Law Commons^™

Immigration And The Allure Of Inclusion, Ediberto Román

Faculty Publications

Essentially, all immigrant stories concern labels and their consequences, including the fiction of the legal and illegal "alien. ' These labels in turn are created by immigration regimes that have the effect of establishing identities of both welcomed and unwelcome newcomers into a society. These fictions or labels occur within what can be described as the legal fiction of the nation-state. In many respects, all immigrant debates and accounts are tales of inclusion and membership within legal frameworks that decide which groups of people are deemed worthy of eventual formal membership within a political structure. Indeed, the label of "alien" …