UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations

UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Security and United States Immigration Policy Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/7sz258wj Author Totten, Robbie James Publication Date 2012 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Security and United States Immigration Policy A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the Requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science by Robbie James Totten 2012 © Copyright by Robbie James Totten 2012 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Security and United States Immigration Policy by Robbie James Totten Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science University of California, Los Angeles, 2012 Professor Deborah Larson, Chair What is the relationship between security and immigration to the U.S? How do security objectives factor into U.S. immigration policy? These questions are significant for the U.S. because the volume of international migration has been increasing in recent years and without sound policy planning immigration will serve as a source of conflict with foreign states, tax the ability of domestic systems to assimilate diverse peoples without violence, and expose citizens and immigrants to crime, contagious disease, and terrorism. This dissertation answers the above questions and presents the strategic logic for U.S. immigration policy by providing a typology of security policy objectives for America in this area. It identifies three general categories of security objectives that U.S. leaders have attempted to reach with immigration from the colonial era to the present-day: (1) domestic security (prevent crime, espionage, and terrorism; epidemics; and ethnic violence); (2) foreign relations; and (3) material and military interests. The analyses accompanying the categories draw from government documents, International Relations (IR) and security studies theories, legal statutes, primary sources such as private letters, and works by demographers and historians to specify the relationships amongst the security areas and immigration, identify the policy ii instruments used by leaders to influence immigration for security, and present a large body of cases of historical U.S. immigration policies designed for security purposes. The dissertation discovers that security has played a much larger and wider role in U.S. immigration policy than extant studies recognize and its findings have significance for the IR discipline, the American Political Development (APD) subfield, and the interdisciplinary Migration field, as well as for assisting leaders in devising prudent policies that maximize citizen and immigrant safety. iii The dissertation of Robbie James Totten is approved. Marc Trachtenberg Roger Waldinger Deborah Larson, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2012 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ii Acknowledgements vii Vita ix Chapter 1. Introduction 1 a. Research Significance b. Definitions and Terminology c. Frameworks of Immigration Policy d. Scholarship on Security and Immigration and its Limitations e. Research Design and Methods f. Security Objectives and U.S. Immigration Policy g. Plan of Dissertation Chapter 2. Foreign Policy Objectives and U.S. Immigration Policy 49 a. Foreign Policy Objective: Foster, Improve, or Initiate Relationships with States b. Foreign Policy Objective: Punish Adversary States c. Foreign Policy Objective: Bargaining Chip d. Foreign Policy Objective: Seize Foreign Assets and Territory e. Summary Chapter 3. Material and Military Objectives and U.S. Immigration Policy 102 Part 1: Building Blocks of the Material and Military Power of a State a. Population and Material and Military State Strength b. Technology and Material and Military State Strength Part 2: Material and Military Objectives and U.S. Immigration Policy a. Material and Military Objective: Procure Foreign Manpower During War b. Material and Military Objective: Import Skilled Labor c. Material and Military Objective: Increase Population Size d. Summary Chapter 4. Domestic Security Objectives and U.S. Immigration Policy 158 Part 1: Epidemics and U.S. Immigration Policy a. Epidemics and Security in Historical Perspective b. Epidemics and State Security c. Domestic Security Immigration Policy Objective: Preventing Epidemics v Part 2: Ethnic Violence and U.S. Immigration Policy a. Ethnic Violence in Historical Perspective b. Immigration, Ethnic Violence, and State Security c. Domestic Security Immigration Policy Objective: Preventing Ethnic Violence Part 3: Crime Espionage, and Terrorism and U.S. Immigration Policy a. Crime, Espionage, and Terrorism in Historical Perspective b. Crime, Espionage, and Terrorism and State Security c. Domestic Security Immigration Policy