Migration Studies Commons^™

Familismo, Fafsa, And Sallie Mae: A Study Of Second Generation Latinx Student Loan Debt, Jasmine Gonsalez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As college expenses continue to skyrocket, borrowing thousands of dollars to pay for college has become a rite of passage towards achieving the American Dream. Very little has explored the problem of rising student loan debt thorough a sociologically-oriented lens, and even less work has examined the variations in the lived experiences of underrepresented student borrowers. This study focuses on second-generation Latinx students who have used student loans to pay for college. As American citizens with Latin American roots, this generation lives in a precarious situation, often straddling the lines between their traditional family-oriented values, and the more individualistic values …

Migrant Domestic Labor In The Global South: The Plight Of Filipina Domestic Workers In Morocco, Sara Asselman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In studying feminist theory, I discovered that domestic and care labor are often gendered and racialized. They are gendered because they are performed almost exclusively by women, and racialized because in western societies they are often relegated to women of color or migrant women. Feminist literature provides that migrant domestic labor often entails a migration flow between countries of the global north and countries of the global south and between countries that are economically disparate. Feminist theorists often criticize political economic and social structures reproduced by neoliberalism, globalization and neocolonialism for creating a global market for migrant domestic and care …

Group Distinctiveness And Ethnic Identity Among 1.5 And Second-Generation Russian-Speaking Jewish Immigrants In Germany And The U.S., Jay (Koby) Oppenheim

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study investigates the ethnic identity of the 1.5 and second-generation of Russian-speaking Jewish immigrants to Germany and the U.S. in the most recent wave of immigration. Between 1989 and the mid-2000s, approximately 320,000 Russian-speaking Jewish immigrants departed the (former) Soviet Union for the U.S. and an additional 220,000 moved to Germany. The 1.5 and second-generations have successfully integrated into mainstream institutions, like schools and the workforce, but not the co-ethnic Jewish community in each country. Moreover, Russian-speaking Jewish immigrants are subject to a number of critiques, most prominently, of having a ‘thin culture’ that relies on abstract forms of …

The Untapped Potential Of Ethnic Community Networks: Urban Resiliency And The Chinese Commuter Van System In New York City, Alexandra Diane Smith

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Community resiliency begins at the local level. This explores the intersection of urban resiliency with the strength of community transit networks by evaluating the extensive Chinese immigrant inter-borough commuter van system in New York City. How should the city better empower and utilize existing immigrant transit and support networks in its strategic planning in response to disaster relief, recovery, and resiliency? More broadly, how can cities harness the realities of the 21st century - migration and climate change - and realize their potential to improve accessibility and reach in disaster relief? Better understanding the way the van system works within …

Defending The "Bad Immigrant": Aggravated Felonies, Deportation, And Legal Resistance At The Crimmigration Nexus, Sarah Rose Tosh

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation explores the development and effects of the “aggravated felony”—an expansive legal category that has spurred the detention and deportation of hundreds of thousands of immigrants, including many green-card-holding lawful permanent residents, over the past thirty years. Offenses in this category need not be “aggravated” nor “felonies,” but rather, include a broad range of criminal convictions, including misdemeanors, ranging from check fraud and simple drug possession to drug trafficking and murder. Non-citizens in removal proceedings based on aggravated felony convictions are mandatorily detained and almost certainly deported—usually without legal representation. Still, despite growing academic interest in deportation and the …

Refugees From Somalia, Burma/Myanmar And Iraq: Navigating New Lives In The Us In Post-9/11 Context, Ivona Boroje

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis engages with the relationship of the US with refugees, with a focus on the reception and perception of refugees resettled in the US after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Three groups that have resettled in the US in large numbers after 9/11, namely refugees from Somalia, Burma/Myanmar and Iraq groups have had divergent experiences, shaped by factors such as race and/or ethnic identity, religion, cultural norms, expectations about life in the US, histories of their places of origin and the relationship of the US with that place of origin. This thesis attempts to compare the experiences …

A Parade Of Identities: Negotiation Of Ethnic Identities In Three New York City Cultural Parades, Julia M. Herrera-Moreno

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

“A Parade of Identities” is a digital project that applies social theories of international migration, psychology and cultural anthropology to ethnographic visual data in order to analyze ethnic identity and urban space appropriation found in three of New York City’s cultural parades. The project traces and analyzes the historical meaning and emerging directions in terms of ethnic identity construction, of NYC immigrant parades through the use of the author’s photography and video collections (2012-2018) of St. Patrick’s Day, Columbus Day and Chinese New Year parades, in association with a website and blog via digital humanities’ platform. Additionally, by activating the …

