants are reminiscent of our own complex, often conflicted, immigration history. So, in a sense, which Wucker herself admits, "Lockout" can be regarded as a sequel to her previous book, but here, she treats the topic of immigration on a much broader canvass devoted solely to the United States's history. However, her book is most certainly not the last word, nor should it be, with respect to immigration to the United States, even though she makes a persuasive, often compelling, case in favor of a sensible United States immigration policy. Regrettably "Lockout" provides too brief a historical perspective on this issue, which, I might add, has been covered far more extensively by Stanford University economist Thomas Sowell, most notably in his book "Ethnic America: A History" (I strongly recommend this early book of his to every potential buyer of "Lockout", since Sowell has the audacity, conviction and facts to discuss eloquently the relative successes of different ethnic groups in their assimilation into American society; he is also a distinguished alumnus of Stuyvesant High School, my high school alma mater.).

Wucker believes that the United States too often has been guilty of restricting immigration due to hysteria by native Americans against emigrants based upon ill-conceived perceptions due to religious, ethnic and racial prejudice. Indeed, notable examples include virulent hostility shown by white Americans towards East Asian immigrants, subsequently legislated into law as a series of notorious Exclusion Acts passed by the U. S. Congress in the 1880s and 1890s, and to a much lesser extent, towards Eastern and Southern European emigrants arriving during the "Great Wave" of immigration from the last two decades of the 19th Century through the early 20th Century. Regrettably, as Wucker demonstrates in the early chapters entitled "Patriots" and "The Eagle and the Ostrich", the worst instances of hostility occurred against immigrants from countries which were at war with the United States during both of the 20th Century's world wars. I was especially stunned, and moved, by her eloquent passages describing anti-German hysteria shown by native Americans towards German-born American citizens and legal immigrants during World War I. However, I strongly disagree with her view of the internment of West Coast Japanese-Americans and Japanese aliens during World War II as a shameful episode in American history; it was regrettable, but necessary, given prior knowledge of the existence of substantial Japanese espionage networks spanning the Pacific rim in the late 1930s and early 1940s, and the enthusiastic support rendered by resident Japanese in Southeast Asia, including the Philippines, to invading Imperial Japanese military forces during the early phases of World War II in the Pacific (December, 1941 to May, 1942), which Michelle Malkin notes in her book "In Defense of Internment: The Case for 'Racial Profiling' in World War II and the War on Terror" (Malkin has made a very compelling, persuasive case in her book for internment during wartime, which I support even though an aunt spent her early youth in a Japanese-American internment camp and another relative is former U. S. Army Chaplain James Yee, who was subjected to a Pentagon witch hunt and fishing expedition because he sought humane treatment for Muslim terrorists imprisoned at Camp Gitmo.). I also have to question Wucker's implication that stiff American import tariffs enacted in the late 1920s were somehow responsible for the rise of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy; a more likely explanation is the Versailles Treaty, which ended World War I, yet sowed the seeds of a more cataclysmic conflict two decades later, by imposing harsh financial reparations on a nascent democratic German republic unable to pay them.

Wucker uses facts and figures succinctly to demonstrate how immigration has not had an adverse impact on employment of native Americans, but oddly enough, she doesn't consider the recent importance of overseas outsourcing of high tech computer programming jobs, most notably to India. She is more successful in demonstrating how immigration attracts "The Best and the Brightest" to America. In this chapter, she eloquently recounts the recognition earned by 2005 Intel Science Talent Search finalists, offering triumphant anecdotes which reaffirm New York Times reporter Nicholas Kristof's astute praise of Asian-American success in higher education in his May 14, 2006 New York Times Week in Review column. Wucker truly believes that America's emergence as an economic superpower is due in no small measure to attracting the world's best and brightest, and allowing a free exchange of information, noting that many of the world's most important political and economic leaders were educated at many of the United States's elite private and public colleges and universities, returning to their home countries with a solid understanding of and appreciation for American civic ideals and culture. Elsewhere, she notes how immigrants have influenced American culture, especially the arts, most notably, in literature, including for example, both Frank McCourt (Most people may have forgotten that he was born in Brooklyn, New York, left when he was three years old, returned to the United States at the age of nineteen, and began teaching at Stuyvesant High School in his early forties.) and Gary Shteyngart (Another distinguished Stuyvesant alumnus whom I regard as one of our high school's most talented literary alumni.).

