DePaul Law Review Volume 52 Issue 3 Spring 2003: Symposium - Beyond Belonging: Challenging the Boundaries of Article 2 Nationality The Immigration Paradox: Poverty, Distributive Justice, and Liberal Egalitarianism Howard F. Chang Follow this and additional works at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/law-review Recommended Citation Howard F. Chang, The Immigration Paradox: Poverty, Distributive Justice, and Liberal Egalitarianism, 52 DePaul L. Rev. 759 (2003) Available at: https://via.library.depaul.edu/law-review/vol52/iss3/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the College of Law at Via Sapientiae. It has been accepted for inclusion in DePaul Law Review by an authorized editor of Via Sapientiae. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. THE IMMIGRATION PARADOX: POVERTY, DISTRIBUTIVE JUSTICE, AND LIBERAL EGALITARIANISM Howard F. Chang* INTRODUCTION According to the 2000 Census, the foreign-born population in the United States reached 31.1 million, representing 11.1% of the total U.S. population.' This percentage is the highest that the United States has experienced since 1930, when 11.6% of the total U.S. popu- lation was foreign born.2 In 1970, the foreign-born population was only 9.6 million, or only 4.7% of the total population.3 The rapid ex- pansion of the foreign-born population in the intervening three de- 4 cades reflects high levels of immigration into the United States, which in turn reflects the liberalization of U.S. immigration laws since 1965. 5 Some observers have reacted to these data with alarm, noting that the sheer number of immigrants now residing in the United States is "by far the most ever recorded.' ' 6 The restrictionist Center for Im- migration Studies (CIS), for example, notes that the foreign-born pop- ulation grew by 11.3 million between 1990 and 2000, and that "[t]he foreign-born population's growth rate in every decade since 1970 has 7 been higher than at any other time in history." The absolute number of immigrants, however, is far less important than their share of the total U.S.