Objective: Preventing Crime, Espionage, and Terrorism Chapter 5. Conclusion 202 References 213 vi TABLES AND FIGURES FIGURES 1.1 Security Objectives and U.S. Immigration Policy 40 TABLES 1.1. Foreign Policy Objectives and U.S. Immigration Policy 43, 52 1.2. Material and Military Objectives and U.S. Immigration Policy 45, 105 1.3. Domestic Security Objectives and U.S. Immigration Policy 47, 160 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I have been very blessed to have the encouragement, guidance, and support of a number of people along the way of writing this dissertation. The professors and staff of the UCLA Political Science Department have been extraordinary helpful in my development as a scholar. I would like to give a special thanks to Joseph Brown, our graduate student advisor, who has kept me on track and always managed me to find me resources to continue my studies. Joseph truly cares and it shows. I am fortunate to have had a wonderful dissertation committee. Professor Deborah Larson has been an incredibly helpful and readily available adviser and mentor. One could not ask for a better dissertation chair. Professor Marc Trachtenberg has been instrumental in my development as a scholar and has shown me the value of rigorous archival and historical work in the Political Science field. Professor Karen Orren was helpful early in my graduate career with introducing me to the American Political Development subfield. Professor Roger Waldinger helped keep me mindful of the migration literature as I began my project. I would also like to thank all of my friends and colleagues at the UCLA Center for Community Learning (CCL) who provided me with a great home during my graduate career when I was away from the Political Science Department. A specials thanks goes to Kathy O'Byrne, the Director of the CCL, who has been a kind and helpful mentor. In addition, I am also thankful to the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies (CCIS) at U.C. San Diego for providing me with resources and a great institutional setting to finish my dissertation as their pre-doctoral fellow during the 2011-2012 academic year. The CCIS is a lively and exciting center of immigration research and I was fortunate to benefit from its rich academic community. I am particularly grateful to John Skrentny, David Fitzgerald, Ana Minvielle and Peggy Chang—the directors and staff at the CCIS. I am very fortunate to have had many wonderful and supportive friends who have never read a draft of my dissertation, but who have helped me in various ways as I have worked on the project. I would like to give a special thanks to a few of them who always took the time to hear me talk about my "little writing project." They are, Daphne Bach, Keith Bienert, Jon Bessire, Alex Brown, Greg Burns, John Church, Daniel Donovan, Eric Fox, Larry Goode, Kathryn Esche, Bradley Inaba, Danny Harris, Ken and Guilen Haumschilt, Dan Kotin, Edward LaVoy, John McCauley, Jeff Paris, Octavio Pescador, Ron Roeker, Reina Salas, and Ira Wahl. I am also blessed to have an especially loving and supportive family. My grandparents—James Coleman and Evelyn Mitchell Totten and James J. and Rose Tseauro Arcaro—have served as excellent and loving role models. My beautiful and talented Aunt Carol Arcaro has always been one of my biggest supporters! My brother, Christopher Totten and his charming wife, Miriam Segura-Totten have provided me with love, encouragement, and professional suggestions (they are professors in addition to siblings.) I owe my largest debt to my extraordinary parents, Douglas and Rosemarie Totten, who have encouraged and supported me in all of my endeavors throughout my life and have always provided me with unconditional love. Everyone in life should be so lucky to have such great parents and role models. This dissertation is dedicated to them. Some of this material appeared earlier in The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, XXXIX (2008), 37-64. It is included herein with the permission of the editors of The Journal of Interdisciplinary History and The MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts. c 2008 by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Inc. viii VITA 2001 B.A., Political Science Duke University Durham, North Carolina 2001-2003 Equity Research Analyst Deutsche Bank London and New York City 2004-2005 Political Science Research Assistant Princeton University Princeton, NJ 2006 M.A., Political Science University of California, Los Angeles 2005-2009 Teaching Assistant and Associate Department of Political Science University of California, Los Angeles 2010-2011 Political Science Coordinator UCLA Center for Community Learning University of California, Los Angeles 2011-2012 Pre-Doctoral Fellow Center for Comparative

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