The free flow of ideas and information between the United States and the rest of the world has been under assault since the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks, having an adverse impact on immigration too. Wucker offers some poignant, quite compelling, anecdotes of resident aliens caught inexplicably in bureaucratic red tape and other unexpected restrictions on immigration, resisting the notion that these restrictions may have validity now during the War on Terror (Again, I must respectfully disagree, noting that these measures may be necessary to curb the dissemination of ideas and technology to potential adversaries, most notably the People's Republic of China, which still refuses to respect not only the basic human rights of individuals as proclaimed in our Declaration of Independence, but also those of intellectual property too.). I also believe Wucker acts too much like a latter day Cassandra when she expresses grave concerns about future American supremacy in the sciences and technology. I am far more optimistic, noting that English has been the lingua franca of the sciences and technology since the end of World War II, and that American science still enjoys considerable admiration and respect, even if, for example, some of the most innovative research in high energy particle physics is conducted now by American and European physicists at the CERN facility in Switzerland (I recommend reading Harvard University physicist Lisa Randall's "Warped Passages" on her ongoing research at CERN; for this work, she may yet become the next Nobel Prize-winning Stuyvesant alumnus.).

Wucker concludes "Lockout" on an optimistic note, offering a concise framework for a sensible United States immigration policy. It's one that I think most Americans would agree with, including a Caribbean-American friend who believes that illegal immigrants should pay fines to pay for their English language education; a view shared too by Michele Wucker. But unlike Wucker, I would prefer seeing an immigration policy which would emphasize attracting mainly the world's "Best and Brightest", not a policy which would also encourage immigration by unskilled, poorly-educated workers from Third World countries on the brink of financial ruin; I strongly suspect that most Americans would be in complete agreement. Last, but not least, a sensible future immigration policy may have to consider too unexpected environmental consequences related to Global Warming; an issue ignored by Wucker and other immigration advocates (UCLA ecologist Jared Diamond has stressed the significance of environmental damage in the unexpected collapse and disappearance of human societies across the globe in his recent book "Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Succeed"; the lessons he notes in his book may be ones worthy of attention to Michele Wucker and other immigration advocates.).

Many of the reviews posted here -from professional reviewers as well as
readers- clearly are not based on what actually is in Lockout but instead on pre-existing notions of what the author might have written.

For example, how did the Library Journal reviewer conclude that Lockout does not address homeland security or the impact on U.S. low-wage jobs? There are full chapters devoted to homeland security and to jobs.

Also, just because you don't agree with a book's conclusion doesn't mean that it's biased. In fact, from my reading, Lockout is balanced almost to a fault: delivering both sides of many of the arguments about immigration - the Borjas/Card debate about the impact on low-wage U.S. workers comes to mind.

No doubt, Lockout makes a case in favor or immigration's net effect benefits to the United States, but it doesn't ignore the costs-- and suggests ways to achieve a more moderate and sustainable flow of people across borders.

If you only read one book about immigration this year read Lockout. It does have a bias towards allowing immigration but both sides of the argument are explored. She quotes John F. Kennedy saying: "Immigration policy should be generous; it should be fair; it should be flexible." Lockout is filled with very good historical data about how we got into the immigration mess that we are in today. It is not primarily about the low skilled Mexican illegal immigrants. It is focused much more on the difficulties encountered by skilled, highly educated people who would like to work in the United States. Michelle Wucker makes a very good argument that the labyrinth of immigration law that we have created is hurting our competitiveness in the world.
Her argument that encouraging "Americanization" of immigrants during the first half of the 20th century set the stage for the immigrant battle of this era is interesting and definitely worth considering.
With regard to undocumented immigrants she argues that we must "Accept responsibility for the wink-wink-nod-nod policies that created a large, marginalized population." "The only fair thing to do" she concludes "is to provide a way for them to apply for legal status" with some sort of penalty.
Although I didn't agree with all of Wucker's arguments or policy proposals I felt that she supported them with good data and reason. People on both sides of this debate will disagree with her but they should all read her book.

