Luin Goldring, York University
Carolina Berinstein, Access Alliance Multicultural Health Centre
Judith Bernhard, Ryerson University
Abstract: This paper examines the salary gap between the native-born population in the United States and immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean. Using the decomposition analysis developed by Oaxaca (1973), the article uses information from the 2003 Current Population Survey (CPS) to establish the degree to which the salary gap between these two groups is due to differences in productivity vs. differences in treatment of certain groups. The analysis places Latin American and Caribbean immigrants into seven groups: Mexicans, Cubans, Dominicans, Jamaicans and Haitians, Central Americans (Salvadorans, …

Chris Rudolph, American University
Introduction: The terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 had a profound effect on American National Security and immigration’s relation to it. Prior to 2001, “securitizing” international migration was largely considered the discourse strategy of restrictionists and xenophobes. Now, however, it is widely accepted that international migration has significant implications for security. Of course, it can be argued that migration has long had security implications, and that immigration and border policies were strongly influenced by security interests (Rudolph, 2006). However, the events of 9/11 have raised the stakes considerably on what has long been a contentious issue—economically, socially, …

Tomas R. Jimenez, University of California, San Diego
Abstract: Objective. Survey research posits that Mexican Americans’ perceptions of the costs and benefits of immigration drive their opinions about immigration, but this research does not provide a clear picture of how Mexican Americans calculate these costs and benefits. This article aims to understand the processes that explain how Mexican Americans calculate the costs and benefits of Mexican immigration. Methods. The article employs 123 in-depth interviews and observation with latergeneration Mexican Americans in Garden City, Kansas, and Santa Maria, California. Result. Respondents are ambivalent about how Mexican immigrants affect their lives, and their …

Daphne Halkias, Hellenic American University
Abstract: Greece has experienced rapid growth in immigrant and refugee populations since 1990. Most are immigrants from Albania and throughout the Balkan region. Immigrant and refugee groups arriving in Greece also come from the former Soviet Union, Southeast Asia and Africa. Some of these newcomers started small businesses in their quest to become economically self-sufficient, serve the consumer needs of fellow newcomers, and integrate into community life. Research cites that immigrant businesses are closely intertwined with national interest in community economic development. As well, national and research statistics have reflected that immigrant entrepreneurship has a direct …

Jeffrey H. Cohen, The Ohio State University
Abstract: Strikes, violence and economic crisis characterized life in Oaxaca City, Oaxaca, Mexico from the spring through late fall of 2006. Demonstrations began around the efforts of striking teachers from section 22 of the teacher’s union (Sindicato Nacional de Trabajadores de la Educación or the SNTE) and grew throughout the summer and into the fall. In response to the state’s intransigence and in part to resolve the stand-off between protestors and the state, the APPO (Asamblea Popular del Pueblo Oaxaqueño) was organized. The APPO, a nonviolent group including support from many local human rights …

Meredith Glenn Cabell, Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies and Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California – San Diego
Introduction: Owensboro, Kentucky is at a crossroads. With the arrival of Mexican immigrants in the town, the city of 54,000 is one of many new immigrant receiving communities in the Southeast1 that is experiencing immigration for the first time in over 100 years. In a place defined largely by its Anglo population, the arrival of a small, but permanent and growing population of Mexican immigrants over the last ten  years has made the national immigration debate relevant beyond the …

Alison Smith Gaffney, Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies and Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California – San Diego
Abstract: This work is a case study of a ‘new destination’ for immigration to the United States, examining community changes and responses over time in the rural Delmarva Peninsula and contributing to an expanding literature on ‘best practices’ for immigrant integration. Significant numbers of Latin American immigrants first arrived in the early 1990s, settling out of the Eastern migrant stream and taking year-round jobs in the regional poultry-processing industry. The immediate concerns of this research are two-fold: first, to …

Angela S. Garcia, Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies and Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California – San Diego
Introduction: The contemporary nation-state is widely understood as the sovereign arbiter of territorial entry. Immigration policy-making, in turn, traditionally lies within the centralized state’s authority. As Virginie Guiraudon observes, “controlling who enters, who stays, and who leaves national territory has long been emblematic of national sovereignty and considered a founding prerogative of the modern nationstate” (2001: 31). The state’s dominance over immigration policy is often made clear at the constitutional level. In Spain, for example, Article 149 of the …

Ann Kimball, Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies and Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, University of California – San Diego
Abstract: Though the majority of migration occurs within the global South,1 the literature about ‘global’ migration is overwhelmingly concerned with migration issues of the first world. My research aims to broaden the range of migration studies to include migration flows and state responses within the global South. I am concerned with transit migration to the United States and the European Union; a process of migration that includes not only source and destination countries, but also one or morue transit countries.2 …

Hoyt Bleakley, University of Chicago
Abstract: Using 2000 Census microdata on childhood immigrants, we relate family-formation variables to their age at arrival in the United States, and in particular whether that age fell within the “critical period” of language acquisition. We interpret the observed differences as an effect of English-language skills and construct an instrumental variable for English-language proficiency. Two-stageleast-squares estimates suggest that English proficiency raises the probabilities of marrying a native, being divorced, or having a high-earning and/or more educated spouse, and reduces the number of children.
Working Paper #149 »