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Copyright of Kiva is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This essay analyzes how the book, Welcome to the United States: A Guide for New Immigrants,promotes discourses of governmental safety and sovereignty in favor of shaping new immigrant arrivals into normative United States citizens. The paper examines the guide’s visual and textual inclusions and exclusions in order to hone in on the methods used to create a sense of ignorance in the reader, the techniques through which the United States government represents itself as the ultimate helpmate, and the efforts to condone immigrant normativity by describing repeatedly what “most people” in the United States want, have, or do. Finally, the paper discusses the broader implications of government sanctioned authoritative messages directed toward newly arriving immigrants in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper examines the fit of the intersectionality framework for understanding transnational lives. The data for this paper is drawn from my research on South Asian migrants to America and their children, the 1.5 and 2nd generation. I focus on these highly educated migrants and their children and their efforts to maintain meaningful family ties and live religions in a context that spans the USA and selected South Asian countries. I use this data to assess whether the intersectionality approach is able to explain lives that span 'real' and 'virtual' social worlds. I show that the intersectionality approach needs to be deepened to capture simultaneous experiences of privilege and marginalisation across national and transnational contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I examine the ways in which young Yemeni and Iraqi immigrant and refugee women and men strive to become literate as they negotiate transnational spaces. I investigate the social and literate connections they forge as they search for the appropriate spouses. Transnationalism, the phenomenon of living locally with global connections, demonstrates both the local and global tensions of refugees and immigrants as they interact in shared cultural sites. Moreover, transnational literacy, as described in this paper, is evoked as a means to sort through particular literacy practices that simultaneously foster status and knowledge and explain the youths' negotiation of home and school lives. Two cases are presented to illustrate how literacy implicates a set of social practices that are conflictual in their transnational locality and in their glocality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper fills an informational gap for multidisciplinary providers of services to the former Soviet Union (FSU) immigrants in the United States, highlighting the long-term medical and mental health consequences of this group's pre-migration exposure to the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The international literature is selectively-presented together with recent findings of Chernobyl mental health sequelae in a cohort residing in the United States. Guidelines for service providers, as well as Russian language health service resources in US cities populated by significant FSU communities, are also furnished. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As of March 2003, the immigrant population in the United States (US) has reached 33.5 million individuals. Finding a way out of poverty is very difficult for many immigrants due to both individual and institutional barriers to savings and asset accumulation. Given that the primary sources of wealth among native-born households is through homeownership, it is only fitting that foreign-born households would also wish to achieve the “American Dream.” This paper outlines significant supports and barriers to savings and, more importantly, homeownership among US immigrants. Several suggestions for asset-based policy development for immigrants are also included in the discussion. By examing these concepts, policy practitioners can learn how to improve economic well-being for current immigrants and future generations of Americans. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

One outcome of immigrant adjustment is the development of a sense of community among immigrants with similarities in such nominal areas as race or region or subregion of origin. This paper proposes a theoretical framework for the study of communication and this sense of community: the sense of community is engendered as the immigrants develop connections to each other; they develop these connections under the influence of contextual conditions; communication may correlate with the sense of community or connections or contextual conditions, may mediate the ability of the connections to influence the sense of community or the ability of the contextual conditions to influence the connections, or may directly influence the sense of community or the connections or the contextual conditions; this communication could be analyzed on the basis of its cultural orientation, the arena in which it takes place, the exposure of the immigrants to it and its content. The paper applies the theoretical framework to Caribbean immigrants to the United States and presents research issues and questions developed from the theoretical framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last 60 years, the United States has accepted some two million refugees for resettlement. Standard opinion polls suggest that the American response to these refugees has been mixed. Yet, despite much ambivalence about particular refugees and where they may belong in the grid of American social and cultural categories, the notion of refuge and the imperative toward support and welcome to refugees endure. As an extended example, this paper considers press treatment of refugees in Richmond, Virginia during the last quarter of the twentieth century—before security concerns and surging numbers of illegal immigrants irrevocably