Keys to Successful Immigration

Book excerpt: Published in 1997. The Urban Institute has been studying immigration for almost a decade and a half. In recent years, the Institute’s focus has widened to include immigration integration. Unlike immigration policy, which is a federal responsibility, policies regarding immigrant integration have been left in the hands of states and localities and vary widely by region. This book focuses on the 1980-1990 experience of a high-immigrant state whose immigrant population matches the race and ethnic composition of the US population as a whole more closely than any other state. 'New Jersey’s experience with immigration is not necessarily typical of outcomes in other high-immigration states, but it may be replicable on a broader scale. As a new century approaches and as debate over immigration legislation reaches a fever pitch, it is important to analyze, in the fashion of this volume, instances of successful immigration that can serve as examples for other states, the United States as a whole and other nations...' (Thomas Espenshade).