Presidents, Movement-Parties, and the Transformation of Migration Politics

• In Event: Structuring Migration, Mobility, and Citizenship

Abstract

The American presidency has long commanded considerable unilateral power over how to govern immigration, asylum, and the border. Yet, historically (across the 19th and 20th centuries), most occupants of the Oval Office were decidedly ambivalent about exercising these powers because of the challenges of navigating contentious public debates, rival movements, battles within governing coalitions, and confrontations with Congress, the courts, and states. Indeed, my historical research suggests that presidents for much of American political development were often constrained or averse to taking the lead in shaping U.S. immigration and refugee policy. This was even true for generations following the rise of the modern presidency during the Great Depression and World War II, when executive-centered government became the norm. Chief executives from FDR to Reagan and Clinton proved adroit at letting other political actors seize the initiative on hot-button migration issues, ultimately responding in ways that guarded their political flanks. Yet something changed dramatically during the past two decades: Presidents from George W. Bush to present have had nowhere to hide from the politics of migration and the border. How do we explain these transformations in the presidential politics of immigration, asylum, and the border over time? And why do 21st-century presidents have fewer degrees of freedom in managing the politics and governance of international migration than their predecessors? The existing scholarly literature on presidents and immigration politics provides few clues. Drawing on interviews, archival research, and other fresh evidence, this paper sheds new light on the changing incentives, strategies, and decisions of presidents in this policy realm over time. In particular, it highlights how two crucial developments–the growth of the national administrative state and the emergence of potent movement parties–remade the presidency and its relationship to immigrants, refugees, and the border.

Author

• Daniel Tichenor, University of Oregon