changed the nature of American immigration. Unlike the ambivalent response that emerges in national opinion polls and some other venues, in this case the construction of refugees is neither negative nor ambivalent, but is instead solidly positive. This positive construction extends across a broad range of racial and national-origin groups and is conditioned by a peculiarly American notion of how refugees relate to broader American categories, particularly that of 'immigrant'. In this local story from the United States lies a broader tale of how refugees are woven into the existing social and cultural categories of the countries in which they resettle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper evaluates the strategy for controlling ‘unwanted’ immigration that has been implemented by the US government since 1993, and suggests explanations for the failure of that strategy to achieve its stated objectives thus far. Available evidence suggests that a strategy of immigration control that overwhelmingly emphasises border enforcement and short-changes interior (especially workplace) enforcement has caused illegal entries to be redistributed along the south-west border. The evidence also suggests that the financial cost of illegal entry has more than quadrupled; that undocumented migrants are staying longer in the United States; that migrant deaths resulting from clandestine border crossings have risen sharply; and that there has been a surge in anti-immigrant vigilante activity. Consequences predicted by advocates of the concentrated border enforcement strategy have not yet materialised: there is no evidence that unauthorised migration is being deterred at the point of origin; that would-be illegal entrants are being discouraged at the border after multiple apprehensions by the Border Patrol and returning home; that their employment prospects in the US have been curtailed; or that the resident population of undocumented immigrants is shrinking. It is argued that a severely constrained employer-sanctions enforcement effort that has left demand for unauthorised immigrant labour intact is the fundamental reason why steadily escalating spending on border enforcement during the last ten years has had such a weak deterrent effect. Reasons for the persistence of a failed immigration control policy are discussed, and alternatives to the current policy are evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, I explore how race, class, and migration influence Latino household wealth, and uncover important implications for the close 2016 US presidential election outcome in Florida. I follow over 11,000 homeowners in the Orlando area of Orange County, Florida from 2004 to 2016. To proxy for immigrant incorporation, I leverage matched voter registration records and direct observation of borrower identification – driver's license, green card/passport, or undocumented identification. Documented immigrants appear least vulnerable to foreclosure; multivariate analyses show that Latinos with undocumented identification are most vulnerable. Foreclosure and negative equity predict decreases in voter activity among Latino Democrats and Latino Independents, respectively, but not among Latino Republicans. I confirm this pattern at the precinct-level using data on all Orange County voters. Across Florida, county-level Latino foreclosures and lagging home prices correspond to a decline in the Democratic presidential vote from 2012 to 2016. My analysis reveals the mechanisms that erase Latino home equity and how the loss of wealth may have played a role in flipping Florida from a blue state to a red state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research qualitatively examines experiences with the police for 42 interracial mixed-status couples, living or originating mainly from the Southern United States. Race-based policing operates within a structure of racist nativism where white skin is a marker of U.S. citizenship, and brown skin is an indication of being foreign-born. Law enforcement at all levels, including the local level, situated their attention toward Latino immigrant men, especially those perceived as working-class, when compared to white U.S. citizen wives. The penalties for racial profiling included family strain through detention and deportation of Latin-American born men. In addition to human rights violations for undocumented Latino immigrants, U.S. citizens are serving as collateral damage in an already broken immigration system that racially profiles Latino immigrant men. Couples' precariousness situations contest the rhetoric that police are only protecting citizens' national security. Framed by racist nativism, the findings have implications for anti-oppressive, evidence-based immigration policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Drivers can be understood as forces leading to the inception of migration and the perpetuation of movement. This article considers key drivers of migration and explores different ways that they may be configured. We modify existing explanations of migration to generate a framework which we call push-pull plus. To understand migration flows better, analysts could usefully distinguish between predisposing, proximate, precipitating and mediating drivers. Combinations of such drivers shape the conditions, circumstances and environment within which people choose to move or stay put, or have that decision thrust upon them. In any one migration flow, several driver complexes may interconnect to shape the eventual direction and nature of movement. The challenge is to establish when and why some drivers are more important than others, which combinations are more potent than others, and which are more susceptible to change through external intervention. Drawing on Afghan and Somali movements featuring 'mixed migration', the article concludes that proximate and mediating drivers, rather than those in the structural and precipitating spheres, appear to offer greater potential for intervention. To be effective, though, migration policy should be understood not simply as a stand-alone lever, but within the wider political economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jacob A. Riis, a Danish carpenter turned journalist and social reformer, has cemented his name in American history with his written and photographed documentation of the ailments of New York's tenements in the late nineteenth century. Contrary to many of his contemporary reporters, Riis detailed with great indignation the poor living standards that challenged immigrant's lives in America. He spent several years working as a police reporter and came to fame with his book How the Other Half Lives, an accumulation of Riis's observations and frustrations with tenement life in America. While Riis remains primarily known for his work as a reporter and photographer, this article seeks to explore his later career, which he spent lecturing in America's assembly houses and churches. This article presents an overview of Riis's personal life and the social conditions about which he came to lecture. Furthermore, the article assesses the press's role in the public perception of Riis and his work through a qualitative analysis of fifteen newspaper articles written about Riis's lectures between 1900 and 1914. Riis became fused into America's conscience as a heroic social reformer through universal praise in the newspaper stories that reported on his lectures. He became a walking symbol of assimilation in a divided nineteenth-century America, or as president Theodore Roosevelt called him, an "ideal American". For a sample of a Riis lecture, see "Artifact" on Page 31. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Annals of the American Association of Geographers is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Annals of the American Association of Geographers is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Have Irish, German, or Italian settlers arriving in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century left a trace that determines differences in economic development to this day? Does the national origin of migrants matter for long-term development? This article explores whether the distinct geographic settlement patterns of European migrants according to national origin affected economic development across U.S. counties. It uses microdata from the 1880 and 1910 censuses in order to identify where migrants from different nationalities settled and then regresses current levels of economic development on settlement patterns according to national origin, using both ordinary least squares and instrumental variable approaches. The analysis controls for a number of factors that would have determined the attractiveness of different U.S. counties at the time of migration as well as current levels of development. The results indicate that while there is a strong and positive impact associated with overall migration, differences in the quality of the institutions of the countries of origin of the migrant are not necessarily a good predictor for current levels of economic development of U.S. counties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To better evaluate the weight of economic versus cultural factors in determining individual attitudes toward open borders, this article reports on a survey experiment conducted over the course of the Great Recession. Over the course of the recession, we measured changes in attitudes on both immigration and trade policies, controlling for economic circumstance. Based on the data provided by respondents on both their current salaries as well as a subjective assessment of their economic well-being, we illustrate how both objective and subjective perceptions of the economy interact with cultural factors and influence attitudes on open borders. The panel provides a unique picture of the “stickiness” of policy attitudes in hard economic times, and by extension, the level of commitment in the United States to globalization. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article argues that historians' understanding of the establishment of the quota system in the 1920s can be improved if ‘nativist’ organisations such as the Immigration Restriction League are not interpreted as a natural psychological reaction to an increase in immigration, but in the context of a new mode of power. The article compares the League's mode of operation and their attempts to convince other citizens of the necessity of restriction with the settlement movement. This comparison, it is argued, reveals that despite their radically different underlying rationales, both sides aimed at transforming individuals into better citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This manuscript outlines a framework for transformative historical inquiry used to challenge the traditional immigrant paradigm in light of current debates over social studies content. Pedagogical examples show how the framework can help teachers disrupt the dominant discourse and highlight ideological resistance that prevents transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a survey of 1,124 social workers in the United States, this article examines how practitioners' attitudes towards immigrants and their general knowledge of immigration varied according to the content of their social work education. Although the majority of practitioners reported receiving coursework on practice with immigrants, this showed no effect on their attitudes or knowledge. In contrast, coursework on immigration policy predicted more favorable attitudes towards immigrants. Considering the mounting anti-immigrant sentiment and retrenchment of immigrants' rights in the United States, the results suggest the need to further explore what course work content is needed to prepare social workers for the current needs of the field. We argue that social work education must expand upon existing cultural competence models of practice with immigrants, to