Books

“Immigrants have shaped America, but few people understand how we got to where we are today. In this insightful book, Margaret Sands Orchowski traces the history of U.S. immigration policy, tackling common myths and explaining the historical lessons for contemporary policy. If we don’t understand the past, she argues convincingly, we won’t be able to move into the future.”

—Darrell M. West, vice president and director of governance studies, Douglas Dillon Chair, The Brookings Institution

"The Law That Changed The Face Of America: The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965"
(Rowman & Littlefield 2015)

2015 marks the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) of 1965—a landmark decision that made the United State the diverse nation it is today. The INA’s importance and impact on the country that rivals that of the Civil and Voting Rights Acts of 1964, that have been celebrated, analyzed and extolled by books and events throughout the country this year.

In "The Law that Changed the Face of America", Congressional journalist and immigration expert Margaret Sands Orchowski delivers a never before told story of how immigration laws have moved in constant flux and revision throughout our nation’s history. The book uses interviews and historical research to narrate without agenda the personal stories and incentives of those who shaped and fought for the INA.

Exploring the changing immigration environment of the 21st century, Orchowski discusses globalization, technology, terrorism, economic recession, and the expectations of the millennials. She also addresses the ever present U.S. debate about the roles of the various branches of government in immigration; and the often competitive interests between those who want to immigrate into the U.S. and the changing interests, values, ability, and right of our sovereign nation states to choose and welcome those immigrants who will best advance the country.

"Immigration and the American Dream: Battling the Political Hype and Hysteria" (Rowman & Littlefield 2008)

Written in 2008, during the heat of Obama’s first presidential campaign and the aftermath of President George W. Bush and Senator Ted Kennedy’s immigration reform failure, “Immigration and the American Dream” lays a solid groundwork of fact and historical context which is often ignored in the highly emotional public rhetoric about immigration. In a dispassionate manner, Ms. Ochowski exposes the myths, mantras, hype and hysteria about immigration, the politics of immigration legislation and the impact of immigration on jobs from low wage to high tech.

The book is recommended by New Mexico’s Governor Bill Richardson as a “must read for everyone in Congress and in DC think tanks” and by Mark Krikorian, Director, Center for Immigration Studies, as “A road map for concerned citizens of the facts, politics and buzzwords of immigration”.