American Immigrants Research Articles

License to drive: State driver’s licensing laws and the travel of unauthorized immigrants

Since 1993, eighteen states and the District of Columbia have adopted laws allowing unauthorized immigrants to acquire driver’s licenses. California is one of these states, passing the Safe and Responsible Drive Act (AB 60) in 2013. In this paper, we examine the relationship between the adoption of state driver’s licensing laws and the commute mode of unauthorized immigrants. We focus specifically on the proportion of unauthorized Latin American immigrants in California who commute by car, drive alone to work, and commute by public transit, testing a number of model specifications and proxies for identifying undocumented immigrant residents. We find that the implementation of AB 60 was associated with a 2.0 percentage-point increase in car commuting and a 4.2 percentage-point increase in driving to work alone by unauthorized immigrants. Results also show a 1.4 percentage-point decline in the rate of commuting by public transit after AB 60′s implementation. This drop in transit use, however, was less statistically robust than findings regarding car commuting.

Masculinities in Immigration Detention Centres

A great tool to grow an empire, detention camps have been historically used and abused as a subordination tactic by all of the most powerful empires, most notably by Germany’s Nazi Regime in the Second World War. Commonly thought to have been born and died in history, they are a mostly forgotten piece of the past. Many would be shocked to discover that there is a secret world of institutions that disregard international human rights law in order to prioritize their national goals, where refugees, asylum seekers and migrants are the primary victims. Systems for migrancy and immigration detention have emerged in the wake of globalization, seeking asylum from conflicts, natural disasters or financial insecurity, or simply searching for better economic opportunities, education or reunion with family. Multicultural liberal democracies use detention centres to enforce their racialized and gendered penal power and establish a national hierarchy where poor, young men of colour are the most marginalized. This paper critically examines the victimization of male refugees, asylum seekers and migrants by neo-colonial masculinities in Canadian, American and British immigration detention centres and how these experiences create offenders through the victim-offender overlap.

Linguistic dimensions of the crimmigration regime: Language ideological working conditions in US Immigration Court

Linguistic dimensions of the crimmigration regime: Language ideological working conditions in US Immigration Court

The Intergenerational Effects From Structural Racism Cost Our Society Greatly

Structural racism is historically rooted, and has been a foundation for United States immigration policy. This injustice has intergenerational effects that cost society greatly – with impacts on social cohesion, individual and collective health, and well-being, and ultimately our ability to function as a civil society. Limited pathways to citizenship and major restrictions to resources that promote integration have adverse consequences for immigrants and, their families. Research shows that children experience toxic stress that negatively impacts their long-term health and development from heightened immigration enforcement, regardless of any personal impact. In embracing the next generation of children, we will not succeed unless we support sound integration policies that promote the health and well-being of immigrant families across this nation. We must recognize how intricately our fates and our health are tied to each other; we all depend on immigrants being well. We must advance new a social contract, one that counters the ‘othering’ of immigrants” and recognizes that we must invest in the health and well-being of all families.

Migratory grief and mental health in first-generation Korean American immigrants.

The purpose of this study was to examine first-generation Korean immigrants' migratory grief in relation to cultural, social, and mental health variables. We examined (a) how behavioral and value acculturation and enculturation as well as mainstream and ethnic connectedness predicted migratory grief and (b) how mainstream and ethnic connectedness moderated the relationships of migratory grief and mental health outcomes (i.e., depression, life satisfaction, positive and negative affect). Data were collected from 188 self-identified first-generation Korean immigrant adults (N = 188, Mage = 43.63, SD = 12.18) and were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression. Age and behavioral enculturation positively predicted migratory grief, while European American values and mainstream connectedness negatively predicted migratory grief. Migratory grief and mainstream and ethnic connectedness had significant main effects on mental health, but social connectedness did not moderate the relationships between migratory grief and mental health. Acculturation, enculturation, and social connectedness were significant predictors of first-generation Korean immigrants' migratory grief. Additionally, migratory grief and social connectedness significantly predicted mental health. We discussed implications for research and practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

Deconstructing Borders: Arab American Immigrants and Body Politics in Mohja Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf

Deconstructing Borders: Arab American Immigrants and Body Politics in Mohja Kahf’s The Girl in the Tangerine Scarf

Invisible no more: the intersectionality of Asian American immigrants experiences

ABSTRACT Violence against individuals of Asian ancestry is frequently overlooked and dismissed as a personal issue. This conceptual paper aims to critically analyze the roots of anti-Asian violence as a sociopolitical problem and investigate the systematic oppression that leads to the invisibility of Asian American experiences. To begin, we introduce two conventional paradigms that function as forms of systemic oppression, contributing to the marginalization of Asian American immigrants. Subsequently, we present the concept of intersectionality as an alternative paradigm for understanding the diverse experiences within the Asian American community. Furthermore, we offer suggestions for the training of social workers to better equip them to assist Asian American individuals and families who find themselves caught between the Black/White and Native/Alien binaries.

Intergenerational Relations and Well-being Among Older Middle Eastern/Arab American Immigrants During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

This study aimed to examine the consequences of COVID-19 socialization restrictions on familial and social support systems of older Middle Eastern/Arab immigrants in Michigan, home to the largest, most visible concentration of Middle Eastern/Arab Americans in the United States. Six focus group (N = 45) interviews were conducted with Middle Eastern/Arab American immigrants aged 60 and older to assess difficulties faced during the pandemic as it related to familial, social, and medical care. Inductive analysis identified two major themes to advance meanings of intergenerational relations among older immigrants (a) the breakdown of family relations, which describes a shift in both the experience and expectations of intergenerational relations in Middle Eastern/Arab families; and (b) cultural sources of increased stress, illustrating how the pandemic interfered with valued family interactions to affect well-being. These findings indicated social and cultural sources of heightened stress linked to shifts in intergenerational relations among Middle Eastern/Arab American older immigrants.

Title 42 and the Impact on Asylum Seekers: Exploring the Effects of its Termination and its Changes on the US Immigration System

The repeal of Title 42, an emergency immigration restriction, represents a significant policy shift in how the United States treats migrants who arrive at the southern border, particularly those seeking asylum. For over three years, U.S. border officers used Title 42 to deport hundreds of thousands of migrants to Mexico or their home countries, claiming that their presence could contribute to the spread of the coronavirus. While Title 42 is allegedly a public health policy, it has been utilized to regulate and prevent unauthorized border crossings. Democrats and campaigners have denounced title 42 because it prevents refugees from obtaining asylum, a legal right they normally have once they reach US territory. Republicans described it as an effective border control tool, requesting that Title 42 should be codified into law so that it may be utilized outside of the pandemic setting. The period of Title 42 ended, which created more obstacles than solutions for asylum seekers. As the US ends Title 42, the rules for asylum seeking are changing once again, the United States will revert to Title 8 under the new standards. The Title 8 Code outlines a strict asylum policy which makes it harder for immigrants to file claims and to seek asylum. Under this new regulation everyone coming from Latin-America, except for Mexico, has to face the harsh reality that the requirements of Title 8 make most of them ineligible for asylum. How does the repealing of Title 42 affect the US immigration system and how will it influence the 2024 elections as the termination was introduced at a critical time, when Biden is seeking a second term?

Regular Physician Access and Obesity Status Among Underserved Asian and Pacific Islander American Immigrants in Los Angeles.

According to prior research, Asian and Pacific Islander American (APIA) immigrants often refrain from seeking health care unless necessitated by medical conditions. Utilizing data from health screenings conducted in APIA immigrant enclaves in Los Angeles, we hypothesize that poorer obesity status would predict higher rates of regular physician access. Analyses involved objectively measured percent body fat (%BF) and survey responses collected between 2011 and 2019. We assessed the association between obesity status and regular physician access, adjusting for insurance status, demographic, and socioeconomic factors. The study population (n = 4102) primarily consisted low-income, low English proficiency APIAs. Participants with a regular physician were significantly more likely to be obese compared to participants without (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.28). This association may suggest that care was sought reactively rather than proactively within this community. Interventions with emphasis on cultural competency and language services may encourage preventative care utilization among this understudied community.

Immigration status microaggressions: A moderated mediation analysis of cultural stress, fear, internalization, and psychological stress among Latinx and Asian college students.