better prepare social workers to address the deepening social exclusion of undocumented immigrants in the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The United States is a classic country of immigration that has long defined itself as having been built by successive waves of immigrants. Social scientists often speak of a multicultural or cultural pluralist ‘model of integration’ in the US that recognizes, sometimes even celebrates, diversity at the same time as it assumes and expects immigrants and their children to assimilate and become American. This article complicates the picture. It brings in history to show how national models of integration in the US are not stable but have changed over time. In fact, the very incorporation of earlier waves of immigrants in the past has contributed to these changes. It also considers local-level variation—that is, differences among US cities in policies as well as in widespread understandings about the integration of immigrants. Despite these complications, there are clearly ways that national models of integration matter in the US, which is the theme of the concluding section. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this article, I examine the identity choices of Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrants of Amhara, Tigrayan and Tigrinya ethnicity within the context of the larger debate on how non-white immigrants are being incorporated into American society. I argue that these immigrants resist racialization even while their actions and attitudes potentially reinforce America's racial divide. They implicitly challenge American racial categories by thinking of themselves as Habasha, which they view as a separate non-black ethno-racial category that emphasizes their Semitic origins. Meanwhile, they often distance themselves from American blacks through pursuing transnational connections, producing Habasha spaces, displaying the attributes of a ‘model minority’ and preserving Habasha beauty through endogamy. By remaining relatively isolated within their ethnic communities in Washington, DC, which is the focus of this study, they may succeed in differentiating themselves from American blacks, but they are not likely to join the American mainstream on a par with whites. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Despite the increasing attention to African immigrants in the United States, and the pivotal role that advertising messages play in the immigrant community, examination of African immigrants’ purchasing behavior and perceptions of advertising have been overlooked by marketing scholars. The purpose of this research is to investigate West African immigrants’ perceptions of advertising in general and its impact on buying decisions. Data analyses extract five perceptual factors toward advertising in general, namely, “advertising is a pleasure and affects perceptions,” “advertising heightens vanity,” “advertising intensifies materialism,” “advertising enhances social role and image,” and “advertising is good for the economy.” With the exception of “advertising heightens vanity,” all the identified factors impact buying decisions. The overall results show that consumers rely on a broad scope of information about the impact of advertisements on standards of living and the economy. This study can be of value to marketing scholars, practitioners, and policy makers interested in the United States African immigrant community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although a large literature exists on the United States labor market experiences of low-skilled immigrant men, relatively few studies have examined the labor market position of highly skilled immigrant women. The current study explores the issue of labor market discrimination and examines the extent to which highly skilled immigrant women experience an earnings disadvantage as a result of both gender status and nativity status. Relying on data from the 2000 US Decennial Census 5-Percent Integrated Public Use Microdata Sample and using an augmented Oaxaca decomposition technique, this study finds that highly skilled immigrant women do experience a double earnings penalty. In addition, the results suggest that nativity status explains a larger portion of the double earnings penalty than gender status. These findings are important in light of the higher emigration rates for skilled women than for skilled men in regions such as Africa, Latin America, and Oceania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the importance of education for shaping individuals’ life chances, little research has examined trends and differences in educational attainment for detailed demographic subpopulations in the United States. We use labour market segmentation and cohort replacement theories, linear regression methods, and data from the National Health Interview Survey to understand educational attainment by race/ethnicity, nativity, birth cohort, and sex between 1989 and 2005 in the United States. There have been significant changes in educational attainment over time. In support of the cohort replacement theory, we find that across cohorts, females have enjoyed greater gains in education than men, and for some race/ethnic groups, recent cohorts of women average more years of education than comparable men. And in support of labour market segmentation theories, foreign-born Mexican Americans continue to possess relatively low levels of educational attainment. Our results can aid policymakers in identifying vulnerable populations, and form the base from which to better understand changing disparities in education. