Saskia Sassen

Saskia Sassen is a sociology professor at the University of Chicago and the author of several books on migration and globalization, including Guests and Aliens and Globalization and Its Discontents. In the following viewpoint, she contends that while the United States and other wealthy nations often view immigration from poorer countries as a national crisis that requires strong police action, such a unilateral approach is counterproductive in today’s globalized economy in which goods, money, and people routinely cross national borders. In addition, attempts to stop immigration through military or police activities threaten the civil rights of immigrants and the general rule of law. She argues that the United States should work with other countries in formulating new policies to manage, rather than stamp out, immigration.

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