Immigration and the election of Donald Trump: why the sociology of migration left us unprepared … and why we should not have been surprised.

Donald Trump began his campaign for the US Presidency by emphasizing the supposed dangers of immigration, a theme that he then rode to victory in November 2016 won the 2016 US Presidential election. This paper asks whether the sociology of migration can illuminate the sources of Trump’s success and after quickly reviewing the key contributions concludes not. Insight, rather, is to be found by understanding the ways in which population movements across state boundaries are a source of both international integration and national dis-integration, producing conflicts over the number, characteristics, and rights of immigrants from which liberal societies can find no escape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]