EDITORS NOTE: Douglas Massey is available for interviews about his new book on Mexican immigration and immigration issues in general.

PHILADELPHIA -- The U.S. government crackdown on illegal immigrants has actually encouraged illegal immigrants to remain in the United States.

That's one of the conclusions of research done for a new book, "Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Immigration Policy and Global Economic Integration," by Douglas Massey with Jorge Durand.

Massey is chair of the Sociology Department at the University of Pennsylvania. He and Durand are co-directors of the Mexican Migration Project, an ongoing, bi-national research effort to study and document Mexican migration to the United States.

"Beyond Smoke and Mirrors" presents a critical history of U.S. immigration laws passed between 1986 and 1996, exploring how these policies have harmed Mexico, the United States and the people who migrate between the two countries.

Massey asserts that since 1986 Mexican migration into the United States has evolved from a circulatory flow of temporary workers into a permanent settlement of migrant workers and their dependents.

His research shows that the massive expansion of border enforcement has wasted billions of dollars and hundreds of lives. He writes that U.S. immigration policy has not deterred undocumented Mexicans from heading northward or increased their odds of capture at the border. In a paradox, the multi-billion-dollar build-up at the border has backfired by preventing illegal immigrants from returning to Mexico, thus promoting long-term U.S. settlement.

He finds that the massive expansion of the Border Patrol has not increased the odds of apprehending illegal immigrants. In fact, the number of people caught illegally entering the country is at a 30-year low, and the death rate along the border has tripled in recent years.

Massey advocates a more reasonable immigration policy designed to minimize costs and maximize benefits for citizens on both sides of the border.

"U.S. immigration policy should shift from the illusion of immigration prevention to the more realistic goal of immigration management," he said.