Steve Cohen, Beth Humphries and Ed Mynott , From Immigration Controls to Welfare Controls - Eds - Book Review

Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare, Dec, 2003 by Miriam Potocky-Tripodi

New York: Routledge, 2002. $90.00 hardcover, $28.95 papercover.

This edited volume addresses recent policy that has severely restricted access to welfare assistance by asylum seekers and other immigrants within Britain. This issue is of broader relevance as the British policy, the 1999 Immigration and Asylum Act, closely parallels the spirit and intent of the 1996 "welfare reform" policy in the United States, as well as similar legislation in other European states. In essence these policies position non-citizens as a lesser category of human beings undeserving of public support, based on the premise that they have not "paid into" the system. The policies also reflect age-old characterizations of immigrants as lazy, criminal, feeble-minded, unclean and immoral Thus, these policies have arisen in the 1990s as a result of, as well as an expression of, the treatment of immigrants as scapegoats for society's ills.

For several years now immigrant advocates have been engaged in a concerted effort to document and publicize the injustices of these policies, their inconsistencies with pre-existing national and international laws, their deleterious effects upon the target populations, and their unintended consequences for particularly vulnerable sub-populations, such as children. This book is part of that effort. The contributing authors, who include immigration lawyers, researchers, and social work academicians, aim to describe the provisions of the policies, to reveal racist and capitalist motivations behind the policies, and to encourage collective resistance to the policies by welfare workers, who have been saddled with the task of policy implementation.

The book is divided into three parts. Part I, labeled "Political, Historical, and International Issues," primarily traces the historical development of these policies in Britain and the various forces, identified as racism, nationalism, and classism, that have played a role. The "international" perspective is provided primarily by a chapter on the immigrant provisions of the welfare reform legislation in the United States, focusing in particular on its consequences for citizen children of non-citizen parents. Part II of the book addresses the contemporary issues in immigration and welfare. The five chapters in this section describe the various provisions of the British policy related to asylum seekers' (and other immigrants') disentitlements from social welfare programs such as cash assistance and housing. In essence the legislation has created an entirely separate welfare system for these non-citizens, a system that is "separate and unequal." This section documents how this separate system benefits the interests of private enterprise, namely shop-owners and landlords. The section also points out how the immigration legislation is inconsistent with other legislation, in particular child welfare policy. Additionally, the chapters in this section explain how welfare workers in the non-governmental voluntary sector have been made complicit in carrying out the provisions of the legislation.

The last part of the book puts forward some bold suggestions for actions to oppose the legislation. This is really the most interesting part of the book, because it is the most thought-provoking and controversial. There are three chapters in this section. The first addresses possible legal challenges to the policy via other British policies and European conventions. The next chapter advocates the repeal of all immigration control laws worldwide, including both internal controls such as those addressed in this book, as well as external controls that restrict entry. The argument put forth for this is that "fair" immigration controls are impossible to achieve because all controls are inherently racist; hence, no controls are the only just solution. However, the author of this chapter gives very short shrift to the very serious problems that would ensue from this approach. The author also appears to take a rather relativist stance on human rights, which some readers might take issue with. The final chapter advocates that the welfare workers in the nongovernmental sector, who have been charged with implementing the legislation, take collective action by refusing to cooperate in this scheme. This is another area of controversy, as some may question whether change can best be achieved by working against the system or working with it.

On the whole this book is an important contribution to the debates on immigration policy and welfare policy. The book clearly lays out the harmful, mean-spirited, and selfish intents and consequences of the internal immigration controls in Britain, and it takes a clear and bold stance on strategies for resistance, which can serve as a launching point for further debate. The book could have benefited from some better synthesis and organization. Quite a few of the chapters are rather repetitive. A concluding chapter that draws everything together, and that might provide more international perspective, would also have been helpful. Nonetheless, it is definitely recommended reading for all concerned not only with issues of immigration but of social justice.