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Opening the Floodgates: Why America Needs to Rethink its Borders and Immigration Laws
Seeking to re-imagine the meaning and significance of the international border, Opening the Floodgates makes a case for eliminating the border as a legal construct that impedes the movement of people into this country.
Open migration policies deserve fuller analysis, as evidenced by President Barack Obama's pledge to make immigration reform a priority. Kevin R. Johnson offers an alternative vision of how U.S. borders might be reconfigured, grounded in moral, economic, and policy arguments for open borders. Importantly, liberalizing migration through an open borders policy would recognize that the enforcement of closed borders cannot stifle the strong, perhaps irresistible, economic, social, and political pressures that fuel international migration.
Controversially, Johnson suggests that open borders are entirely consistent with efforts to prevent terrorism that have dominated immigration enforcement since the events of September 11, 2001. More liberal migration, he suggests, would allow for full attention to be paid to the true dangers to public safety and national security.
Open migration policies deserve fuller analysis, as evidenced by President Barack Obama's pledge to make immigration reform a priority. Kevin R. Johnson offers an alternative vision of how U.S. borders might be reconfigured, grounded in moral, economic, and policy arguments for open borders. Importantly, liberalizing migration through an open borders policy would recognize that the enforcement of closed borders cannot stifle the strong, perhaps irresistible, economic, social, and political pressures that fuel international migration.
Controversially, Johnson suggests that open borders are entirely consistent with efforts to prevent terrorism that have dominated immigration enforcement since the events of September 11, 2001. More liberal migration, he suggests, would allow for full attention to be paid to the true dangers to public safety and national security.
- GenresLaw
304 pages, Hardcover
First published October 1, 2007
4 people are currently reading
32 people want to read
About the author
Kevin R. Johnson
14 books1 followerKevin R. Johnson is Dean, Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law, and Professor of Chicana/o Studies. He previously served as the Associate Dean for Academic Affairs.
Dean Johnson has published extensively on immigration law and policy, racial identity, and civil rights. Published in 1999, his book How Did You Get to Be Mexican? A White/Brown Man's Search for Identity was nominated for the 2000 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. Opening the Floodgates: Why America Needs to Rethink its Borders and Immigration Laws (2007), one of his most recent books, has influenced the national debate over immigration reform.
A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, where he served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review, Dean Johnson earned an A.B. in economics from UC Berkeley. After law school, he clerked for the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and worked as an attorney at the international law firm of Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe. Dean Johnson has served on the board of directors of Legal Services of Northern California since 1996; after serving as Vice President, he currently is President of the board of directors. In 2006, he was elected to the board of directors of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the leading Mexican-American civil rights organization in the United States. He served on the MALDEF board until 2011.
Dean Johnson joined the UC Davis law faculty in 1989 and was named Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in 1998 and Dean in 2008. He has taught a wide array of classes, including immigration law, civil procedure, complex litigation, Latinos and Latinas and the law, refugee law, and Critical Race Theory. In 1993, he was the recipient of the law school's Distinguished Teaching Award.
A regular participant in national and international conferences, Dean Johnson has also held many leadership positions in the Association of American Law Schools and is the recipient of many honors and awards. The Minority Groups Section of the Association of American Law Schools honored him with the Clyde Ferguson Award in 2004. In 2006, the Hispanic National Bar Association named him the Law Professor of the Year. He was named the National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies 2008 Scholar of the Year. In 2003, Dean Johnson was elected to the American Law Institute.
~http://www.law.ucdavis.edu/faculty/Jo...
Dean Johnson has published extensively on immigration law and policy, racial identity, and civil rights. Published in 1999, his book How Did You Get to Be Mexican? A White/Brown Man's Search for Identity was nominated for the 2000 Robert F. Kennedy Book Award. Opening the Floodgates: Why America Needs to Rethink its Borders and Immigration Laws (2007), one of his most recent books, has influenced the national debate over immigration reform.
A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard Law School, where he served as an editor of the Harvard Law Review, Dean Johnson earned an A.B. in economics from UC Berkeley. After law school, he clerked for the Honorable Stephen Reinhardt of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and worked as an attorney at the international law firm of Heller Ehrman White & McAuliffe. Dean Johnson has served on the board of directors of Legal Services of Northern California since 1996; after serving as Vice President, he currently is President of the board of directors. In 2006, he was elected to the board of directors of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund, the leading Mexican-American civil rights organization in the United States. He served on the MALDEF board until 2011.
Dean Johnson joined the UC Davis law faculty in 1989 and was named Associate Dean for Academic Affairs in 1998 and Dean in 2008. He has taught a wide array of classes, including immigration law, civil procedure, complex litigation, Latinos and Latinas and the law, refugee law, and Critical Race Theory. In 1993, he was the recipient of the law school's Distinguished Teaching Award.
A regular participant in national and international conferences, Dean Johnson has also held many leadership positions in the Association of American Law Schools and is the recipient of many honors and awards. The Minority Groups Section of the Association of American Law Schools honored him with the Clyde Ferguson Award in 2004. In 2006, the Hispanic National Bar Association named him the Law Professor of the Year. He was named the National Association of Chicana and Chicano Studies 2008 Scholar of the Year. In 2003, Dean Johnson was elected to the American Law Institute.
~http://www.law.ucdavis.edu/faculty/Jo...
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 9, 2008
great info from a well-respected immigration law scholar, but very repetitive. it could be about 75 pages shorter. johnson argues that the current policy of closed borders is immoral and ineffective. he proposes a policy of open borders for two primary reasons: morality and economics. he argues that open borders are more consistent with liberal political theory and helpful to the nation's economy.
July 26, 2013
If you have any interest at all in the debates about migration to the United States, you should read this brilliant, interesting book. It calls for ending our militarized border policy and opening American borders to those who want to live and work here. Along the way, Johnson argues that such a policy change will improve our economy and make us more secure from criminal and terrorist threats.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews