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This paper examines the effects of 9/11 on the self-employment outcomes of Arab and Muslim immigrants. Using CPS Data 2000–2005 and a difference-in-differences approach, I analyze the changes in their self-employment entry/exit decisions and earnings after 9/11 using native whites as the main comparison group. I find that the Arab and Muslim immigrants are less likely to enter self-employment after 9/11, especially into industries that require higher levels of capital investment. However, there is no evidence that 9/11 has negative impacts on their exit decisions or earnings. The paper further documents a shift of Arab and Muslim immigrants’ businesses toward industries such as construction, finance/real estate/insurance services, and professional services after 9/11, areas in which they have performed well. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper highlights the means for the exclusion of groups deemed undesirable within the Lockean liberal tradition, particularly as the American Federalists modified it. It further explores the consequences of the practical application of this vision for immigration in the American case. The author contends that controversies about immigration in America demonstrate a deeply communitarian strain within Lockean liberalism that feeds rationalized exclusionary practice. This argument turns on an analysis of liberal theories of consent in Locke and early American thinkers. The goal of the paper is to make the Lockean tradition and its American adaptations speak more clearly about immigration, so that the issue can be better defined. In framing both the use and abuse of immigrants and the foundations of such behavior as problematic, the author hopes to provoke fresh thinking about the nature of and possible solutions to American exclusionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides an empirical assessment of the prevalence and determinants of cross-state social exchanges and attachments among Latin American immigrants living in the United States. As we shall show, using data from a recent survey of Latin American migrants living in the United States, migrant cross-state social action comes in a variety of types, with the direction of conditioning factors differing from one type to another. Moreover, social and political incorporation in the United States reduces affective ties and provision of material support, all the while facilitating other forms of cross-state social action. Consequently, while international migrants regularly engage in trans-state social action, the paper shows that neither transnational ism as condition of being, nor transmigrants, as distinctive class of people, is commonly found. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data drawn from the 2000 US and the 2001 Canadian Censuses, this paper analyzes the onward emigration of Canadian immigrants to the US between 1995 and 2000. The characteristics of an estimated 48,336 Canadian immigrants who made an onward emigration from Canada to the United States are examined. This paper also seeks to determine whether onward foreign-born emigrants are representative of immigrants in Canada and Canadian-born emigrants to the US. Results indicate that onward emigrants are primarily young, married, possess a bachelor's degree, earn incomes of $100,000 US or greater, and reside in large immigrant-receiving states and metropolitan areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper two gaps in North American immigrant homeownership research are addressed. The first concerns the lack of studies (especially in Canada) that identify changes in homeownership rates by skin color over time, and the second relates to the shortage of comparative research between Canada and the United States on this topic. In this paper the homeownership levels and attainment rates of Black, Chinese, Filipino, White, and South Asian immigrants are compared in Canada and the United States for 1970/1971–2000/2001. For the most part, greater similarities than differences are found between the two countries. Both Canadian and U.S. Chinese and White immigrants have the highest adjusted homeownership rates of all groups, at times even exceeding comparably positioned native-born households. Black immigrants, on the other hand, tend to have the lowest ownership rates of all groups, particularly in the United States, with Filipinos and South Asians situated between these extremes. Most of these differences stem from disparities that exist at arrival, however, and not from differential advancement into homeownership. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The American Community Survey (ACS) includes a "year-of-entry" question that asks the foreign born when they came "to live in the United States." Researchers have used these data to analyze "recent" immigrants -- usually defined as arriving within the last five to 10 years -- noting that the number of new arrivals is considerably lower than those who arrived in prior years and suggesting the size of the recent immigrant population may be underestimated. This paper shows the primary cause of the lower-than-expected estimates to be the ACS data collection methodology, which causes an inherent downward bias in survey-year arrivals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effectiveness of migration policies has been widely contested. However, because of methodological and conceptual limitations, evidence has remained inconclusive. Moreover, prior studies focus on the effects of policies on inflows and fail to assess the simultaneous effect of policies on outflows. This is essential from a theoretical point of view as immigration restrictions may reduce both inflows and outflows and, hence, overall circulation. This renders the effect of immigration restrictions on net migration theoretically ambiguous. To fill this gap, and using unique migration and visa data from the Determinants of International Migration ( DEMIG) project, this paper assesses the short- and long-term effects of travel visa policy regimes on bilateral immigration and emigration dynamics. The results suggest that travel visa policies significantly decrease inflows, but this effect is undermined by decreasing outflows of the same migrant groups. This confirms that migration restrictions decrease circulation and tend to encourage long-term settlement, and thereby sharply reduce the responsiveness of migration to economic fluctuations in destination and origin societies. We also identify asymmetric policy effects with migration flows declining only very gradually after a visa introduction but increasing almost immediately after visa removal. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An awareness of the growing importance of the Chinese overseas was recognized in convening the major conference Luodi-shenggen: The Legal Political and Economic Status of Chinese in Diaspora, which was held in San Francisco, California in November 1992. The organizing committee had designated five major themes around which participants could write their papers. Panels were created around these themes, with additional panels developed around topics that emerged as being of concern as planning for the conference progressed. Concern tended to center around the general issues of overseas Chinese communities and, in particular, the origin and structure of new Chinatowns. In total, over 140 papers were presented encompassing these themes during the three days of the conference. Just under half of the papers were presented in Chinese and the rest in English. The sessions on business relations devoted much attention to the strategies of Chinese entrepreneurs within both local and regional contexts. The sessions on migration covered the gamut from theoretical, global aspects of the Chinese diaspora to local dimensions of the Chinese migrant and criminal law. Particular attention was focused on two of the main destinations of migration such as Australia and Canada.

This article presents information on research papers, articles and books on migration. The research paper titled "The Number of Illegal Migrants of Mexican Origin in the United States: Sex Ratio-Based Estimates for 1980," reports the results of applying a sex ratio-based method to estimate the number of undocumented Mexicans residing in the United States in 1980. The approach centers on a comparison between the hypothetical sex ratio one would expect to find in Mexico in the absence of emigration to the U.S. and the sex ratio that is in fact reported in the preliminary counts from the 1980 Mexican Census. Another report "Population Change and California's Future," by L.F. Bouvier and P. Martin, looks at how demographic changes, particularly in immigration and fertility, have affected and will continue to affect every segment of California's population. As a result of continued very low fertility and high levels of immigration, the state is both aging and becoming increasingly heterogeneous in its composition.

This paper presents an analysis of the acculturative process of one Dominican family, focusing on the adaptation of extended families to United States immigration policy, and the implications these adaptations may hold for the traditional Dominican family. It is the contention of this paper that the definition of "family" according to United States immigration regulations does not reflect the cooperating kin group which is the "family" in Dominican culture and this gives rise to the need for a variety of extra-legal immigrant adaptive strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the meeting held. The International Newsletter on Migration is a publication of the Research Committee on Migration, International Sociological Association. The annual meeting of the Population Association of America, held April 13-15, 1978 in Atlanta, Georgia, included its usual share of migration papers. A session on Migration Types and Their Correlates, organized and chaired by Sidney Goldstein consisted of "Repeat Migration in the United States: Who Moves Back and Who Moves On", by Julie Da Vanzo. "Black Migration in the Deep South, 1960-1970", by Eui Hang Shin and others. A number of other migration papers were scattered throughout the program. Among these were several on interrelationships between migration and other sociodemographic variables, including: retirement, adolescence in historical perspective, the religious factor, and fertility in the Philippines. Policies and official data received attention in presentations by George R. Demko who examined the effectiveness of population redistribution policies in Hungary. Other details are also included in the article.

The article focuses on several congresses and conventions related to migration research in the United States. It is informed that the Annual Meeting of the Population Association of America was held in St. Louis, Missouri from April 21-23, 1977. Three sessions of the meeting were devoted exclusively to migration. Monica Boyd organized a session on Studies in Migration which included papers by Charles B. Keely and Ellen P. Kraly on the impact of recent net alien immigration to the United States on population growth and native fertility; Peter Grandstaff on an empirical examination of migration determinants in the Soviet Union; Robert Bach on migration and fertility in Malaysia; Larry Long and Kristin Hansen on models of return, repeat, and primary migration by age and race; and Julie DaVanzo on a longitudinal analysis of migrants who return. Other papers on migration appeared throughout the three-day program. Lilia Hernandez compared socioeconomic aspects of the urbanization of Spanish origin immigrants in the United States. The Association of American Geographers, meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah from April 24-27, 1977, showed even more interest in migration. Five sessions were reserved for migration.

The article presents abstracts of various papers related to the migration that were published in several periodicals. One of the papers discussed is "Gentility: A French-Canadian Community in the Minnesota Red River Valley," by V. Berroit. The history of the settlement of French Canadians in Gentility, a township in Polk County in the Red River Valley of North-Western Minnesota. "For the most part, French Canadian immigrants remained culturally and spiritually faithful to a socio-ecclesiastical structure and that not only gave them individual independence by being basically rural, but assured them of their survival as a group by virtue of its village-like character. Another paper discussed is "Immigration Policies and Trends: A Comparison of Canada and the United States," by M. Byod. This paper discusses recent migration to North America with reference to the 1962 and 1967 Canadian immigration regulations and the 1965 U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act. Despite the similar emphasis on manpower and kinship criteria as the basis for the admission of immigrants, differences between Canada and the U.S. exist with respect to the importance of immigration for the respective economies, the organization of immigration, the formal regulations, and the size and composition of migrant streams.

The article presents a study on the contribution of Immigration to United States population growth from 1790 to 1970. There is currently widespread interest in the size and rate of increase of the United States population and in the demographic requirements for achieving zero population growth. The primary purpose of this paper is to present such estimates for the 180-year period covered by the decennial censuses of population and for all intercensal segments of this span, which range in length from one decade to 170 years. The secondary purpose of this paper is to indicate the relevance of these findings to the contribution of future immigration to United States population growth. A methodology is developed and tested for estimating end-of-a-period population attributable to the population present at the beginning of a period and attributable to net immigration during a period. The demographic factors are so variable and the social, economic, and political implications are so indeterminate that the contribution of immigration to United States population growth in the 1790-1970 period has no obvious relevance to the contribution of future immigration to United States population growth.

The article presents abstracts of various papers related to migration in North America. One of the papers discussed is "Interstate Migration of Labor-Force Age Population," by David F. Bramhall and Herrington J. Bryce. The authors find that migration from a state is closely linked to the size of population by age groups rather than to economic conditions. Immigration rates into states, on the other hand, are importantly determined by employment opportunities. Other findings are that the propensity of non-whites of labor-force age to migrate is less than that of whites, and whites are generally more responsive to changes in employment opportunities among states than are non-whites. Another paper discussed is "An Analysis of the Determinants of Geographic Labor Mobility in the United States," by Michael J. Greenwood. The study aims to estimate the magnitudes of each of several factors influencing interstate migration over the period 1955-1960. Multiple regression analysis was used on several variables, which might reasonably be expected to explain the movements, which occurred. The most unique explanatory variable employed is the migrant stock, that is, the number of persons born in State i and living in State j. Failure to include the migrant stock variable in the estimated relationships causes the true direct effect of most other variables to be obscured.

The article presents information on various research papers which has been previously published in various journals. The research paper "Conflict, Race and System-Transformation in the United States," by Charles V. Hamilton suggests that one has to understand racial conflict in the United States as reflecting the need to change substantially the way decisions are made in this society, not the mere decisions themselves. The research paper "Elitism or Equality--Future Directions in Immigration Legislation" signifies the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 which changes the direction of American Immigration policies away from nationality quotas in favor of equality before the law regardless of race, creed or place of birth. Another research paper "Beyond Community Integration and Stability: A Comparative Study of Oriental and Mennonite Children," by Minako Kurokawa discusses the cultural conflict experienced by the immigrants in the United States and Canada. The research paper "Intermarriage and the Small Town: The Jewish Case" contends that the Jew who is exogamous will dissociate himself from the Jewish community and lose his Jewish identity.

The article presents abstracts of various research papers on emigration and immigration. One of the research papers "Population Policy and Demographic Prospects in the People's Republic of China," traces the development of family limitation policies in relation to population problems, population theories, economic trends and other aspects of civil administration that seem to have influenced official decision-making. Implications for demographic prospects during the next two decades are assessed and presented quantitatively in alternate model population projections. Another article "Ethnicity in the United States: A Small Town Case," hypothesized that in the United States, the domain of ethnic identification, or nationality, is structured in a manner similar to the domain of kinship. It attempts to verify this hypothesis empirically through an analysis of cultural data collected during a year of fieldwork. The article "The Jewish Refugee Factor in American Middle Eastern Policy, 1939- 1945," analyzes American reactions to the holocaust of some six million Jews by the Nazi, with particular emphasis upon Palestine.

This paper examines state policies that extend or deny in-state tuition to children of undocumented immigrants in the United States. Using the Current Population Survey (1997-2010), we assess changes in college enrollment among Mexican-born non-citizens - a proxy for the undocumented population. In contrast to previous analyses, we find that policies extending in-state tuition to undocumented youth do not directly affect rates of college enrollment. However, we find that Mexican-born non-citizen youth residing in states that deny in-state tuition have a 12.1 percentage point lower probability of being enrolled in college than their peers living in states with no such policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapidity with which immigrant children learn the dominant language of their country of residence has important short-term and long-term consequences for their educational achievements and for their future. In this paper I use US Census data to model trajectories of English acquisition among foreign-born children living in Spanish- language households. The results show, as expected, that children's English proficiency increases with length of residence in the United States. However, the results also show a clear trend by age at arrival. The older children are when they arrive in the United States, the less rapid their progress in acquiring proficiency in English. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper uses confidential ACS data to compare the characteristics of immigrants from ten Asian and Latino origins and the total foreign born in traditional, emerging, and dispersed areas. The correlates of dispersed settlement were estimated for each group and the total foreign born using multinomial logistic regression. The findings show that the characteristics of immigrants in dispersed settlements differ both within and across national origin groups and also between national groups and the total foreign born. Several relationships, particularly those for education and occupation measures, differ significantly and call into question the homogeneity assumption commonly made by studies of the total foreign born or pan-ethnic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Important political events are known to influence political socialization and development (Green, Palmquist, and Schickler ). It is also possible that such events impact political socialization within particular age cohorts, and also across important social groups who may be impacted differently by landmark events. This paper examines whether landmark immigration events can leave a permanent mark on an individual's views toward immigrants and immigration, and whether that impact varies across different ethnic/racial groups in the United States Specifically, we examine the cohort of individuals who were in their formative years during the passage of major US immigration bills that were proposed or enacted from 1965 to 2010. Altogether, we focus on four pieces of landmark immigration legislation. The findings reveal variations on the effect of these events depending on the group in question; a relationship also emerges between these landmark legislative events and attitudes on immigration policies. The analysis contributes to an ongoing debate regarding the ways in which political elites influence attitudes, and we discuss how the findings may apply to other contexts outside the US. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although women's representation among international migrants in many countries has risen over the last 100 years, we know far less about gender gaps in the labor force participation of immigrants across a wide span of host societies. Prior studies have established that immigrant women are doubly disadvantaged in terms of labor market outcomes in the U.S., Canada, and Israel. These studies suggest an intriguing question: Are there gender gaps in immigrant labor force participation across destinations countries? In this paper, we investigate the extent to which the double disadvantage exists for immigrant women in a variety of host countries. We also examine how marriage moderates this double disadvantage. For the U.S., although we find that immigrant women have had the lowest labor force participation rates compared to natives and immigrant men since 1960, marital status is an important stratifying attribute that helps explain nativity differences. Extending the analysis to eight other countries reveals strong gender differences in labor force participation and shows how marriage differentiates immigrant women's labor force entry more so than men's. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1990s, the immigrant population in the United States dispersed to non-traditional settlement locations (what have become known as 'new immigrant destinations'). This paper examines whether the allure of new destinations persisted in the 2000s with a particular focus on the internal migration of the foreign-born during the recent deep recessionary period and its aftermath. Three specific questions motivate the analysis. First, are immigrants, much like the U.S.-born population, becoming less migratory within the country over time? Second, is immigrant dispersal from traditional gateways via internal migration continuing despite considerable economic contraction in many new destination metropolitan areas? Third, is immigration from aboard a substitute for what appears to be declining immigrant internal migration to new destinations? The findings reveal a close correlation between the declining internal migration propensity of the U.S.-born and immigrants in the last two decades. We also observe parallels between the geographies of migration of native- and foreign-born populations with both groups moving to similar metropolitan areas in the 1990s. This redistributive association, however, weakened in the subsequent decade as new destination metropolitan areas lost their appeal for both groups, especially immigrants. There is no evidence to suggest that immigration from abroad is substituting for the decline in immigrant redistribution through internal migration to new destinations. Across destination types, the relationship between immigration from abroad and the internal migration of the foreign-born remained the same during and after the Great Recession as in the period immediately before it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the impact of labor market competition measured within occupations on attitudes toward immigrants in the U.S. including perceived group threat and policy preferences. Multilevel analyses of data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, O* NET, and the General Social Survey demonstrate that labor market competition accounts for threat perceptions - threat is lower in occupations with greater expected employment growth. Individual-level characteristics also explain differences across occupations. Perceived group threat is higher in some occupations because job incumbents have less education. Occupational differences in threat perceptions account for all occupational differences in policy attitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates comparative patterns of fertility in new Hispanic