The Gatekeepers is a timely, comprehensive companion for students, researchers, academics, or any person interested in US immigration policy and practice. It tells the detailed story of American immigration policies and politics over time. Drawing on Franz Kafka’s parable Before the Law, in which a gatekeeper blocks access to legal protections, which replicates the present moment in immigration policy and politics, the book traces how the US immigration gatekeeping apparatus has evolved from its historical foundations through the second Donald J. Trump presidency.