The most comprehensive and up-to-date account of immigration policymaking available, this text presents a detailed account of the move from consensus to controversy regarding immigration policy between the mid-1960's to the late 1990's. Using raw data, interviews with public figures, and a broad understanding of the subject, authors Gimpel and Edwards explore the factors that influence perceptions about immigrants and their place in American society.

More than any other text, this volume puts policymakers at the center of the immigration policy discussion. Students get to know the key members of Congress and what they did to affect the population composition of the nation, thereby learning that political outcomes are not the result of impersonal forces but of decisions made by key individuals steeped in the controversy that now surrounds immigration policy.