Philip Kretsedemas is the author of The Immigration Crucible: Transforming Race, Nation, and the Limits of the Law (Columbia UP 2012). He is associate professor of sociology at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. The book begins with a discussion of the conventional explanations, justifications, and advocacy for and against immigration. That background frames the current debate now occurring at the federal level on immigration reform. The book addresses that larger context but focuses a lot on the increasingly important role played by local lawmakers and local enforcement. Arizona 1070 is one example of this. Kretsedemas analyzes this shift to local enforcement and what its implications are for immigrants living in a patchwork of immigration laws and enforcement practices. Toward the end of the book, Kretsedemas tries to reconcile what the country can do to move forward. He suggests whiteness and race has been closely intermingled with national identity.
Off the Page: A Columbia University Press Podcast