destinations and established gateways using pooled cross-sectional data from the 2005-2009 microdata files of the American Community Survey. Changing Hispanic fertility provides a useful indicator of cultural incorporation. Analyses show that high fertility among Hispanics has been driven in part by the Mexican origin and other new immigrant populations ( e.g., non-citizens, those with poor English language skills, etc.). However, high fertility rates among Hispanics cannot be explained entirely by sociodemographical characteristics that place them at higher risk of fertility. For 2005-2009, Hispanic fertility rates were 48 percent higher than fertility among whites; they were roughly 25 percent higher after accounting for differences in key social characteristics, such as age, nativity, country of origin, and education. Contrary to most previous findings of spatial assimilation among in-migrants, fertility rates among Hispanics in new destinations exceeded fertility in established gateways by 18 percent. In the multivariate analyses, Hispanics in new destinations were roughly 10 percent more likely to have had a child in the past year than those living in established gateways. Results are consistent with subcultural explanations of Hispanic fertility and raise new questions about the spatial patterning of assimilation and the formation of ethnic enclaves outside traditional settlement areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geography Mexican migration to the U.S. has experienced deep transformations in both its origin composition and the destinations chosen by migrants. To date, however, we know little about how shifting migrant origins and destinations may be linked to each another geographically and, ultimately, structurally as relatively similar brands of economic restructuring have been posited to drive the shifts in origins and destinations. In this paper, we describe how old and new migrant networks have combined to fuel the well-documented geographic expansion of Mexican migration. We use data from the 2006 Mexican National Survey of Population Dynamics, a nationally representative survey that for the first time collected information on U.S. state of destination for all household members who had been to the U.S. during the 5 years prior to the survey. We find that the growth in immigration to southern and eastern states is disproportionately fueled by undocumented migration from non-traditional origin regions located in Central and Southeastern Mexico and from rural areas in particular. We argue that economic restructuring in the U.S. and Mexico had profound consequences not only for the magnitude but also for the geography of Mexican migration, opening up new region-to-region flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geography Mexican migration to the U.S. has experienced deep transformations in both its origin composition and the destinations chosen by migrants. To date, however, we know little about how shifting migrant origins and destinations may be linked to each another geographically and, ultimately, structurally as relatively similar brands of economic restructuring have been posited to drive the shifts in origins and destinations. In this paper, we describe how old and new migrant networks have combined to fuel the well-documented geographic expansion of Mexican migration. We use data from the 2006 Mexican National Survey of Population Dynamics, a nationally representative survey that for the first time collected information on U.S. state of destination for all household members who had been to the U.S. during the 5 years prior to the survey. We find that the growth in immigration to southern and eastern states is disproportionately fueled by undocumented migration from non-traditional origin regions located in Central and Southeastern Mexico and from rural areas in particular. We argue that economic restructuring in the U.S. and Mexico had profound consequences not only for the magnitude but also for the geography of Mexican migration, opening up new region-to-region flows. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By treating the 1.5 generation as a distinctive analytic category, this paper compares the effects of generational status on earnings among men of Chinese, Filipinos, and Korean descents in the New York metropolitan area. Our analyses of the 5 percent Public Use Microdata Sample data of the 2000 U.S. census show that all other background characteristics held equal, 1.5-generation Chinese and Filipino American workers make significantly higher earnings than second-generation workers. However, Korean American workers do not exhibit this 1.5-generation advantage. These findings support a segmented assimilation theory, the view that immigrant assimilation paths are not uniform across ethnic groups or generation status. Other findings suggest that bilingual ability would increase earnings only for the Chinese group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the effect of the human capital characteristics of co-ethnic immigrant communities on foreign-born students' math achievement. We use data on New York City public school foreign-born students from 39 countries merged with census data on the characteristics of the immigrant household heads in the city from each nation of origin and estimate regressions of student achievement on co-ethnic immigrant community characteristics, controlling for student and school attributes. We find that the income and size of the co-ethnic immigrant community has no effect on immigrant student achievement, while the percent of college graduates may have a small positive effect. In addition, children in highly English proficient immigrant communities test slightly lower than children from less proficient communities. The results suggest that there may be some protective factors associated with immigrant community members' education levels and use of native languages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates and interprets empirical shifts in the gender composition of immigrants to add to scholarship about the gendering of international migrations over time. We map shifts in gender ratios using micro-level data that permit us to create age-standardized estimates among adult foreign born stock living in the United States since 1850 and in 26 other nations worldwide since 1960. We examine regional and national variations in these shifts, and ask whether and how the gendered composition of foreigners from diverse origins in the United States - the nation that has received the largest populations of migrants for over a century - differs from other nations that receive large numbers of immigrants. We also examine recent variations in gender ratios among immigrants living in six regional destination countries. Results show substantial variation in the gender composition of foreign-born populations, and they offer a starting point for examining causes and consequences in future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research compares several national-origin groups in terms of how parents' entry, legalization and naturalization ( i.e., membership) statuses relate to their children's educational attainment. In the case of Asian groups, the members of which