Black-Box Immigration Federalism
David S. Rubenstein*
In Immigration Outside the Law, Hiroshi Motomura confronts the three hardest questions in immigration today: what to do about our undocumented population, who should decide, and by what legal process. Motomura’s treatment is characteristically visionary, analytically rich, and eminently fair to competing views. The book’s intellectual arc begins with its title: “Immigration Outside the Law.” As the narrative unfolds, however, Motomura explains that undocumented immigrants are “Americans in waiting,” with moral and legal claims to societal integration.
* Professor of Law, Director of the Center for Law and Government, Washburn University School of Law. Like so many in the immigration community, I am indebted to Hiroshi Motomura for his leadership and mentorship. He also provided generous feedback on an early draft, which helped to clarify my views in relation to his. I am also grateful for the helpful comments and suggestions provided by Patrick Charles, Erin Delaney, Pratheepan Gulasekaram, Kevin Johnson, Stephen Lee, Peter Margulies, Juliet Stumpf, and Washburn colleagues Alex Glashausser and William Rich. I also thank my assistant Penny Fell, and the Michigan Law Review for outstanding editorial work.
