Bridging critical race theory and migration: Moving beyond assimilation theories

Abstract

AbstractCritical race scholars have shifted the sociological migration literature from addressing how immigrants incorporate into the host society to instead asking how immigrants, their children, and communities are racialized. They also shift the focus from “ethnic” descriptions of immigrants of color by bringing race and racism to the forefront. This article provides an overview of critical race theory to document the racialized lives of Mexican immigrants and their communities. I bring attention to one of the dominant approaches to the study of sociological migration, segmented assimilation theory. In doing so, I use critical race theory as a framework to bring race and other axes of stratification such as undocumented status to light.