predominantly come to the United States as permanent legal migrants, we hypothesize (1) that father's and mother's statuses will be relatively homogenous and few in number and (2) that these will exert minimal net effects on second-generation attainment. For Mexicans, many of whom initially come as temporary unauthorized migrants, we hypothesize (1) that parental status combinations will be heterogeneous and greater in number and (2) that marginal membership statuses will exert negative net effects on education in the second generation. To assess these ideas, we analyze unique intergenerational data from Los Angeles on the young adult members of second-generation national-origin groups and their parents. The findings show that Asian immigrant groups almost universally exhibit similar father-mother migration statuses and high educational attainment among children. By contrast, Mexicans manifest more numerous discrepant father-mother combinations, with those in which the mother remains unauthorized carrying negative implications for children's schooling. The paper discusses the theoretical and policy implications of the delays in incorporation that result from Mexican Americans needing extra time and resources compared to the members of other groups to overcome their handicap of marginal membership status ( i.e., being more likely to enter and remain unauthorized). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using representative national surveys, this paper compares economic outcomes among Latin American migrants to Spain and the United States in the first cross-national comparison using quantitative data. Considering the geographic location and social proximity of each country with respect to Latin America, we detect a critical selection effect whereby the majority of Latin American migrants to Spain originate in South America from middle class backgrounds, whereas most migrants to the United States are Central Americans of lower class origins. This selection effect accounts for cross-national differences in the probability of employment, occupational attainment, and wages earned. Despite differences in the origins and characteristics of Latino immigrants to each country, demographic and human and social capital factors appear to operate similarly in both places; and when models are estimated separately by legal status, we find that effects are more accentuated for undocumented compared with documented migrants, especially in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Does immigration hamper union organizing in the United States? The prevailing literature strongly suggests that it does and for two reasons: first, immigrants increase the labor pool and diminish union influence over the labor market. And second, immigrants may be harder to organize than native workers. In this dominant view, unions are well served to restrict immigration and have always done so. But how, then, to explain the fact that American labor has long been deeply divided over the response to immigration? Drawing on new archival research and interviews, this paper uncovers a neglected side of American labor history in which many union leaders have extended solidarity to immigrants and sought to organize them. Moreover, analysis of time series data on immigration and union density corroborates the implicit theory of this alternate account of labor history: immigration has, in fact, no statistically significant effect - either positive or negative - on union density over time. Depending on specific conditions and strategies, unions can and have been successful in organizing during periods of high immigration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While the United States welcomes foreign-born students and trainees and, less warmly, temporary workers such as H-1B visa holders, it places an array of requirements, obstacles, and delays upon persons who would like to make the U.S. their permanent home. The number of people in the queue for legal permanent residence (LPR) is, however, difficult to ascertain. This paper estimates the number of highly skilled foreign-born persons waiting for LPR via the three main employment-based categories, separately by whether they are living in the United States or abroad, as well as the number of family members. We find that as of the end of FY 2006 there were about half a million employment-based principals awaiting LPR in the United States, together with over half a million family members, plus over 125 thousand principals and family members waiting abroad. These numbers dwarf the visas available annually – 120,120 plus any not used in the family preferences – suggesting that the long delays in gaining legal permanent residence are a visa number problem, not an administrative processing problem, as many believe. The backlog thus cannot be eliminated without a large change in public policy. The delay in gaining legal permanent residence could contribute to the decision of many highly skilled foreign-born to leave the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The intersection of race and immigrant status forms a unique social space where minority group members and immigrants are afforded or denied the privileges that are routinely accorded to native-born, non-Hispanic whites. Yet recent research on the intersection of race and immigrant status is inconsistent in its findings, limited to a small number of racial groups, and does not account for the geographic distribution of racial/ethnic groups. In this paper, we shed light on the intersection of race and immigrant status by answering two questions: (1) Do racial disparities in socioeconomic outcomes vary by nativity? and (2) Do native-immigrant disparities in socioeconomic outcomes vary by race? Using 2000 Census data linked to metropolitan area and sending country data, we find that racial disparities are similar and significant among natives and immigrants (Question 1). Asians, blacks, and Latinos fare significantly worse than their white counterparts in both the native and immigrant populations. Furthermore, our analysis of native-immigrant wage disparities by race reveals that the immigrant experience is considerably worse for Asians, blacks, and Latinos (Question 2). These groups also receive fewer wage returns to years spent in the U.S. and their wage disparities are magnified by the percentage of immigrants in a metropolitan area – whereas all whites receive a wage premium when living in an area with a larger share of immigrants. The results suggest that race and immigrant status work in concert to uniquely influence the social experience of immigrant minorities in the U.S. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines relationships between legal and illegal farmworker migration from Mexico and state-level labor market, agricultural, demographic, and public policy variables. The study uses a nationally representative farmworker survey providing direct legal status data. Consistent with previous literature, results indicate that personal and community networks are primary determinants of locational choices. Conversely, border enforcement is negatively related to migration to certain areas. Results are strongest for California migrants and for those with previous migration experience. Potential welfare and education program values are uncorrelated with locations of recent Mexican agricultural workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper tests portions of a new theory of immigrant health by focusing exclusively on latent biomarkers of future health risks. Using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey III, 1988–1994 – we uncover the typically observed immigrant health advantage among recent immigrants that diminishes among long-term immigrants. In addition, we observe worse health among U.S.