New Democracy Forum: The Immigrant as Pariah

Abstract

Democracy is supposed to be government "by the people" and "for the people." But how should a democratic government treat those who have immigrated to its territory but not yet attained the status of citizen--who are not yet part of the people? This question is discussed in Boston Review's October/November 1998 New Democracy Forum.

Opening the debate with his article "The Immigrant as Pariah," Owen Fiss discusses the Constitutional and moral propriety of the new welfare regime, arguing that to deny immigrants welfare benefits is to impose a social disability on a group whose members lack the economic or political power to defend themselves. This social disability, coupled with the existing political disabilities--notably, denial of the right to vote--would create a near-caste structure, with immigrants at the bottom. Pointing to the power given to them by the Equal Protection Clause and their insulation from public opinion, Fiss calls on the courts to protect the immigrant from being turned into a pariah.

Following Fiss' piece are eleven responses from Myron Weiner, Richard Freeman, Jagdish Bhagwati, Rogers Smith, Ulrich Preuss, Jennifer Gordon, Iris Young, Muzaffar Chishti, Robin West, Mark Tushnet, and Alexander Aleinikoff. The forum ends with Fiss' response to his critics. The debate will be published in book format by Beacon Press in the fall of 1999, with a preface by Edwidge Danticat.