Current Immigration Policies Research Articles

How and When are We Right to Prioritize the Interests of Residents and Citizens?

This article assesses an assumption pervasive in one strain of arguments in favor of stringent immigration controls. The assumption affirms that—for the case of regular admissions—to a certain extent states are permitted to prioritize the interests of their citizens and residents by issuing exclusionary immigration policies (call this the priority assumption). Using the normative methodology of applied international ethics, I suggest some broad constraints to this priority assumption that have a bearing on justifications for current practical immigration policy in Europe, North America, and beyond. I do so by redefining borders as domestic‐international institutions that open up borders not only to (internal) standards of justice but also to standards of international legitimacy.

Immigration policies and mental health: examining the relationship between immigration enforcement and depression, anxiety, and stress among Latino immigrants

ABSTRACTUsing a legal violence framework, this paper examines the relationship between current immigration policies and the mental health of Latino immigrants in Arizona. Data were drawn from a sample of adult Latino immigrants (n = 427) living in Arizona. Results indicated that participants who reported a greater personal suffering as a consequence of current immigration policies reported significantly higher symptoms of 1) depression, 2) anxiety, and 3) stress. In addition, participants who reported greater family suffering as a consequence of current immigration policies reported significantly higher symptoms of: 1) anxiety and 2) stress.

Health Care Access and Utilization for Latino Youth in the United States: The Roles of Maternal Citizenship and Distress.

We sought to determine the associations between maternal citizenship and health care access and utilization for US-born Latino youth and to determine whether maternal distress is a moderator of the associations. Using 2010-2017 Integrated Public Use Microdata Series National Health Interview Survey data, multivariable logistic regressions were run to examine the associations among maternal citizenship and health care access and utilization for US-born Latino youth. Maternal citizenship and distress interactions were tested. Noncitizen mothers had higher odds of reporting uninsurance, lack of transportation for delaying care, and lower odds of health care utilization for their youth than citizen mothers. Compared with no distress, moderate and severe distress were positively associated with uninsurance, delayed medical care due to cost, lack of transportation, and having had an emergency department visit for their youth. Moderate distress was positively associated with youth having had a doctor's office visit. Noncitizen mothers with moderate distress were less likely to report their youth having had an emergency department visit than citizen mothers with moderate distress. Among severely distressed mothers, noncitizen mothers were more likely to report youth uninsurance and delayed care due to lack of transportation compared with citizen mothers. Health care access and utilization among US-born Latino youth are influenced by maternal citizenship and distress. Maternal distress moderates the associations among maternal citizenship and youth's health care access and use. Almost one-third of all US-born youth in the United States are Latino and current federal and state noninclusive immigration policies and anti-Latino immigrant rhetoric may exacerbate health care disparities.

How Official Language and Country of Origin Impacts Health Workforce Integration in Canada

Skilled immigrants are actively recruited by developed countries in Europe and North America to address health force labour shortages. Although recruitment and selection processes are subject to strict regulations in Canada, internationally educated nurses continue to experience major difficulties with foreign credential recognition and obtaining employment. This study explores the different ways in which English or French, the official language requirements, intersects with immigrants’ ethnocultural background and integration. Key factors such as the timing of migration, age and professional English language competency, and pre-migration experiences were found to have a combined impact on employment success. Nurses with high levels of language proficiency acquired during the pre-immigration period and enhanced following migration had higher levels of economic integration. This study illustrated that current immigration policies would benefit from a closer examination of the match between pre-migration experiences and the required professional skills of the host country.

Current Federal and State Immigration Policy in the U.S. On Undocumented and Documented Immigrants: Implications for Economic Hardship, Mental Health, Community and Family Stability

Current Federal and State Immigration Policy in the U.S. On Undocumented and Documented Immigrants: Implications for Economic Hardship, Mental Health, Community and Family Stability

Immigration Enforcement and Infant Health

The past two decades have been characterized by an unprecedented increase in interior immigration enforcement and heightened stress due to fears of family separation and loss of income among undocumented immigrants. Using vital statistics on infant births from the National Center of Health Statistics for the 2003 through 2016 period and a difference-in-differences design, we compare the health outcomes of infants with likely undocumented mothers before and after the intensification of immigration enforcement within U.S. counties. We find that intensified enforcement, especially during the third trimester, increases the likelihood of low birth weight (<2500 grams). We also present suggestive evidence that the effect could be driven by heightened stress and fears associated to police-based enforcement during pregnancy. The findings underscore the importance of current immigration policies in shaping the birth outcomes of many American children.

