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37 Int'l Migration Rev. 5 (2003)

handle is hein.journals/imgratv37 and id is 1 raw text is: The Decline of Barriers to Immigrant Economic and Political Rights in the American States: 1977-2001' Luis E B. Plascencia Gary E Freeman University of Texas at Austin Mark Setzler University of Portland State governments exercise significant powers to regulate the economic and social activities of resident aliens. We review the laws of the six lead- ing states of immigrant settlement regulating access of noncitizens to 23 occupations, updating existing studies from 1946-77. Citizenship requirements for these occupations have plummeted, a change we attribute to federal court decisions, advisory opinions of state attorneys general, and state legislative and administrative action. There are numer- ous additional citizenship requirements in the statutes of the six states, although these appear to be poorly enforced. The authority of states to regulate their political communities is the most important remaining constitutionally valid basis of citizenship requirements. States define their political community broadly, leading to questionable exclusions of nonci- tizens from important activities. Since major welfare legislation was adopted in 1996, considerable attention has been paid to the 'new Federalism,' 'devolution,' and the enlarged role of states to make decisions regarding public assistance for immigrants (Fix and Tumlin, 1998; Urban Institute, 1997-2000). Although states now have more specific authority over immigrant eligibility for some public benefit programs as a result of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconcilia- tion Act (PRWORA), it is misleading to assert that state policymaking for immigrants is new. The federal government determines the entry and stay of immigrants, as well as the terms for acquiring U.S. citizenship, but states play an important role in making policies that shape incorporation after entry 'We wish to acknowledge financial support from the Public Policy Clinic of the Department of Government, University of Texas, Austin, and Levi-Strauss & Company through a grant to the Tomsis Rivera Policy Institute. Anna Law, Tom Parks, and Huei-Hsia Wu provided research assistance. © 2003 by the Center for Migration Studies of New York. All rights reserved. 0198-9183/03/3701.0141 IMR Volume 37 Number 1 (Spring 2003):5-23 5

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