Latinx and Asian people are experiencing an elevated rate of immigration status-related oppression-both systematically and individually-despite actual nationality, and this type of cultural stressor has seen a rampant increase recently in the United States. We aimed to assess the relation and effect of immigration status microaggressions on psychological stress and some mechanisms connected to these experiences. Using a sample of Latinx and Asian college students (N = 776), we unpack the relationships between individual cultural stressors, such as immigration status microaggressions, and psychological stress, by exploring their mediating relation with internalized racism (Mediator 1), and fear of foreign objectification (Mediator 2), using Hayes's (2012) PROCESS Model 6-serial mediation. Furthermore, we expanded on this model, highlighting differences between Latinx and Asian participants (moderator) using a moderated mediation. Findings suggest a full serial mediation. Specifically, the psychological stress associated with immigration status microaggressions was mediated by internalized racism and fear of foreign objectification. Results also highlighted that Latinx participants, compared to Asian ones, showed a significant positive association between immigration status microaggressions with internalized racism and fear of foreign objectification. Furthermore, a significant interaction for Latinx who experience more fear of foreign objectification was positively associated with psychological stress. Indirect effects for each group are discussed. Our study is one of the first to explore cultural stress in the form of immigration status microaggressions in connection with more general forms of psychological stress and internalizing processes for two groups historically persecuted around immigration in the United States. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

“To Separate Myself from Them, I Think I Will Feel Great Sadness”: Transnational Fatherhood and Border Regimes in Central Mexico

Abstract Studies of fatherhood in Latin America demonstrate an uneven shift from traditional, patriarchal fatherhood to a more reflexive version that incorporates elements of active, relational fatherhood. This hybrid fatherhood emerged from the transition of Fordism to flexible accumulation, a transformation that coincided with massive migration from Central Mexico to the United States. Migration scholars have demonstrated the fluidity of masculine identities, men’s strategies to father across borders, and how US immigration enforcement shapes gendered subjectivities and power relations in transnational families. Building off these insights, we examine how return migrant men in rural central Mexico navigated changing meanings and practices of fatherhood. Their hybrid strategies reflect the inherent contradictions of a border regime that limited circular migration to the United States and their interest in maintaining close emotional attachments to children. Transnational fathers’ connections to reproduction reveal another way that affect articulates with capital accumulation and borders.

Debunking Immigration Myths: A Review Essay of Streets of Gold: America’s Untold Story of Immigrant Success

This essay reviews Streets of Gold: America’s Untold Story of Immigrant Success by Ran Abramitzky and Leah Boustan. This elegantly written book, whih is a must-read for anyone interested in the topic of immigration, walks the reader through a history of US immigration, examining patterns of immigrant assimilation from the mid-nineteenth century to today. The book challenges two myths about US immigration. First, it shows that historical European immigrants did not always arrive poor and quickly climb the economic and social ladder. Second, it documents that the pace of immigrant assimilation today resembles that prevailing at the turn of the twentieth century. (JEL J15, J18, K37, N31, N32, Z13)

Age-varying association between discrimination, childhood family support, and substance use disorders among Latin American immigrants in the United States.

The cultural stress theory posits that immigrants experience a constellation of cultural stressors such as discrimination that could exacerbate alcohol- and other substance-related problems. Drawing on cultural stress theory, this study investigated the age-varying association between past-year discrimination and substance use disorders (SUDs) among Latin American immigrants aged 18-60 and whether childhood family support moderated the above association. We used data from the National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions-III (NESARC-III) among adults aged 18-60 who identified as a Latin American immigrant (N = 3,049; 48% female). Time-varying effect models (TVEMs) revealed that experiencing past-year discrimination was associated with greater odds of having a SUD during young and middle adulthood for Latin American immigrants. Furthermore, for immigrants with lower childhood family support, discrimination was associated with SUD risk in young and middle adulthood. The present study documents that past-year discrimination was linked to greater SUD risk during young and middle adulthood. Childhood family support may serve as a protective factor in the association between discrimination and risk for SUD among Latin American immigrants. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

