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Immigration Regulation, Luisa Blanco, Odinakachi Anyanwu

School of Public Policy Working Papers

Immigration regulation is defined here as any policy that has the objective of encouraging or discouraging immigration. There are two major categories of immigration regulation: those policies that directly affect the inflow of immigrants and those that influence the everyday lives of immigrants and processes related to the acquisition of legal permanent residency or citizenship. Immigration regulation is quite diverse across time and space; immigration policy is fluid and dynamic and is affected by socioeconomic, cultural, and political factors. Thus, immigration regulation evolves in response to current conditions in a specific country. The role of race in immigration regulation also …