“…The depressed jobs magnet – particularly in construction – has been a deterrent to illegal immigration, said Wayne Cornelius, director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at UC San Diego. But work-site enforcement has not, according to recent interviews with prospective migrants conducted by the center in the Mexican state of Yucatan…” Read full article »

…Agents catch one in three border crossers, according to research from Wayne Cornelius, director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California-San Diego. If that’s true, as many as 3,000 people cross through the sector daily.
“Those folks don’t have any alternative,” Cornelius said. “They have to take the risks of migration even under these conditions because they have no economic options in their hometowns.” …
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…Wayne Cornelius
Director, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, UC San Diego
It’s very clear that the Obama administration is not going to get to comprehensive immigration reform this year. There are simply too many distractions. So if you’re not going to do immigration reform, what do you do? You suggest that you are responsive to the drug violence and respond to very strong criticism from the Hispanic Caucus and the pro-immigration lobby’s criticism of the work-site raids that have taken place in recent years. What they’re saying, and I agree strongly, is that conducting raids affects mostly migrant workers themselves; it …

[this editorial was prepared with the research assistance of CCIS]
…A good start would be for the U.S. and Mexico to cooperate. The U.S. could shift some resources from immigration enforcement to fighting drug and weapons trafficking and money laundering…Read full article »

“Here’s another sign the economic recession is global. Money sent home by Mexican migrants last year fell for the first time on record. Economist say its part of a global trend that could get worse.
As part of our series “Rough Water: Navigating San Diego’s Economy,” we’re joined by Wayne Cornelius. He’s director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at UC San Diego.”   Listen to the Interview »

…David Keyes, a researcher at the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California at San Diego, said more national teams, especially those in Europe, are wrestling with these questions as their countries receive more immigrants. Keyes, who writes the Culture of Soccer blog, said the debates mirror broader social questions about immigrants assimilating into their new homelands. Mexican soccer fans, he said, want to believe their team’s players bleed red, white and green, as they do.
“You almost need an Immigration hearing to determine if a player really cares about his country,” Keyes said…  Read full article …

…That brought a spirited retort from Wayne Cornelius, director of the Center of Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California San Diego. Cornelius wrote in the May/June 2004 Foreign Policy magazine that Huntington’s thesis seemed bizarre. “Young Mexicans today are all too willing to shed their own cultural traditions and embrace U.S. values, such as consumerism,” Cornelius wrote… Read Full Article »

… “The vast majority of Mexican migrants who have been in the U.S. for more than a few years have nothing to return to in Mexico,” said Wayne Cornelius, director of the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at the University of California San Diego.
“There are no jobs in their hometowns, and most of their close relatives are already living with them here. Their economic and family bases have shifted to the U.S., so they are strongly inclined to ride out the current hard times.” …  Read full article »