Immigration Policy – Reporting from the Field

Migration is central to human history, yet how we deal with the sojourners among us says much about the soul of a nation. Freedom of movement is an inherent basic human right, yet the protection of a nation’s borders and the decision of who and when and in what conditions people are admitted is also a right that belongs to nation states. It is in this tension that good immigration policy should be found, yet our Congress and many administrations have failed to enact such a policy for over two decades. Aileen Joseph writes with authority and insight based on her 25 years of experience working as an immigration attorney in West Palm Beach, Florida. In her critical analysis of the current immigration policy in America, she shares the stories of those she has represented and suggests ways to revamp the immigration policies hindering our country from advancing and becoming united.

Demographic Impact of Canadian Immigration Policy: A Replacement Migration Report

Policies related with immigration are becoming unavoidable matter among policy makers in the context of demographic pressure in Canada. To correct ageing and population decline, which are caused due to the decline of fertility below replacement level, idea of using immigration is growing. Diminishing working age of Canadian population has caused policymakers to fulfill gap between annual immigration flows and workforce hiring in Canada. This paper contributes to this discussion by evaluating the current immigration policy in Canada with it attendant demographic impacts through a replacement migration report as an attempt to solving the declining and ageing Populations in Canada. Population distribution in terms of size, growth and workforce marginal gap excluding socio economic pattern have been captured by this study through the substance of the report. In Canada, demographic reflection does not cover it geographical composition. The paper will be descriptive and qualitative in nature through the use of secondary data sources for analysis. This study will give politicians a leverage to address the foreseeable inverse in the demography of Canada. The study will also avail to Canadian public an analytically sound, well-documented and evidence based information on the subject under study. The paper concludes that replacement migration may not be adequate to solving the demographic strain in Canada. Population ageing and shortage of workforce, geographical distribution, socio economic status related problems haven’t been solved still inequality of population distribution problem has been improved to some extent.

“Illegal” by Association: Do Negative Stereotypes Divide or Unite Latinxs in the United States?

AbstractIn current American political discourse, individuals tend to mistakenly conflate being an undocumented immigrant with being Latinx. This conflation puts Latinxs who are legal residents or citizens (Latinx‐Americans) at risk of being negatively impacted by policies intended to deter undocumented immigrants. We examine whether being the target of anti‐immigration policies would lead Latinx‐Americans to politically engage on behalf of undocumented immigrants. Study 1 found that when Latinx‐Americans were led to believe that what happens to undocumented immigrants will affect them personally (linked fate), those who were primed with greater conflation of the two groups expressed more positive attitudes toward undocumented immigrants and other Latinxs. Study 2 found that this pattern of effects extended to the willingness to engage in collective action on behalf of undocumented immigrants. Study 2 also examined the role of emotions (anger and fear) in mediating the relationship between the conflation of Latinxs with undocumented immigrants and collective action intentions. Together, the findings shed light on how current immigration policies affect relations among key subgroups within the Latinx community and the conditions under which Latinx‐Americans will mobilize on behalf of undocumented immigrants.

LANGUAGE FOR INTEGRATION, LANGUAGE AS DISCIPLINE? A FOUCAULTIAN PERSPECTIVE ON L3 LEARNING IN THE CONTEXT OF ASYLUM

Between 2014 and 2016, like in other European countries, a substantial increase of asylum requests took place in Switzerland, which forced the professionals and politi-cians involved in this context to take urgent action. is crisis produced an effect of magnifying glass on power issues linked to language learning, or in other words on language learning as Foucaultian discipline. In this article, I will show that the com-mon link socially constructed between ‘language learning’ and ‘integration’ allows the social actors encountered by asylum seekers to make them learn French as soon as possible for preparation for life in their new country. In doing so, the society sustain-ably disciplines and controls them: asylum seekers, once they reach the status of legiti-mate refugees, are namely concentrated in low-skilled jobs, officially because they lack the necessary language skills for finding a job corresponding to their actual qualifica-tions and desires. Most of them thus live on welfare, a situation that gives arguments to strengthen the current immigration policy and, at the same time, lock them in a refugee identity, that is, of people indebted to a society where they have no other role to play. Meanwhile, this discipline that the State and the host society impose to asylum seekers articulates with social representations of learning the language of the host country, and with the general equivalence that asylum seekers make themselves between learning the host language and integrating the host society. Asylum seekers o#en conceive of L2 learning as a discipline they have to exercise, as they appreciate the language level they should reach to get ‘normalized’ in an apparent linguistically homogeneous society, even if they know that it will never be enough to level social inequalities.

Immigration policy, practices, and procedures: The impact on the mental health of Mexican and Central American youth and families.

