A Family Tradition: Giving Meaning to Family Unity and Decreasing Illegal Immigration Through Anthropology

My Note explores the family-preference provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act and argues that they are far too limited, especially in light of the “family unity” policy that underscores the law. Using Mexico as a model, the Note relies on the discipline of anthropology to explain that family inherently drives immigration, and it refers to an allegory from a Mexican immigrant to demonstrate how the INA is ineffective. It then argues that immigration law could learn from anthropology—both its scholarship and its disciplinary ideals—to craft a more effective and better informed immigration law, which would further the family unity policy and concomitantly reduce illegal immigration