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Many assume the United States has a fixed number of jobs that are there to be 'taken.' Such static, zero-sum thinking is profoundly at odds with reality. Throughout US history, immigration has been closely correlated with economic growth. Immigrants and native-born Americans play complementary roles in the American economy, rather than directly competing for the same jobs. The Christian church is a transnational community of believers, and the National Association of Evangelicals believes the church should show respect and mercy to immigrants. Christians' exemplary treatment of immigrants can serve as its moral basis to call for government attitudes and legislation to reflect the same virtues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Latino evangelical church ought to be a major contributor in shaping national opinion on the issues of immigration and integration in the US. The church plays two essential roles, one pastoral and the other prophetic. The two dominant narratives regarding immigration focus on values, principles, and the oughtness of our national identity. Therefore, citizen faith leaders have a critical stake in the conversation; they should counter the dominant narrative that fosters anxiety about immigrants and assumes they pose a threat to personal security and the economy. Faith leaders should promote an integration policy that allows an earned path to citizenship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explored inter-relationships among three culture-bound syndromes, coraje, nervios, or susto, commonly found among Latino populations. Associations of each syndrome to a range of indicators of health, culture, and sociodemographic background were examined. Implications for mental health practitioners working with migrant populations coming from diverse cultural backgrounds were addressed. Methods A total of 179 Mexican-origin migrants were interviewed using a Spanish language questionnaire. Participants were asked whether they had experiences with coraje, nervios, or susto. Phi correlation coefficient was reported as a measure of the degree of co-occurrence of (a) current and lifetime culture-bound syndromes, and (b) the three syndromes with each other. Associations of each syndrome with gender, and urgent health care need were tested using the chi-square test. Relationships between each syndrome with (a) each item contained in the PHQ-9, and (b) other demographic, health, and culture related variables were tested using the t-test. Results A majority of migrants reported experiencing at least one culture-bound syndrome in their lifetime, and nearly a third of participants reported to be currently suffering from at least one syndrome. Women reported significantly higher prevalence of all three culture bound-syndromes. Significant relationships between lifetime experiences of culture-bound syndromes with health related indicators were found. Findings suggest that coraje and nervios are the most prevalent and co-morbid. Conclusion/Implications This study illuminated some of the links that exist between three non-Western cultural expressions of mental/emotional distress (coraje, nervios, or susto) and indicators commonly used by the Western biomedical model of mental illness. These findings offer some evidence for how mainstream mental health systems providing services to Mexican migrants and other Latinos can interpret the meaning of these cultural idioms of distress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The restaurant industry is one of the largest employers of immigrants in the United States. Some say immigration policies are fundamental to the success of the restaurant industry. This study attempts to explore the impact of illegal immigration restriction on labor costs through a case study of managers and owners in Oklahoma's restaurant industry. The study surveyed restaurant managers/owners in Oklahoma—a state in which a strong immigration law has been enacted (but is still in court)—to examine perceptions of how such changes might impact the restaurant business. Based on the findings, suggestions for future researchers in this field are provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does migration affect the conditions in which Central Americans live and decide whether to migrate? Network theories have dominated explanations of exponentially growing migratory flows. These theories have inspired many studies on mechanisms of perpetuated migration that tend to suggest such migration can occur without any connection to poverty in sending conditions. However, fieldwork conducted in Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Southern California reveals several mechanisms linking complex changes in sending conditions with Central Americans' decisions to migrate over time. This article emphasizes how deteriorating local conditions, to some degree an effect of prior migration itself, are crucial to Central Americans' decisions to migrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

More foreign-born people live in the United States now than ever before in the country's history. Immigrants from Latin America, primarily from Mexico, constitute the largest proportion of all immigrants. Schools are the main vehicle, sometimes the only one, to integrate immigrant families and their children into U.S. society. This article, argues, however that broader social inequities affecting Latino immigrants infiltrate the practices of the public school system, galvanizing educational inequality around (perceived) deficiencies of Latino families, including their immigration status, via subtle (and often not so subtle) exclusion of Latino parents from active participation in the schools. We argue that the constructs of language proficiency, socioeconomic status, immigration status, and race/ethnicity pose challenges to Latino children and parents in U.S. society and its schools. A convergence of these 4 constructs creates vulnerabilities that constrict the opportunities for many Latinos. This article proposes that limited parental and community engagement can be understood as consequences of social inequities which remain unaddressed in the institutional context of public education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is a qualitative examination of interview data with recent Mexican