The Limits of Law: An Analysis of Immigration Law Implementation in Italy and Spain

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This project examines the implementation of immigration laws recently passed in Italy and Spain that include expansive legalization programs and greater access for immigrants to social services. These laws seem inconsistent with the economic benefits that previous studies have observed from the marginalization of immigrant workers. Several hypotheses will be tested. First, it is expected that these laws, despite the change in policy, will have little substantial impact on the numbers of illegal immigrants or their access to social services. Second, it is hypothesized that there will be a convergence of outcomes in Spain and Italy. Third, it is anticipated that the limited impacts of these laws will be primarily the consequence of economic-structural, not political, forces. The project will draw from a wide range of data sources, including government documents, secondary sources, and interviews. This project will make several theoretical contributions. Most notably, it will contribute to the legal impact literature, which focuses on the ability of law to affect real social change; the literature on immigration law and policy as it relates to the failure of immigration law to achieve its stated objectives; and the literature addressing the symbolic aspects of law. At the broadest level, the project will enhance our understanding of the relative importance of economic and political variables in the implementation of immigration law and, by extrapolation, legal change more generally.