-born Mexican Americans relative to non-Hispanic Whites. Finally, although our theory suggests that recent immigrants may have latent health risks due to disadvantaged childhood experiences, we do not find evidence in support of this theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our understanding of the underlying demographic components of population change in new Hispanic destinations is limited. In this paper, we (1) compare Hispanic migration patterns in traditional settlement areas with new growth in emerging Hispanic destinations; (2) examine the role of immigration vis-à-vis domestic migration in spurring Hispanic population redistribution; and (3) document patterns of migrant selectivity, distinguishing between in-migrants and non-migrant Hispanics at both the origin and destination. We use several recent datasets, including the 1990 and 2000 Public Use Microdata Samples (which include new regional geocodes), and the 2005 and 2006 files of the American Community Survey. Our results document the widespread dispersion of the Hispanic population over the 1990–2006 period from established Hispanic gateways into new Hispanic areas and other parts of the country. Nearly one-half of Hispanic net migration in new destinations comes from domestic gains. In contrast, both established and other Hispanic areas depend entirely on immigration, with each losing domestic migrants to high growth areas. Migrant flows also are highly differentiated by education, citizenship, and nativity. To fully understand the spatial diffusion of Hispanics requires a new appreciation of the complex interplay among immigration, internal domestic migration, and fertility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The migration-development nexus has fascinated academics, NGOs, and national and international officials since the mid-1990s. Although it is not actually new – the Review published a special issue on it over a quarter of a century ago ( IMR, 1982 ) – it suffers from lack of conceptual clarity and disregard of a crucial modulating variable, migrants’ rights. The aim of this paper is to give credence to the role played by rights and, in the process, to solidify some of the uncertain foundations of the migration-development debate. I eschew too technical a presentation in order to reach not only academics but also NGOs and journalists, the drivers of today’s rights movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Immigration is an important population dynamic at work in the U.S., but we know little about its impact on American obesity. Built on nutrition transition and immigration theories, this paper provides explanations for immigrants’ initial body composition advantage, its partial erosion over time, and the gender difference in the erosion. We find evidence that the American obesity epidemic would be much more severe without the mass immigration that began in 1965. In addition to confirming the erosion in immigrants’ body composition advantage, we further find that this erosion is weaker for men than for women. Once immigration’s impact is teased out, racial/ethnic disparities in body composition greatly differ from what we observe. This study provides gender-specific estimates for the differences in obesity by nativity and residence duration and the net level of Hispanic-white and Asian-white disparities at the mean body mass index (BMI) as well as the overweight, Stage-1, and Stage-2 obesity cutoffs. Our findings suggest that immigration must be taken into account when addressing public health concerns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a framework for estimating previous illegal experience among annual cohorts of new legal immigrants to the United States – using public-use administrative microdata alone, survey data alone, and the two jointly – and provides estimates for the FY 1996 cohort of new immigrants, based on both administrative and survey data. Our procedures enable assessment of type of illegal experience, including entry without inspection, visa overstay, and unauthorized employment. We compare our estimates of previous illegal experience to estimates that would be obtained using administrative data alone; examine the extent of previous illegal experience by country of birth, immigrant class of admission, religion, and geographic residence in the United States; and estimate multivariate models of the probability of having previous illegal experience. To further assess origins and destinations, we carry out two kinds of contrasts, comparing formerly illegal new legal immigrants both to fellow immigrants who do not have previous illegal experience and also to the broader unauthorized population, the latter using estimates developed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (2002 ), Passel (2002 ), and Costanzo et al. (2002 ). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides new insights into the process of undocumented border crossing by examining both men and women in the process. We investigate differences in the ways in which men and women make their way across the well-guarded Mexico-U.S. border, and the extent to which men and women by the end of the 1990s were similar to, or different from, their counterparts who crossed before 1986 and the implementation of immigration policy designed to reduce undocumented migration. We find substantial differences in how men and women crossed the border without legal documents and in their chances of being apprehended. Our analysis makes clear that shifts in U.S. immigration policy after 1986 have led to women's greater reliance on the assistance of paid smugglers to cross without documents but men were more likely to cross alone. Moreover, immediately after 1986, women on first U.S. trips faced higher risks of being apprehended compared to women who migrated in the early 1980s, but men faced lower risks. After accumulating some U.S. experience, however, both women and men faced lower risks of being detected after 1986 compared to earlier in that decade. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper projects retirement income and Social Security taxes and benefits among the foreign-born and U.S.-born in the United States. Focusing on the Depression and the late baby boom birth cohorts, we find that foreign-born persons have higher poverty rates than the U.S.-born, and as a group do not receive higher lifetime net benefits from Social Security than do the U.S.-born. However, persons from the late baby boom cohort who immigrated after 1969 have higher projected rates of return in Social Security than do U.S.