Date

5-8-2021

Document Type

Thesis

Abstract

The quote on the Statue of Liberty reads: “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The retched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” These words are central to the mythology of America as a nation of immigrants and, to the extent that this myth is accurate, one would expect that after experiencing multiple waves of immigration the United States (US) would have developed a set of principles guiding how legislators think about and frame immigration policy. This would not be the case, however. As Elizabeth Cohen (2007) shows, the United States has failed to adopt a collective philosophy that informs immigration policy largely because political actors have yet to determine whether we are a sovereign nation which concerns itself only with matters within our borders or whether we are a nation that recognizes immigration as a central part of American identity.

Department

Political Science

Thesis Comittee

Dr. Jordon Barkalow, Thesis Advisor

Dr. Rachel Navarre, Committee Member

Dr. Inkyoung Kim, Committee Member

Copyright and Permissions

Original document was submitted as an Honors Program requirement. Copyright is held by the author.

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