Analyses of Social Issues and Public Policy, Vol. 00, No. 0, 2011, pp. 1--4 Social Psychology and Contemporary Immigration Policy: An Introduction Kevin Lanning ∗ Florida Atlantic University This provides a brief introduction to the articles and commentary that constitute the ASAP collection on “The Social Psychology of Contemporary Immigration Policy.” The collection includes four themes: challenges for law enforcement, group relations and social justice, effects of policy on individuals and communities, and media effects. In spring 2010, the Arizona legislature passed and Governor Jan Brewer signed into law SB 1070, at that time considered to be the most restrictive anti- immigration law in the country. In the summer of that year, a “town hall” on immigration policy was held at the annual meeting of the Society for the Psycho- logical Study for Social Issues (SPSSI). Following that session, the ASAP editorial board invited the articles for a special collection on the social psychology of immi- gration policy. Eleven of the best articles received in response to that call, together with six brief essays that serve as commentary, constitute the present collection. The decision to issue the call for articles for the immigration collection was not made lightly. ASAP’s sister publication, the Journal of Social Issues, had recently dedicated half of its 2010 volume to the topic of immigration, and there are certainly other pressing social problems that warrant the attention of SPSSI journals. 1 And yet, immigration policy in general and SB 1070 in particular arguably lie at the nexus of SPSSI’s concern for social justice and the expertise of ∗ Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Kevin Lanning, Florida Atlantic University, 5353 Parkside Dr., Jupiter, FL 33458 [e-mail: kevin.lanning@gmail.com]. 1 The two JSI issues on immigration were addressed to Latinos and Latino Immigrants in the United States (Ryan & Casas, 2010) and Immigrants and Hosts: Perceptions, Interactions and Transformations (Deaux, Esses, Lalonde, & Brown, 2010). Direct links to these collections are provided in an online virtual issue that includes the present collection which may be found at the Wiley-ASAP homepage, http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/%28ISSN%291530-2415 or http://bit.ly/ASAPjournal. 1 DOI: 10.1111/j.1530-2415.2011.01271.x C  2011 The Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues