Immigration in New York

In this comprehensive and lively study (the second trait a most welcome change from most demographic analyses), Bogen, Director of the Office of Immigrant Affairs, provides a summary of the legislative history of immigration to the city and extensive quantitative data on the new arrivals. She also discusses the character and quality of human and legal services for immigrants and refugees, reviews monetary and social costs and benefits, sets forth a series of recommendations for social policy, and ends with a thoughtful Paean to the Lady, the one with the lamp held high beside the Golden Door. In addition to its general contents, Bogen's book includes a most useful glossary of terms and acronyms so that readers, too, may know what it means to adjust one's status, understand the oxymoron called conditional permanent residence, take courses in ESL, and look to a volag for assistance.

Choice

This insightful volume is a comprehensive discussion of immigration patterns in New York City today. Providing the reader with a history of immigration, the book examines the composition of the city's immigrant population and the various public and private social agencies that affect it, such as the city's health and education agencies, the refugee resettlement network, the Catholic Church, and the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service. The book challenges the popular but contradictory notion that immigrants cause unemployment for native-born Americans by accepting work at lower wages, while they raise taxes by living on welfare.

ELIZABETH BOGEN is Director of the Office of Immigrant Affairs at the New York City Department of City Planning.