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"Brown Flight": Secondary Movement Among Mexican Immigrants, Carlos Garcia

Faculty Publications, Sociology

The past ten years have seen the continued growth of the Mexican origin population in the United States. This growth has been accompanied by the movement of immigrants away from their traditional settlement locations in the Southwest. Using data collected in a small community in Northeastern Oklahoma I explore factors that motivate the movement of Mexican immigrants to nontraditional locations. I find these movements are motivated by a search for a higher quality of life. In effect this movement represents a form of "Brown flight" away from urban centers to rural locations. In areas such as these, respondents find many …