Currently, 15 million Mexican and Central American individuals live in the United States, with this number projected to rise in the next few decades (Lesser & Batalova, 2017; Zong & Batalova, 2017). Research has begun to investigate the impact of the nation's immigration practices and policies on immigrant Latino/a families and youth. Current immigration policies can create vulnerabilities, including fear and mistrust, discrimination, limited access to services, parent-child separation, and poverty. These experiences increase risk for poor mental health outcomes and may exacerbate prior exposure to traumas in the home country (e.g., violence) and during migration (e.g., extortion). This paper reviews current immigration policies for arriving Mexican and Central American immigrants and links to mental health among documented and undocumented immigrant families and youth. A discussion of positive policies and resources that may mitigate the damaging impact of immigration-related stress is included. Finally, social justice implications for clinicians and researchers are discussed, with culturally sensitive interventions, advocacy, and dissemination of research and policy as primary recommendations. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2018 APA, all rights reserved).

Overcoming Tribalism

Overcoming Tribalism

Predicting Unauthorized Salvadoran Migrants’ First Migration to the United States between 1965 and 2007

Although Salvadoran emigration to the United States is one of the most important migratory flows emanating from Latin America, there is insufficient information about the predictors of first unauthorized migration from El Salvador to the United States. In this study, we use data from the Latin American Migration Project–El Salvador (LAMP-ELS4) to perform an event history analysis to discern the factors that influenced the likelihood that a Salvadoran household head would take a first unauthorized trip to the United States between 1965 and 2007. We take into account a series of demographic, social capital, human capital, and physical capital characteristics of the Salvadoran household head; demographic and social context variables in the place of origin; as well as economic and border security factors at the place of destination.Our findings suggest that an increase in the Salvadoran civil violence index and a personal economic crisis increased the likelihood of first-time unauthorized migration. Salvadorans who were less likely to take a first unauthorized trip were business owners, those employed in skilled occupations, and persons with more years of experience in the labor force. Contextual variables in the United States, such as a high unemployment rate and an increase in the Border Patrol budget, deterred the decision to take a first unauthorized trip. Finally, social capital had no effect on the decision to migrate; this means that for unauthorized Salvadoran migrants, having contacts in the United States is not the main driver to start a migration journey to the United States.We suggest as policy recommendations that the United States should award Salvadorans more work-related visas or asylum protection. For those Salvadorans whose Temporary Protected Status (TPS) has ended, the United States should allow them to apply for permanent residency. The decision not to continue to extend TPS to Salvadorans will only increase the number of unauthorized immigrants in the United States. The United States needs to revise its current immigration policies, which make it a very difficult and/or extremely lengthy process for Salvadorans and other immigrants to regularize their current immigration status in the United States. Furthermore, because of our research findings, we recommend that the Salvadoran government — to discourage out-migration — invest in high-skilled job training and also offer training and credit opportunities to its population to encourage business ventures.

Brexit and the perils of ‘Europeanised’ migration

ABSTRACTMoving beyond short-term public opinion accounts for Brexit this article considers how Britain's historic policy and political dynamics on migration led to the outcome of the EU referendum and how the latter is likely to transform current immigration policies. To do so, we explore historic and theoretical tensions in UK migration policy and politics over the last six decades. We show how these unresolved tensions allowed Eurosceptics to harness negative attitudes to the increasingly salient issue of immigration. We argue that a sufficient proportion of the UK's elite and electorate proved unable and unwilling to subordinate its desire for entirely domestic ‘control’ over immigration to the EU's right-based regime, let alone see fellow EU citizens in the UK as anything other than immigrants, ultimately giving Leave victory. The referendum process and outcome exposed the debate about free movement and migration to much wider public scrutiny and so raised more profound questions about the future of the British economy and the political model necessary to sustain it. We argue that, with the Brexit negotiations under constant public scrutiny a new, largely immovable parameter was set by the EU referendum result for the medium term that seems likely to lead to a decline in ‘Europeanised’ migration policy in the UK.

Correction: Predicting Unauthorized Salvadoran Migrants’ First Migration to the United States between 1965 and 2007