Educational Attainment Of Immigrant Students In The United States: Generational Struggle Towards Success, Robin Das

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Known as the land of opportunities, United States has always been a key attraction to outside world as the place where people can live up to their potential dreams. People migrate from far lands to settle down and find the missing link that was absent in their native country. Among numerous reasons, financial inefficiency and social and political insecurity at homeland, new immigration policies in the US, expectation of a better socio-economic lifestyle and a secure and prosperous future for their children are some key reasons why immigrants move out of their motherland and travel to America. They hope and …

"But The Heart Stays Turkish": Identifications Of Immigrants And Boundaries Of Belonging In America, Zeynep Selen Bayhan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation focuses on the symbolic boundary-making processes of first-generation Turkish immigrants in New York and New Jersey, where Islam has been tainted with negative meanings and symbols. By focusing on the characteristics, salience and endurance of ethno-national, religious and gender boundaries that immigrants perceive and experience in the U.S., it examines the possibilities of social inclusion and assimilation/integration of immigrants into the mainstream society. The dissertation addresses following research questions: What sort of symbols and markers, as well as narratives do immigrants use in order to construct boundaries regarding American society? How do Turkish immigrants, in the aftermath of …

Highly Skilled Immigration In The United States In An Age Of Globalization: An Institutional And Agency Approach, Marcela F. González

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My dissertation proposes an institutional and agency approach in order to answer a new question to a new set of conditions, processes, and architecture of the new immigration trend for highly skilled immigration in the United States that emerged in the 1990s. The complexification of visa policies for highly skilled immigrants since the 1990s forces many immigrants to follow a multi-step legal pathway to acquire legal permanent residency: first, immigrants have a variety of temporary legal statuses or no legal status, and in a subsequent stage they achieve legal permanent residency. The central question that organizes the dissertation has two …

Brentwood, New York 11717: A Multimedia Ethnographic Study On An Immigrant Town, Ashley Mungo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Brentwood, New York is a working-class town of about 60,000 situated forty miles east of Manhattan on Long Island. As of the 2010 Census, 68.5 percent of residents are Latino or Hispanic, with 10.7 percent of the overall population living below the federal poverty level. Less than ten percent of the population has obtained a bachelors degree or higher. Street violence, gangs, and overall crime are frequently addressed at community meetings, igniting a fierce debate on immigration within the town that has reached national media, with critics arguing that the exponentially increasing Latino migrant population has caused this crisis.

The …

Chile’S Decree-Law 1094: A Source Of Immigrant Vulnerability, Joao M. Da Silva

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The South American nation of Chile is rapidly becoming a receiving nation for immigrants from other South American nations and the Caribbean. By December 31, 2017, the immigrant population had surpassed 1.1 million, 300,000 of whom are in irregular status. Immigration to Chile is governed by Decree-Law No. 1094 (DL 1094) of 1975, the oldest immigration law in South America, decreed by the military junta led by General Augusto Pinochet. I argue that the continued application of DL 1094, and the Chilean state’s failure to enact a new law that addresses immigration from a human rights-based approach, contributes to perpetuating …

The Potency Of Policy?: A Comparative Study Of Filipino Elder Care Workers In The United States And Israel, Abigail F. Kolker

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

As the population of the United States and Israel rapidly ages, the elder care industry is expanding at an unprecedented rate. In-home care work is increasingly performed by migrants, many of whom are from the Philippines. This study, based on two years of ethnographic research and 163 in-depth interviews, examines how the United States’ and Israel’s differing immigration and labor policies impact the lives of Filipino caregivers. Despite vastly different policy approaches to migrant elder care workers—highly unregulated in the U.S. and highly regulated in Israel—this study found many striking similarities between Filipino caregivers’ migration and work experiences in the …

Due Process And The Right To Legal Counsel For Unaccompanied Minors, Marielos G. Ramos

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Unaccompanied minors arriving to the United States fleeing violence and seeking protection are apprehended, detained in facilities, and placed in removal proceedings in accordance with U.S. immigration laws. Like adults, these children have to appear in immigration court to fight deportation and must apply for any form of legal relief for which they may be eligible. However, removal proceedings work as a civil and not a criminal process, and immigration laws have established that while noncitizens have the right to an attorney, they are not entitled to legal counsel at the government’s expense. This thesis examines how the denial of …