Labor Secretary Frances Perkins Reorganizes Her Department’s Immigration Enforcement Functions, 1933–1940: “Going against the Grain”

• Published in: Journal of policy history 2023-01, Vol.35 (1), p.33-67
• Main Author: HERNANDEZ, NEIL V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Deportation; Government agencies; Immigration policy; Legislation; Narratives; Naturalization; Policy implementation; Policy making; Politics; Reorganization
• ISSN: 0898-0306; 1528-4190
• DOI: 10.1017/S0898030622000392

Labor Secretary Frances Perkins championed liberal immigration policies between 1933 and 1940. Some efforts were successful, but most were not due to political, economic, and social constraints on immigration policy making, especially in Congress. Yet, she reorganized the enforcement functions of her department when she created the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Narratives abound about the period, though few delve into this reorganization. In this article, I share an analytical framework that I developed, “policy innovation through bureaucratic reorganization,” to explain how Perkins temporarily eased the debarments, as well as deportations, of newcomers by adjusting agency resources, including staffing, budget, and infrastructure. I describe how she responded to pressures from immigration restrictionists by tightening these functions. My narrative adds to the literature on immigration policy history, which has not fully appreciated the role of bureaucratic reorganization. This research bolsters the perspective in political control theory that bureaucratic structure merits as much attention as does legislation as a tool for control.