Although Salvadoran emigration to the United States is one of the most important migratory flows emanating from Latin America, there is insufficient information about the predictors of first unauthorized migration from El Salvador to the United States. In this study, we use data from the Latin American Migration Project–El Salvador (LAMP-ELS4) to perform an event history analysis to discern the factors that influenced the likelihood that a Salvadoran household head would take a first unauthorized trip to the United States between 1965 and 2007. We take into account a series of demographic, social capital, human capital, and physical capital characteristics of the Salvadoran household head; demographic and social context variables in the place of origin; as well as economic and border security factors at the place of destination. Our findings suggest that an increase in the Salvadoran civil violence index and a personal economic crisis increased the likelihood of first-time unauthorized migration. Salvadorans who were less likely to take a first unauthorized trip were business owners, those employed in skilled occupations, and persons with more years of experience in the labor force. Contextual variables in the United States, such as a high unemployment rate and an increase in the Border Patrol budget, deterred the decision to take a first unauthorized trip. Finally, social capital had no effect on the decision to migrate; this means that for unauthorized Salvadoran migrants, having contacts in the United States is not the main driver to start a migration journey to the United States. We suggest as policy recommendations that the United States should award Salvadorans more work-related visas or asylum protection. For those Salvadorans whose Temporary Protected Status (TPS) has ended, the United States should allow them to apply for permanent residency. The decision not to continue to extend TPS to Salvadorans will only increase the number of unauthorized immigrants in the United States. The United States needs to revise its current immigration policies, which make it a very difficult and/or extremely lengthy process for Salvadorans and other immigrants to regularize their current immigration status in the United States. Furthermore, because of our research findings, we recommend that the Salvadoran government — to discourage out-migration — invest in high-skilled job training and also offer training and credit opportunities to its population to encourage business ventures.

Immigration and the city: between state planning and residents’ practices and representations

This paper proposes to explore the role of immigration in the making of places. Departing from the assumption that “[…] the reconstruction of spaces and places within the City [i]s an active part of the reordering of the wider relations within which the City is set […]” (Massey et al. in City worlds. Routledge in association with the Open University, London, p 107, 1999), it addresses the relations between place, placemaking and immigration. The article draws on an empirical study carried out in an Israeli town located at the border of Lebanon, which was established in the 1950s with the purpose of settling new Jewish immigrants. It stages the life stories of various informants to the research, and the embodied character of these experiences, which all contribute to the production of the place under scrutiny. This micro-history of a place enables to identify the current immigration policy in place, and the motives which underlie it. As the article demonstrates, the narratives of each informant, inscribed in collective patterns, show the extent to which immigration is a crucial issue through which the city repositions itself within national narratives of nationbuilding. Additionally, they inform the transformations of power relations both in and out of the city, and the way the ‘imaginaries of place’ (Walker and Leitner in Urban Geogr 32(2):156–178, 2011) have shifted.

Italian migration policy: Changes and effects

Abstract The phenomenon of Italian migration is characterized by a clear caesura, which makes Italy a country with a long history of emigration and a much shorter experience of immigration. The mid-1970s are considered a breakthrough, when the zero-migration balance was recorded for the first time. The growing wave of arriving foreigners forced the rulers to change the current immigration policy, which rarely responded to the needs of both foreigners and citizens of the Republic. Subsequent laws, usually created in extraordinary circumstances, were also subject to the process of alternating power. Lack of legislative continuity and insufficient social integration gave birth to additional tensions around the observed influx of refugees. In this situation, it seems that the management of the migration crisis is no longer the responsibility of a single nation, but should be an action taken at the level of solutions of the European community.

The Labor Market Effects of Immigration Enforcement

This paper examines the effects of reducing the supply of low-skilled immigrant workers on the labor market outcomes of domestic workers. We use temporal and geographic variation in the introduction of Secure Communities (SC), a county-based immigration enforcement policy, combined with data over 2005-2014 from the American Community Survey to estimate a difference-in-difference model with geographic and time fixed effects. We find evidence that SC had a negative impact on the employment of low-skilled non-citizen workers, who are likely to be directly affected by the policy. Importantly, we also find that SC negatively impacted the employment of citizens working in middle to high-skill occupations. This is the first paper to provide quasi-experimental evidence on the labor market effects of immigration enforcement policies on citizens across the occupational skill distribution, which is of paramount importance given the current immigration policy debates.

Foreign Experience of Regulation of Migration Processes by the Example of the Migration Policy of Canada

In the article, the author examines the immigration experience of Canada, makes key findings about past and current immigration policies, provides historical insight into the essence of the problem of immigration, and analyzes its perspectives against the background of future challenges.The author also offers recommendations regarding possible settlement of the issues within this policy area.

The Hidden Educational Costs of Intensified Immigration Enforcement

The past two decades have witnessed an unprecedented increase in interior immigration enforcement that may have adversely impacted the children of unauthorized migrants—the vast majority of whom are U.S.-born citizens. Using 2000 through 2013 data from the Current Population Survey, we gauge the impact that intensified interior immigration enforcement in the United States is having on the schooling progression of Hispanic youth with likely unauthorized parents. Intensified enforcement raises the probability of repeating a grade for children ages 6–13 by 14%, and the likelihood of dropping out of school for youth ages 14–17 by 18%. Furthermore, younger children are more responsive to police-based enforcement, whereas older youth are more responsive to employment-based enforcement. Awareness of the impacts that current immigration policies have on the children of immigrants is critical in informing the policy debate and in protecting the well-being of children.