When a big institution starts talking about "reform," it’s usually not a sign of improvement—it’s a sign that the whole thing is about to collapse.
SSRN · March 13, 2026 · 6174461
Why it matters
The paper identifies a 'Stage-6 collapse' where an institution (like US immigration enforcement) is treated as so illegitimate that reform proposals are intentionally designed to be impossible to comply with. In this state, 'reform' ceases to be a stabilizing force and instead functions as a rhetorical tool to accelerate the institution's functional nullification.
From the abstract
<p><span>Debates over U.S. immigration enforcement are commonly framed as contests between reform and restriction. Yet in recent years, institutional behavior surrounding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) increasingly exhibits a pattern in which reform language persists while operational behavior trends toward delegitimation and functional nullification. This paper argues that the relevant shift is not ideological but structural: once institutional legitimacy is withdrawn, reform ceases