immigrants about their experiences coming to the United States and adjusting to their new life to determine the extent to which crime has been involved. The perception that Mexican immigrants are responsible for new predatory crimes is explored, along with other crime-related issues of offending, risks, and vulnerabilities. The data were collected with a semistructured interview schedule and administered to 30 participants chosen via a chain-referral process in 2 cities in 2 states with the largest concentrations of Mexicans living in the United States. The findings have implications for understanding vulnerabilities and at-risk situations of Mexican immigrants living in the United States, using social exclusion theory. The results also may prove useful for immigration policy design and development to create comprehensive, inclusive measures for immigrants to the United States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the post-colonial tropes of space and place, the central thesis of this article is that immigrants arrive from developing, often previously colonized lands with detailed knowledge of and very specific attitudes toward the more developed host culture; knowledge and attitudes that impact their willingness and motivation to assimilate. Furthermore, because of the colonial history of many of these developing countries, the process of cultural adaptation has an added layer of complexity linked to issues of race, class, and history. Drawing on the work of Caribbean scholars who have analyzed the Jamaican immigrant experience in the United States, an argument is presented for how colonial history, particularly as it intersects with race and class, can influence the willingness of immigrant groups from developing countries to assimilate into majority White, Western, developed host cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Families living the male migratory phenomenon present changes in traditional structure and dynamics due to the physical absence and frequent mobility of the men of these migrant source communities. The objective of this study was to identify the representation of “the family” where children have fathers who are migrants in the United States. The study was carried out in communities in the states of Veracruz and Michoacan in Mexico. The sample comprised 29 Mexican children between the ages of 6 and 13 under nonclinical conditions. Through the Family Drawing technique and analyses of the stories from these drawings, we found that migration can present psychosocial repercussions in the families who experience it, affecting the emotional and social development of their members. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through examining words and phrases being used to define U.S. immigration in popular speech and public policy, I argue that just speech is an essential component in the creation of just policy toward migrants. Particular consideration is given to the use of the word “illegal” to describe migrants and how the use of this word inhibits the moral imagination. Utilizing a justice framework in conversation with postcolonial ethics, I suggest that migrants and their movements can best be understood not primarily through the lenses of individual action, but through the lens of their communal and social relationalities and responsibilities. With this distinction in mind, I argue that an understanding of the particularity of persons rooted in particular familial structures can provide a more adequate lens for creating just policy for migrants and their families than can the paradigm of the individual as border crosser. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Migrant associations have always been an important feature of migrant communities, assuming a significant role towards identity formation and integration in the host society. Such organizations also create an important transnational link between countries of origin and settlement. Using the example of Turkish associations in the United States and their institutionalization process, this essay argues that organizational dynamics of immigrants are greatly affected by the general attitude towards immigrants in the host country and homeland policies regarding emigrants (macro level), their relations with other ethnic groups already resident in the host country (meso level), and the status of immigrants and some of their pre-migration characteristics (micro level). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the United States, children of immigrants face strong pressures to shift to English. We examine how the retention of Spanish-language skills affects the academic achievement of English-proficient Latino/a children of immigrants and how this varies by gender. Further, we examine the role that family interaction may play in mediating the impact of gender and language on achievement. We find that biliterate boys significantly outperform boys who have little Spanish proficiency. However, for girls there is no significant advantage or disadvantage to biliteracy in terms of GPA (grade point average). Our results suggest that, for Latino boys, the academic advantage of biliteracy is explained by strong family social cohesion. Our results also suggest that, while within-family social capital provides a scholastic benefit from family social cohesion in the case of biliterate boys, strong family ties can also have academic disadvantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the responses of Brazilian immigrant women who live and work in the greater Boston, Massachusetts, area of the United States to questions about their racial and ethnic identity. Based on thirty face-to-face in-depth interviews conducted between June 2004 and July 2005, we explore the many ways by which the women's identities are racialized and the variety of responses to the process of racialization. In particular, we focus on the degree to which the women's reported race, ethnicity and immigrant status exacerbate or