America’s Second Class Non-Citizens: Why an Amnesty Won’t Suffice

The article argues that the US risks becoming a “dual society” in which recent immigrants are denied the right to participate in government, are separated from their families, barred from receiving public benefits and exploited economically. It uses these indicators to described a “growing subclass of non-citizens” and analyzes the legal barriers to immigrant participation in American social, political and economic life. It supports a broad legalization or amnesty program for undocumented persons in the US but argues that amnesty is not enough if it is not accompanied by a reform of US labor law.

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