Center for Comparative Immigration Studies » Working Papers

Beyond Assimilation: The Second Generation in France (Working Paper #186)

Peggy — Fri, 20 May 2011 17:05:46 +0000

Abstract: This presentation assesses the normative model of integration, the so-called republican model, and what it means for the prospects of the second generation of immigrants in France. It shows that the salience of race and ethnicity for minority members in contemporary France is challenging the expectations of a convergence in norms, values and practices among the second generation. Data come from a new survey, Trajectories and Origins: a survey on population diversity in France, which is the largest survey ever done in France on immigrants and second generation. Promoted by INED and the French National Statistical Institute (INSEE), the survey gathered information via a long questionnaire administered in face-to-face interviews to 22,000 respondents from 5 specific sub-samples: Immigrants (8300), descendents of Immigrants (8200), Overseas French (700), descendents of Overseas French (700) and “mainstream population” (3900).

Working Paper #185 (Powerpoint)»

From Sheriff’s Deputies to Immigration Officers: Screening Immigrant Status in a Tennessee Jail (Working Paper #185)

Cnmorse — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 19:18:33 +0000

Abstract: This paper contributes to emerging literature documenting the devolution of immigration enforcement authority by focusing on the implementation of the 287(g) program in Davidson County, Tennessee. It outlines how deputized immigration officers do their work, as well as the ways they come to think about their roles in the larger immigration bureaucracy. Immigration officers see themselves as objective administrators whose primary responsibilities are to identify and process immigrants for removal, but who are not responsible for their subsequent deportation. While immigration officers never waiver about their obligation to uphold the rule of law, alternate narratives emerge depending on how they feel about the immigrants they encounter. These frames range from pride at identifying “criminal aliens”, to guilt for processing immigrants who were arrested for very minor violations. Ultimately, this work shows deputized immigration officers act as extensions of the federal government, rather than independent agents.

Working Paper #185»

Managing labour migration in Europe: ideas knowledge and policy change (Working Paper #184)

David Keyes — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 23:35:56 +0000

Abstract: Since the late 1990s many European countries have embraced the concept of managing labour migration for their national economic benefit. The last 10 years have seen dramatic changes in patterns and flows of migration into and within Europe, where overall numbers have risen markedly. The UK and Spain – one ‘old’ and one ‘new’ country of migration – are examples of this trend, where new policies have led to a complete overhaul of systems of migration management since 2000. This paper is concerned with why such changes took place and why they occurred when they did. It develops an approach that focuses on the role of ideas and knowledge in the policy process. It is based on research including interviews with key actors in the policy communities of both the UK and Spain. It demonstrates how new ideas about immigration and its effects came to be adopted in the policy process and compares this approach with established accounts of immigration policy that emphasize the role of interests and institutional effects.

Working Paper #184 »

Immigrant Retirement Prospects: From Bad to Worse? (Working Paper #183)

David Keyes — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 20:40:06 +0000

Abstract: We compare the retirement prospects of immigrant men with their native-born Canadian counterparts. Using data from the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics (SLID), we show a substantial gap that is concentrated in the private portion of pension income and contributions. Furthermore, this gap is larger for more recently arrived immigrant cohorts. We link these findings to the now substantial evidence on earnings differences from Census microdata. We present new estimates of the lifetime earnings trajectories of immigrant cohorts and compare them to trajectories for both random and matched samples of the native born. We calculate the implications of these estimates for the pension gap and reconcile the results with the evidence from SLID. Our results suggest that a continuing failure to integrate immigrants into the workforce will incur long run costs for Canada’s retirement programs.

Working Paper #183 »

Central American Migration to Mexico and the United States: The Influence of Gender on Destinations and Destinies (Working Paper #182)

David Keyes — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 23:28:45 +0000

Carmen Fernández Casanueva, Research Fellow, El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (Mexico); Guest Scholar, Center for Comparative Immigration Studies

Abstract

This article explores the role gender plays on the development of migratory trajectories of Guatemalan, Honduran and Salvadoran labour migrants crossing the Guatemala-Chiapas border. It aims to assess the way gender influences the migration processes of those crossing either to work in the borderland of Chiapas and/or with the intention of travelling northwards to enter the United States of America. By using elements of structuration theory, it contributes to the study of migration by incorporating gender as a constitutive element in the migratory process of Central Americans crossing and living in the southern border area of Mexico; an important and understudied borderland within the North American system of migration.

Working Paper #182 »

Estimates of the Cyclical Inflow of Undocumented Migrants to the United States (Working Paper #181)

Jonathan Hicken — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 22:22:48 +0000

Scott Borger. Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, UC San Diego.

This paper constructs estimates for the inflow of undocumented migrants to the United States using survey-based micro estimates of the probability of apprehension per attempt and aggregate apprehensions data reported by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The robustness of the constructed data is considered by comparing the implied stock from the constructed series with previous estimates of undocumented migrants in the United States. The estimates are within the unenumerated-correction margin of error of the post-2000 Census estimates in the literature. Moreover, the estimated inflow implies a strong correlation with the business cycle in the United States and Mexico with larger influxes associated with economic conditions in Mexico.