US Immigration Policy Stressors and Latinx Youth Mental Health

The youth mental health crisis is exacerbated for Latinx adolescents, a group whose families are targets of anti-immigrant rhetoric and policy. To investigate how immigration-related stressors are associated with disruptions in parent-child relationships and, in turn, the mental health symptoms of Latinx adolescents. Data for this prospective cohort study of adolescent-mother dyads were derived from surveys completed at 3 time points spanning 4 years (time 1 [T1] in 2018, time 2 [T2] in 2020, and time 3 [T3] in 2022). Mediation analyses estimated paths from immigration-related stressors to parent-child relationship qualities to mental health symptoms from early to late adolescence. Multivariable and multivariate linear models within a structural equation modeling framework regressed mediators and outcome variables on their own T1 values, offering a scientifically rigorous test of mediation. The setting was a school district in suburban Atlanta, Georgia, and included Latinx adolescents (ages 11-16 years) randomly selected from grade and gender strata. Data were analyzed from June 2023 to March 2024. The primary independent variables were T1 mother reports of anti-immigrant worry and behavioral modification and adolescent reports of family member detention or deportation. Mediating variables were the reports of parental support and parent-child conflict of T2 adolescents. T3 adolescent reports of past 6-month internalizing and externalizing symptoms. A total of 547 Latinx adolescents (mean [SD] age, 13.3 [1.0] years; 303 female [55.4%]; 244 male [44.6%]) were included in this study. Response rates were 65.2% (547 of 839) among contacted parents and 95.3% (547 of 574) among contacted adolescents with parental permission. Four-year retention rates were 67% (366 of 547 adolescents) and 65% (177 of 271 mothers). Structural model results showed that T1 anti-immigrant worry and behavioral modification was associated with T3 increases in externalizing symptoms indirectly through T1 to T2 increases in parent-child conflict (β = 0.03; SE = 0.02; 95% CI, 0-0.08). For girls, T1 family member deportation or detention was associated with T1 to T3 increases in internalizing and externalizing symptoms indirectly through T1 to T2 declines in parental support (internalizing: β = 0.04; SE = 0.02; 95% CI, 0-0.08; externalizing: β = 0.03; SE = 0.02; 95% CI, 0-0.07). Sensitivity analyses supported structural model findings. Results of this cohort study suggest that legislative bodies, the health care system, and educational institutions should implement safeguards to mitigate potential harm conferred by anti-immigrant environments for parent-child relationships and, in turn, Latinx adolescents' mental health.

Older Chinese and Filipino American Immigrants with Type 2 Diabetes and their Adult Child: A Qualitative Dyadic Exploration of Family Support.

Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) among older Asian American immigrants (AA) is a growing concern. Asian Americans represent 9% of diagnosed diabetes. Very little is known on how older Asian American immigrants with T2D navigate diabetes management, in particular the role of family support. This qualitative study examines Chinese and Filipino Americans, the two largest Asian subgroups in the US (4.2 million, and 3.6 million, respectively), and family support dynamics among adult children and their parents diagnosed with T2D. Ten dyads (n = 20) made up of adult children and aging parents participated in in-depth and dyadic interviews. Results indicate that family support occurs in a trajectory of stages. The following thematic patterns emerged in these dyads around support: independence, transitions, partnership, and stepping in. The findings point to various supportive stages that Asian American adult children and aging parents with T2D experience and the importance of developing supportive interventions for both adult children and aging parents at these various stages.

Dancing around gender expression and sex talk: LGBTQ+ asylum policy in the United States

In this article, I argue that the US Citizenship and Immigration Services’ current guidelines for LGBTQ+ asylum adjudication are both underinclusive and improperly restrictive. They are underinclusive because they are insufficiently attentive to LGBTQ+ applicants’ right to protection from persecution on the basis of gender expression. They also flatten the concept of gender identity by conflating it with transgender identity, thus reconsolidating a transgender/cisgender binary that impedes asylum officers’ ability to find cognizable those gender identities that exceed these two terms. The guidelines are also improperly restrictive because they forbid specific discussions of sex acts during the asylum interview. To be sure, this proscription is a response to widespread recent reports of abuse of applicants around the world. Nevertheless, it overcorrects for the problem and, in turn, hinders asylum officers’ ability to elicit detailed testimonies as well as impedes, in all likelihood, the ability of some applicants to furnish credible testimonials.

