The California Cauldron: Immigration and the Fortunes of Local Communities.

Since 1965, changes in the immigration law have altered the influx from abroad and transformed the nation, especially California. This book examines the fundamental transformation of the state's population, focusing on local outcomes in California communities. Chapters 1 and 2 discuss social and economic causes of immigration, types of migrants, changing global contexts, migration patterns, the immigration link with Mexico, and the Immigration Reform and Control Act and its aftermath. Chapters 3 and 4 examine: statewide impacts in terms of population growth and composition, fertility rates, immigrants' educational attainment and skill levels, and poverty; county and community patterns; impacts on counties related to birth rates, health care needs, changing school enrollments, educational needs of students with limited English proficiency, and poverty; the economic contributions and costs of immigration; and immigrants' earnings, progress, and effects on U.S.-born workers' wages. Chapter 5 looks at the American Dream of home ownership and a good education for immigrants' children and discusses educational attainment and trajectories, college attendance, the link between poverty and educational outcomes, language factors, and bilingual education. While many immigrants are realizing the American Dream, Mexican and Central American immigrants are losing ground due to their more limited education and low skills. It is the very large numbers of these immigrants that are at the center of the problem of how to create a new and integrated society. Chapters 6-8 discuss assimilation versus a multi-ethnic society, the politics of immigration, the strained social fabric, the outlook for the future, and the pressing needs to reform immigration policy and increase funding for education. (Contains a large bibliography, an index, and many figures and data tables.) (SV)