protect women from the exclusionary aspects of the racialization process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The status of millions of undocumented workers from Mexico and Latin America in the United States poses a serious challenge to the country's founding myth as an immigrant nation. They form an integral part of the US labour force, but exist on the margins of the nation's political and social life. With a view to illuminating one aspect of subalternity and citizenship in the US, this essay examines significant shifts in twentieth century immigration law regarding Mexicans and others from south of the border and the shifting conceptions of American national identity on which these laws were based. Since the beginning of large-scale Mexican immigration to the US, they were positioned as cheap, temporary labour - accepted as hard workers, but not desired as permanent citizens. Mexican and other Latino immigrants have resisted their position as a disposable labour force by establishing families and communities and claiming membership in the places where they have settled. I examine the local struggles over immigrant membership in Atlanta, Georgia, a metropolitan area that has experienced a dramatic increase in Latino immigration in the last two decades and that has been at the centre of the political turmoil around illegal immigration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Annals of the Association of American Geographers is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study examined immigrants' perceptions of their native language and factors that enhance or hinder its use and maintenance. Participants (N = 208) included immigrants to the United States. Results showed that immigrants perceive their native language positively, desire that their children use it alongside English, and perceive negative consequences related to speaking the native language. Immigrants use English more often than their native language. There were significant differences based on where children were born and visits to the native country. Reported factors enhancing the use of the native language are speaking the native language, exposure to native media, attending cultural events, interacting with other native speakers, and visits to the native country. Challenges are predominant use of English, fear of being perceived as different, friends and spouse who do not speak the same native language, limited visits to the native country, and lack of access to other native speakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As contact between cultures continues to increase, the impact that this has on cultural identity and belonging is unclear. Cross-cultural or bicultural identification remains a relatively unexplored phenomenon. Is it possible, natural or potentially good to have an identity rooted in more than one culture? If so, how is cross-cultural identity negotiated? Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with nine women who have lived as immigrants in the UK or the USA for at least 20 years. The focus was on the experience of cross-cultural identification, including its benefits and drawbacks. The variety of experience does not permit generalisation at this stage, but the main characteristics of being bicultural in their experience include heightened self-awareness and understanding of difference, and a potential for critical, objective perspective on their environment. It is argued that emphasising the benefits of bicultural identity can be an important step toward improving cross-cultural interaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a broad analysis of the nation's past immigration policy mistakes, former labor secretary Ray Marshall puts his finger on this most delicate of issues. The United States needs and values its immigrants. But unless it gets policy right, argues Marshall, the number of illegal immigrants will have doubled in twenty years and the situation will be still harder to control. He presents hard-edged and practical solutions to the many issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The dominance of South Asians in the Dunkin' Donuts franchise industry in the American Midwest can be explained with reference to many of the classic theories of niche formation - the desire of immigrants for self-employment, contribution of family members, access to cheap labour and informal funding, and group solidarity. But its unique trajectory of rapid growth and success owes as much to the selective nature of US immigration policy. Its origins lie in the post-1965 immigration of skilled professionals who first bought into the business. It grew as a result of the legitimate use of the family reunification law which permitted the early immigrants to sponsor less-educated relatives and employ them in the business. However, the labour of unauthorised immigrants and continued chain migration of family members have contributed most significantly to the profitability of the businesses, and enabled South Asians to continue to dominate the field. The participation of South Asian women, as family members, wage labour and entrepreneurs, has been important to the success of the niche. However, the escalating cost of investment, high turnover, and new restrictive immigration policy after the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 are factors that, paradoxically, both strengthen and threaten the niche. Those who are already owners and operators are the only ones who can afford to buy more stores, but the wages for the workers are so low that South Asian employees are constantly looking for a way out. The future of the niche thus depends on the continued favourable interplay of social, cultural, economic and political factors that spawned the niche in the first place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article targets the role of intermediaries, such as refugee resettlement programs, in altering the geography of the foreign-born. It argues that, under