Mrs. Wucker's stance on immigration is a breath of fresh air. She understands these complicated issues better then most politicians, and helps dispel the nativist sentiment that is spreading over our country.

I applaud her efforts.

You see many books in immigration. I have personally read dozens lately and there are views that go all over the road from extremists who irrationally operate on perpetuating our fears of immigrants, to those who would have you believe that there is no immigration problem and an open border is the solution. Its truly hard to know what to believe. The more you explore this complex issue, the more there is to understand because you realize that the hardliners on immigration are truly coming from a place of ignorance, regardless of their side. The reality is that we need to look at the actual facts of this issue and find a middle ground starting with what is not working now, and start looking at the end solution we want and take steps as a nation to get there. Michelle Wucker has done an excellent job in this straight forward book of giving us that roadmap and not just reacting to the voices in the media with the loudest megaphones, but instead she comes to a thoughtful place of well-researched and carefully contructed views that if heeded by our legislators might help to get us a bit more on track with what is happening regarding immigration in this country. Take a couple hours and read this important book, it will really help you understand this complex issue, and is an important contribution to the debate.

Finally an author has put out a book that puts the entire immigration debate into perspective. Instead of pandering to partisans on either the right or left, Wucker's book explains how we got to the strange place we're in today without trying to score any political points in the process. This is the kind of dispassionate analysis that we see all too infrequently in today's journalism. Lockout is worth buying and reading. Somebody should give Lou Dobbs a copy for Christmas!

Michele Wucker shows us, yet again, that she can analyze a complicated situation, pierce through platitudes and bring it all home with writing that is both sober yet has as much heart as an "All-American" baseball team - albeit one built with the peoples of many nations. If you feel in your gut that well-conceived immigration is not only good for America but vital to its well-being, then this book provides the facts, arguments and, yes, the anecdotes to fuel those instincts. Read this and it is likely that you will, as I did, turn down the bottoms of many pages, so that you can go back over them. Immigration in the light of families, union, bureaucracy, security, of course - and even Y2K. (Remember that?) It's all here. Wucker then concludes with the best definition I have heard of what it means "to be an American" in these times.Looking for the perfect present for your Fourth of July hosts? Bring this book with an equally controversial bottle of wine. LOCKOUT, I wager, will promote even more conversation than whether one should buy French or Californian.

I am so glad to fianally see someone bring rationality, realism and humanism to this mean-spirited debate around immigration policy. This book will be a great resource for us in Texas as we roll into the 80th Legislative Session. For those who are folowing this debate, watch what is about to happen in Texas. We are going to turn it around and demonstrate that hatred aimed at our southern neighbors will not prevail here.

Will Harrell
Executive Director
ACLU of Texas

Lockout: Why America Keeps Getting Immigration Wrong When Our Prosperity Depends on Getting It Right argues that the stakes in getting American immigration policy right are greater than ever, what with the nation's record-high foreign-born population, attitudes towards immigration, and changing economics. Here senior World Policy Institute fellow Michele Wucker analyses the mistakes that have led to modern problems, and offers analysis of some alternative options and their pros and cons. A key debate title for any college-level library strong in immigration issues.

Michele Wucker makes an excellent argument for America's maintaining an open-minded and progressive attitude toward immigration. As she points out in her rich description of our history as a land of immigrants, America's success as a nation has been built on the ingenuity of immigrants. The mass immigration between 1870 and 1910, for example, led to a 24% rise in the overall economy. However, Wucker does not propose a free-for-all immigration policy but advocates a moderate approach. She also points out that by failing to appreciate "cultural differences" and "the tremendous asset that our mixed heritage gives us," the U.S. will fail to function at the highest level in the global economy. Her advice: "We need to build on our strengths and come up with targeted solutions to shore up our weaknesses." I highly recommend Wucker's book as a prime source for "getting immigration right."