Symbolic Citizenship, Nationalism and the Distant State: The United States Congress in the 1996 Debate on Immigration Reform

Abstract

Using a framework which is based on T. H. Marshall's Citizenship and Social Class , the article analyzes concepts of citizenship as they emerged in the 1996 debates of the United States Congress which resulted in the passage of important welfare and immigration reform laws. The discussions revealed that a majority of congressional politicians supported a citizenship ideal that relied primarily on an individuals' status as taxpayer, worker and member of a nuclear family and remained relatively distant to the nation state. The legislation passed as a result of these debates represents the attempt to use state power to maintain immigrants' distance from the state.