Download the full text: Working Paper #181»

The Declining Use of the Mixtec Language Among Oaxacan Migrants and Stay-at-Homes: The Persistence of Memory, Discrimination, and Social Hierarchies of Power (Working Paper #180)

Jonathan Hicken — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:03:59 +0000

Elizabeth Perry. University of California, San Diego

Drawing on binational ethnographic research regarding Mixtec “social memory” of language discrimination and Mixtec perspectives on recent efforts to preserve and revitalize indigenous language use, this study suggests that language discrimination, in both its overt and increasingly concealed forms, has significantly curtailed the use of the Mixtec language. For centuries, the Spanish and Spanish-speaking mestizo (mixed blood) elite oppressed the Mixtec People and their linguistic and cultural practices. These oppressive practices were experienced in Mixtec communities and surrounding urban areas, as well as in domestic and international migrant destinations. In the 1980s, a significant transition occurred in Mexico from indigenismo to a neoliberal multicultural framework. In this transition, discriminatory practices have become increasingly “symbolic,” referring to their assertion in everyday social practices rather than through overt force, obscuring both the perpetrator and the illegitimacy of resulting social hierarchies (Bourdieu, 1991). Through the use of symbolic violence, the dominant class cleans its hands and history of discriminatory practices based on race, ethnic, or cultural “difference,” while at the same time justifying increasing inequality on the outcome of “unbiased” market forces. Continuing to experience and perceive discrimination, many Mixtec language speakers are employing silence as a social strategy, in which Mixtecs forgo using, teaching, and learning the Mixtec language in order to create distance between themselves (or children) and stigmatized practices, such as indigenous language use. The use of silence as a strategy does not signify that Mixtecs devalue or find no meaning in the Mixtec language. Rather, it suggests that silence is perceived to be an available and increasingly attractive social strategy in contemporary contexts.

Click here to download the full text: Working Paper #180 »

Living Islam in Non-Muslim Spaces: How Religiosity of Muslim Immigrant Women Affect Their Cultural and Civic Integration in Western Host Societies (Working Paper #179)

Jonathan Hicken — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 19:00:00 +0000

Saba Senses Ozyurt, University of California, Irvine

Abstract

Research on Muslim immigrants in Europe show that they often remain separated and
marginalized within their respective societies. Empirical research further indicates that
Muslim immigrant women in Europe perform more poorly than Muslim immigrant men
and Christian immigrant women on key indicators of integration. In this paper I explore
whether identifying as ‘Muslim’ and/or having strong religious beliefs and practices
slows down the cultural and civic/political integration processes for Muslim immigrant
women in the United States. The findings indicate that high levels of religiosity may
indeed slow down the cultural integration of Muslim women in the U.S., however in
terms of their political and civic integration, religiosity can be a facilitating factor.

Click Here to Download the Entire Text: Working Paper #179

Anti-immigrant Sentiment and Welfare State Regimes in Europe (Working Paper #178)

Jonathan Hicken — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 00:17:40 +0000

Xavier Escandell, University of Northern Iowa

Alin M. Ceobanu, University of Florida

Abstract:

This paper examines whether the stand-alone and cross-level interactive effects of individual and contextual predicting variables of anti-immigrant sentiment vary as a function of institutional differences in welfare regimes. Using data from the 2003 ISSP module, several direct and indirect measures tapping welfare state systems were created to assess the disparities in anti-immigrant sentiment across 22 Western and Eastern European countries. Results from the hierarchical multilevel models show that the mean levels of anti-immigrant sentiment are lower in those countries with high levels of public spending in social protection
programs. The findings further indicate that an individual’s labor force status (being unemployed), nativism and conservatism political stance become even stronger predictors of anti-immigrant sentiment in countries with more robust welfare state systems. Moreover, the differences in the mean level of anti-immigrant sentiment between the two parts of the continent stay significant even after multiple controls at the micro and macro-levels. The implications of these findings are discussed from the perspective of the ethnic economic competition model, as well as by taking into account the converging trend in immigration policy among the member states of the European Union in recent years.

Download the Entire Text Here: Working Paper #178

Globalización, inmigración y género: Vivencias laborales y de género de mexicanos en EE.UU. y Marroquíes en España (Working Paper #177)

Jonathan Hicken — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 00:26:41 +0000

Kathryn Kopinak, University of Western Ontario (Canada)
Rosa M. Soriano Miras, Universidad de Granada (Spain)

Abstract:
Economic globalization has brought the movement of people and increasing
transnational connections among them which may best be studied from a comparative
perspective. The research presented here focuses on two comparable phases of labor
migration. Firstly, the impact of both previous work experience in Mexico and gender
differences are evaluated for labor migration to the United States. The second phase of
the project, in which we are currently immersed, attempts to compare the Mexico – US
migratory process with that from Morocco to Spain. Previous work experience in
country of origin is dichotomized into maquiladora and non-maquiladora employment.
The methodology used is Grounded Theory, a technique used to collect data via in
depth interviews. The results indicate that at the western tip of the US-Mexico border
where maquiladoras comprise the largest economic base, an export platform has been
formed which facilitates the movement of both goods and people across the border.
Mexicans in the border area, where most maquilas are located, can get documents more
easily and also acquire skills important for getting jobs in the United States.
Simultaneously, social networks form which also facilitate migration. The recent
installation of export industries in Morocco invites an examination of the similarities
and differences in both migratory contexts.

Click Here to Download the Entire Text: Working Paper #177