-born persons of the same birth cohort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Children of immigrants come from diverse backgrounds and enter school with different family migration experiences and resources. This paper addresses two basic questions: (1) to what extent does generation status exert an independent effect on early school performance net of race/panethnicity, language proficiency, and the family resources available to children as they enter formal schooling? and (2) to what extent do these broad conceptualizations of children in immigrant families mask variation by national origins? We take advantage of longitudinal data on a kindergarten cohort from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study to examine children from diverse backgrounds. Considerable variation in academic performance persists across racial/panethnic groups as well as by country-of-origin background and linguistic ability even when adjusting for family background, resources, and previous academic performance. We find some intriguing evidence of early “segmentation” among children from various groups, suggesting some convergence within race and ethnicity for some children. However, this conclusion should not be overstated, because the results also point to the great diversity by national origins that are masked by reliance on racial/panethnic groupings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding why some national-origin groups excel in school while others do not is an enduring sociological puzzle. This paper examines whether the degree of immigrants' educational selectivity -- that is, how immigrants differ educationally from non-migrants in the home country -- influences educational outcomes among groups of immigrants' children. This study uses published international data and U.S. Census and Current Population Survey data on 32 immigrant groups to show that as immigrants' educational selectivity increases, the college attainment of the second generation also increases. Moreover, the more positive selection of Asian immigrants helps explain their second generations' higher college attendance rates as compared to Europeans, Afro-Caribbeans, and Latinos. Thus, the findings suggest that inequalities in relative pre-migration educational attainments among immigrants are often reproduced among the next generation in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article focuses on problems with the definition and empirical identification of immigrant first and second generations in the United States. These loosely conceived aggregates are decomposed into a typology of distinct generational cohorts defined by age and life stage at migration for the foreign born and by parental nativity for the U.S. born. Differences in educational and occupational attainment and in language and other aspects of acculturation are then examined to consider whether the practice of "lumping" these generational cohorts together, or "splitting" them into distinctive units of analysis, is empirically supported by available evidence. The paper concludes with some thoughts on data needs and methodological considerations in the study of immigrant generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Altruism, insurance, and investment are three potential motives for migrant remittances that have been explored in the literature. The model developed in this paper posits an additional motive - that remittances are necessary for the migrant to participate in the employment networks that are based in the village, and thus are partially a payment for the option to change jobs within this network. The model is tested with data on Mexican migrants to the United States and finds support in that network strength and diversity increase remittances, whereas the insurance motive predicts stronger networks will decrease remittances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the analysis of refugee and immigrant adaptation has stressed the interaction of prior experience with the requirements of life in a new country. For refugees, that interaction has often been jarring because of the after-effects of their flight and their relative inability to prepare for a new life in a new country. Yet refugees have often done rather well in economic terms in that new country. The reasons for that relative success have been phrased in cultural terms (e.g., the predisposition toward education) and in general socioeconomic terms (e.g., refugees as educated and skilled). This article examines a set of factors that lie between these customary cultural and socioeconomic categories. Specifically, the paper examines key features of household formation among Vietnamese refugees. An examination of historical data from southern Vietnam indicates pat terns in household formation that appear durable over time yet are not shared across the breadth of Vietnam and cannot thus be viewed as "cultural" in the usual sense. A comparison of the historical data with recent national survey data on refugees in the United States indicates that these patterns continue among Vietnamese refugees and are -- as compared to other refugees -- distinctive to them. These patterns of household formation provide Vietnamese refugees with important options in adaptation to a new country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"Is assimilation dead?" (Glazer, 1993). One group of sociologists argues that the classical assimilation model no longer, if it ever did, serves to facilitate our understanding of immigrant incorporation into American society. Another group contends that it remains a powerful tool. In this paper I test these two alternatives through an analyses of changing patterns of Cuban American nuptiality behavior throughout the 1970-90 period. Based predominantly on PUMS of the 1970, 1980 and 1990 U.S. censuses, I find support for the conjecture that the classical assimilation model, with some modifications, continues to provide us with a viable tool to study contemporary immigrant incorporation in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Stressing the network's facilitation of immigrants searches for jobs and housing, migration network theory has conceptually overlooked the manner in which immigrants' social networks also expand the supply of jobs and housing in target destinations by means of the ethnic economy. An expanded migration network theory takes into account the ethnic economy's role in creating new resources in the destination economy. However, the power of this objection wanes in the context of working-class immigrations that generate few entrepreneurs. Introduced here, the concept of immigrant economy responds to this contingency. Unlike ethnic economies, in which co-ethnics hire co-ethnics, immigrant economies arise when immigrants hire non-co-ethnic fellow immigrants. This situation usually arises when very entrepreneurial immigrant groups coexist in a labor market with working-class immigrant groups that generate few entrepreneurs of their own. Using evidence from the garment industry of Los Angeles, this paper estimates that only a third of immigrant employees found their jobs in a conventional ethnic economy. Half owed their employment to the immigrant economy in which, for the most part, Asian entrepreneurs employed Latino workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]