Evaluating the local impacts of recent immigration to California: Realism versus racism

Abstract

Although past migration was often viewed with suspicion the implicit assumption was that new migrants would fill the jobs in the growing cities and contribute to the national wealth. There are those who still subscribe to the view that continuing migration will increase national wealth, indeed that new migrants are the work horses of prosperity. There is another view however, which focuses on the local impacts of migration. This view suggests that the migrations of the late twentieth century are in a different context and create substantial burdens on local communities and states. It may be too, that the mass migrations of the late twentieth century will lead to a new pattern of social exclusion, polarization and a new ethnic under-class. The analysis of recent migration in California documents the extent to which that migration is made up of very low skill, low income, and dependent groups and has the potential to create significant local dependency burdens.