2004
Alumni (National Fellow)
Rebecca Bohrman
Thesis Description:
Sifting Immigrants: The Political and Historical Roots of Administrative Failure in the I.N.S.
Bohrman argues that the INS’s problems can be traced to its institutional design, and that these problems are perpetuated by the particular alignment of political conflict over immigration issues. Immigration administration is at the center of American politics, affecting everyone from legal and undocumented immigrants to workers and employers, yet Immigration and Naturalization Service has been troubled since its inception. Bohrman’s dissertation explained why the INS has been an agency in disarray, by answering the question: why has Congress so rarely tried and even more rarely succeeded in giving the INS greater administrative capacity?
