ABSTRACT
Outsourcing immigration control to “petty sovereigns” pits the unchecked sovereign powers of the State against the most vulnerable of persons in society. Sovereignty is a good and necessary part of any nation-state. With it the U.S. colonies could declare independence from Great Britain. Without sovereignty, there is no rule of the law. But in the immigration context the existence of sovereignty has been used as an excuse to avoid the role of law. The norm in American politics is a national government with limited powers, based on the constitution, and subject to such constitutional constraints as due process, separation of powers and federalism, enforced by judicial review. Such fragmented powers provide for oversight, checks and balances, and accountability, and comprise the basis for demarcating democratic from authoritarian regimes and democratic regimes from their subjects.
