The real and potential impact of immigration policy decisions on African Americans is profound. Yet policy makers today lack systematic knowledge of crucial social, political, and economic issues relating to the formulation of wise immigration policies, charges the editor of this book. Gerald D. Jaynes argues that little is known about important questions regarding the relations and attitudes between African Americans and minority immigrant groups, the impact of recent immigration trends on the socioeconomic status of poor African Americans, the comparative social positions of Asian Americans and Latinos, and many other related topics. In this book, the editor and thirteen other distinguished contributors consider how the large-scale influx of immigrants in recent times has affected African American communities and racial and ethnic relations. The insights about conflicts and competition derived from the work of these authors are vital to those who formulate immigration policies--policies that directly affect the well-being of the disadvantaged and indeed all Americans.

Contributors: Frank D. Bean, Bruce Cain, Thomas E. Cavanagh, Thomas J. Espenshade, Michael Fix, Mark A. Fossett, John A. Garcia, Gerald D. Jaynes, Claire Jean Kim, Douglas S. Massey, Kyung Tae Park, Peter H. Schuck, Carole Uhlaner, and Wendy Zimmerman.