such intermediaries, destination choice within the United States is largely determined not by economic mechanisms but instead by information-related factors such as friction of distance, migration chains, labor procurement, and resettlement intermediaries. Metropolitan statistical area (MSA) destinations are grouped into four profiles based on their mix of foreign-born. The result is sets of MSAs differentiated by the era of immigration, immigrant origins, geographic pattern, and place characteristics that draw migrants. To evaluate intermediary impacts, monies allocated to states by the Office of Refugee Resettlement, refugee resettlement by state, and refugee movements to MSAs are expressed as a Refugee Resettlement Index and linked to MSA profiles. We conclude that although refugees constitute only a portion of total immigration, their effects are disproportionately large in terms of changing the foreign-born profiles of MSAs and other communities, changing the fabric of society, and changing the geography of the foreign-born in all its ramifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We contribute to the debate about the effects of immigration in the United States by analyzing the impact of recent (1980-2000) immigration on the economic outcomes of African Americans. We use Census 2000 data for a sample of 150 US. metropolitan areas to examine these outcomes. Our findings indicate that after controlling for a variety of theoretically relevant control variables, increases in recent immigration decrease labor force non-participation and poverty, and increase median earnings, among blacks. We argue that recent immigration expands blacks' job opportunities in or near the middle of the occupational hierarchy (e.g., protective services; office and administrative support). However, we also find a non-linear effect of immigration on black median earnings which indicates an immigrant population threshold where black earnings begin to decline. Thus, both sides of this debate may be correct: middle-class blacks benefit from increased immigration, but the gains of the black middle class do not always offset the fact that poor and lower-skilled blacks are losing out because of increased competition with immigrants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many people describe the Cuban community in Miami as a prime example of ethnic solidarity; others see it as internally divided. This study argues that the contradiction can be resolved when ethnic solidarity is seen as encompassing various components and when changes in cohesiveness in response to external and internal influences on the ethnic community are taken into account. These influences include the context of reception in the United States and the relationship between established Cubans and more recent immigrants. We need to refine our understanding of what constitutes ethnic solidarity, how it changes over time, and what role it plays, both within the community in general and within the ethnic-enclave economy in particular. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the experience of Albanian political asylum-seekers in the United States in the broader context of shifting asylum law and procedures. A brief survey of Albanian immigration to the United States is followed by an examination of the long road to residence status. Issues discussed range from motivation to practical considerations of routes to the United States and the process of applying for political asylum; also included is a brief overview of the changes in the system in light of the terrorist attacks of September 2001. The article concludes that the system for Albanians and others is overly litigious, occasionally flawed, often arbitrary and extremely expensive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although previous research shows that biculturalism is adaptive for the children of immigrants, in the United State there is a great deal of pressure for assimilation. This study examines whether parents who model cultural behaviors and encourage interaction with co-ethnics increase the likelihood that their adult children will engage in cultural behaviors. Data are from a survey of second generation Vietnamese members between the ages of 18 and 30 (N = 66) living in Atlanta. Results indicate parents' cultural behaviors (speaking and reading) affect adult children's cultural skills and the ethnic composition of their social networks enhances the likelihood that their children's networks are ethnically based. Moreover, the parents' influence is direct, not mediated by children's social networks. Mothers exert stronger influence than fathers, but respondents' own gender does not predict cultural retention. We discuss results in terms of implications for maintaining ethnic cultures in a context that encourages assimilation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The interplay between the actual diversity in a group's internal identity and the imposition of external simplistic stereotypes is often not discussed in relation to policing domestic violence among Arab Americans. Four reported case examples of domestic violence among Arab Americans in a mid-western city form the basis of the discussion. The arguments underscore the challenges faced in this process in terms of the unity and disunity of Arab identity, the varying norms and values relating to violence against women in the Arab culture. The challenges are even more compounded due to the invisibility of Arab Americans in the diversity training curriculum of law enforcement agents and the influence of the overall negative images on the practice of policing within this community. These challenges have dire consequences for victims of domestic violence and the effectiveness of policing such a crime. It is thus essential that Arab Americans are included and understood in the diverse portrait of American society to aid law enforcement officers to do their job effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]