• Login
    View Item 
    •   Home
    • Theses and Dissertations
    • Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    •   Home
    • Theses and Dissertations
    • Theses and Dissertations
    • View Item
    JavaScript is disabled for your browser. Some features of this site may not work without it.

    Browse

    All of TUScholarShareCommunitiesDateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsGenresThis CollectionDateAuthorsTitlesSubjectsGenres

    My Account

    LoginRegister

    Help

    AboutPeoplePoliciesHelp for DepositorsData DepositFAQs

    Statistics

    Most Popular ItemsStatistics by CountryMost Popular Authors

    Congress and Immigration Policy: A Study of the Member-level Motivations and Agenda Setting Strategies Surrounding Immigration Reform

    • CSV
    • RefMan
    • EndNote
    • BibTex
    • RefWorks
    Thumbnail
    Name:
    Rowlands_temple_0225E_14373.pdf
    Size:
    4.894Mb
    Format:
    PDF
    Download
    Genre
    Thesis/Dissertation
    Date
    2021
    Author
    Rowlands, Lauren
    Advisor
    Vander Wielen, Ryan J.
    Committee member
    Nickerson, David Warwick
    Mucciaroni, Gary
    Smith, Steven S., 1953-
    Department
    Political Science
    Subject
    Political science
    Congress
    Immigration
    Policy
    Permanent link to this record
    http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12613/6437
    
    Metadata
    Show full item record
    DOI
    http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/6419
    Abstract
    This dissertation project unpacks a micro- and macro-level behavioral quandary: the constraint of member-level motivations on majority party agenda setting strategies, existing in policy contexts that generate internal divisions within political parties. In particular, I do this through the lens of immigration reform. At the micro-level, I explore the district-level mechanisms that drive House members’ voting behavior on roll-calls that expand/contract immigration rights. I argue that the existing decision-making literature on immigration policy has paid scant attention to an important district-level factor: industry demand for immigrant labor. Models of legislative behavior surrounding immigration policy have, to date, largely focused on the descriptive characteristics of constituencies, often overlooking the moneyed interests that benefit from immigrant labor. The micro-level examines the interplay between district-level industry preferences and district-level economic concerns relating to the presence of immigrants (e.g., welfare, healthcare, low-skill labor market). I analyze final passage, immigration-related roll-calls during the 88th to 112th Congresses. I find that the greater the district-level industry demand for immigrant labor, the more likely a House member is to expand immigration rights generally; and, as days to an election decrease, this effect is magnified. Furthermore, the member’s party affiliation offers less predictive power (relative to other policy domains) regarding the member’s support/opposition to expanding immigration rights, especially in the modern era; thus, making parties unstable coalitions in immigration policy. At the macro-level, I further examine the consequences of these individual-level forces on agenda setting strategies. I unpack the strategic considerations of U.S. House majorities in structuring the agenda on immigration reform. Subject to multiple, potentially competing principals, rank-and-file legislators often face difficult countervailing forces in this policy domain (e.g., well-organized lobbies, advocacy groups, and constituency pressures), all of which generate internal divisions within political parties. These divisions present unique challenges to party leaders when setting the legislative agenda, as they seek to forward legislation that is likely to yield policy victories to a (relatively) cohesive majority party. Under what conditions, then, does the majority party push immigration bills to the floor? I rely on the logic of a cartelized agenda and conduct a multinomial logistic regression analysis, arguing that individual-level dynamics affect support for policies, and the results of variation at the aggregate-level increase support for bills to make it onto the agenda. My findings support aid argument and offer important insights into the incremental changes that occur in the immigration policy domain. In totality, this project helps to bridge the legislative behavior and agenda setting literatures with the literature on public policy. I look at these literatures through the lens of immigration policy – a unique and salient domain.
    ADA compliance
    For Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accommodation, including help with reading this content, please contact scholarshare@temple.edu
    Collections
    Theses and Dissertations

    entitlement

     
    DSpace software (copyright © 2002 - 2022)  DuraSpace
    Temple University Libraries | 1900 N. 13th Street | Philadelphia, PA 19122
    (215) 204-8212 | scholarshare@temple.edu
    Open Repository is a service operated by 
    Atmire NV
     

    Export search results

    The export option will allow you to export the current search results of the entered query to a file. Different formats are available for download. To export the items, click on the button corresponding with the preferred download format.

    By default, clicking on the export buttons will result in a download of the allowed maximum amount of items.

    To select a subset of the search results, click "Selective Export" button and make a selection of the items you want to export. The amount of items that can be exported at once is similarly restricted as the full export.

    After making a selection, click one of the export format buttons. The amount of items that will be exported is indicated in the bubble next to export format.