Prisons, Immigration, and the Right to a Livable Life in the Anthropocene: Reading Garrett Hardin and Michel Foucault

Abstract Critical work theorizing the nature of immigration imprisonment in relation to anthropogenically influenced ecological phenomena is in its infancy. Scholars have productively made sense of the modern carceral state's expansion by locating it within the framework of race and neoliberalism, registering the collateral damage essential to Western European whiteness and a neoliberal problematic. These framings of migrant incarceration continue to effectively serve a critical function. However, this essay argues that the historical character of immigration incarceration is in the process of changing in the face of real and imagined Anthropocene impacts. Increasingly, immigration is the result of ecological collapse, and taking race and neoliberalism as primary frameworks for understanding forces subtending the carceral system has become critically restrictive. This essay develops an environmental genealogy from historical references within Michel Foucault's work on the relationship between land enclosures and rise of the prison, in order to establish a larger constellation in which to think the event of immigration incarceration today. The essay places Foucault's work in conversation with the work of prominent ecologist and white nationalist Garrett Hardin, whose concurrent pro-enclosure work on immigration and the environment inaugurated a coercive truth discourse that has come to impact not only ecological disciplines in the natural sciences, the social sciences, and the environmental humanities but also current US immigration policy.

Botánicas Function as Health Care Safety Nets Among Hispanic American Immigrants: A Brief Report.

As the U.S. population becomes more racially/ethnically diverse, the Hispanic American immigrant population has slowly grown in recent years. In the face of anti-immigrant policies, limited access to care, fear of deportation, discrimination, stigmatization, poverty, and other stressors, Hispanic American immigrants seek services from botánicas for religious, spiritual, medical, and psychosocial health reasons, including the accessibility and affordability of services from folk practitioners in these herbal dispensaries. Hispanics are the primary consumers of herbal remedies and complementary and alternative medicines in the United States. The purpose of this article is to emphasize the critical role of botánicas in the health and wellness of Hispanic American immigrants. Recommendations for health professionals are provided in the care of Hispanic Americans who utilize folk, traditional, and herbal medicines for health and healing.

Study Recruitment, Retention, and Adherence Among Chinese American Immigrants During the COVID-19 Pandemic.

Chinese American immigrants have been underrepresented in health research partly due to challenges in recruitment. This study aims to describe recruitment and retention strategies and report adherence in a 7-day observational physical activity study of Chinese American immigrants with prior gestational diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Foreign-born Chinese women aged 18-45 years, with a gestational diabetes index pregnancy of 0.5-5 years, who were not pregnant and had no current diabetes diagnosis were recruited. They wore an accelerometer for 7 consecutive days and completed an online survey. Multiple recruitment strategies were used: (a) culturally and linguistically tailored flyers, (b) social media platforms (e.g., WeChat [a popular Chinese platform] and Facebook), (c) near-peer recruitment and snowball sampling, and (d) a study website. Retention strategies included flexible scheduling and accommodation, rapid communications, and incentives. Adherence strategies included a paper diary and/or automated daily text reminders with a daily log for device wearing, daily email reminders for the online survey, close monitoring, and timely problem-solving. Participants were recruited from 17 states; 108 were enrolled from August 2020 to August 2021. There were 2,479 visits to the study webpage, 194 screening entries, and 149 inquiries about the study. Their mean age was 34.3 years, and the mean length of U.S. stay was 9.2 years. Despite community outreach, participants were mainly recruited from social media (e.g., WeChat). The majority were recruited via near-peer recruitment and snowball sampling. The retention rate was 96.3%; about 99% had valid actigraphy data, and 81.7% wore the device for 7 days. The majority of devices were successfully returned, and the majority completed the online survey on time. We demonstrated the feasibility of recruiting and retaining a geographically diverse sample of Chinese American immigrants with prior gestational diabetes during the COVID-19 pandemic. Recruiting Chinese immigrants via social media (e.g., WeChat) is a viable approach. Nonetheless, more inclusive recruitment strategies are needed to ensure broad representation from diverse socioeconomic groups of immigrants.