Migration Studies Commons^™

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 …

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 …

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 …

"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 …

Who Are The Immigrants? Let's Look In A Mirror, Derek Wilmott

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Interrupted Family Ties: How The Detention Or Deportation Of A Parent Transforms Family Life, Blanca Ramirez

Latino Public Policy

Estimates suggests that between 2011 and 2013, at least half a million children experienced the deportation of a parent (Capps et al. 2015). While multiple studies document the numerous psychological and economic effects of this aggressive system of immigration enforcement, an understudied area in this literature is how families navigate family life throughout the process of a detention and/or deportation. By doing so, this study recognizes that families perform new roles including advocacy, emotional anchoring, and financial laboring in an attempt to maintain family well-being.

Puerto Rico: Two Years After Hurricane Maria, Center For Puerto Rican Studies

CUNY Centro, The Center for Puerto Rican Studies

Two years since Hurricane Maria made landfall in Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017, between 220,000 to 255,000 residents of the island have relocated to the United States. This exodus represents one of the most significant movements of Puerto Ricans to the U.S. mainland in the island’s history in terms of both volume and duration. Two-years post-Hurricane Maria, we expect that an estimate of 60,000 to as high as 78,751 left the Island in 2019. One year since Hurricane-Maria, emigration estimates — of 159,415, with an upper bound confidence interval of 176,603 — is as high as the net migration …

Effects Of Senate Bill 4 On Wage-Theft: Why All Workers Are At Risk In Low-Income Occupations, Daniella Salas-Chacon

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming

Hyper-Selectivity, Racial Mobility, And The Remaking Of Race, Van C. Tran, Jennifer Lee, Oshin Khachikian, Jess Lee

Publications and Research

Recent immigrants to the United States are diverse with regard to selectivity. Hyper-selectivity refers to a dual positive selectivity in which immigrants are more likely to have graduated from college than nonmigrants in sending countries and the host population in the United States. This article addresses two questions. First, how does hyper-selectivity affect second-generation educational outcomes? Second, how does second-generation mobility change the cognitive construction of racial categories? It shows how hyper-selectivity among Chinese immigrants results in positive second-generation educational outcomes and racial mobility for Asian Americans. It also raises the question of whether hyper-selectivity operates similarly for non-Asian groups. …

Undocumented Crime Victims: Unheard, Unnumbered, And Unprotected, Pauline Portillo

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming

Doctors As Migration Brokers In The Mandatory Medical Screenings Of Immigrants To The United States, Sofya Aptekar

Publications and Research

Applicants for legal permanent residency in the United States are required to pass a medical screening. Most of these applicants are already living in the United States on non-immigrant and temporary visas and are screened by civil surgeons, physicians designated by the government to look for infectious diseases, incomplete immunization records, and signs that the immigrant will pose a threat or become a public charge. Little is known about the work of these 4000+ physicians, who play a key role as migration brokers in a context where migration control has devolved to non-state actors. I present quantitative analysis of a …

Depression, Anxiety, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder And A History Of Pervasive Gender-Based Violence Among Women Asylum Seekers Who Have Undergone Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting: A Retrospective Case Review, Hazel Lever, Deborah Ottenheimer, Jimmitti Teysir, Elizabeth Singer, Holly G. Atkinson

Publications and Research

We sought to evaluate the frequency of anxiety, depression, PTSD, and any experiences of violence in women who had undergone Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) and were seeking asylum in the United States. We undertook a retrospective qualitative descriptive study of FGM/C cases seen in an asylum clinic over a 2-year period. Standardized questionnaires provided quantitative scores for anxiety, depression and PTSD. Clients’ personal and physician medical affidavits were analyzed for experiences of violence. Of the 13 cases, anxiety and depression were exhibited by 92 and 100% of women, while all seven women screened for PTSD had symptoms. Qualitative analysis revealed …

The Social Provision Of Healthcare To Migrants In The Us And In China, Van C. Tran, Katharine M. Donato

Publications and Research

This article develops a comparative analysis of healthcare provision to migrants in the US and in China. It proceeds in three parts. First, we begin by describing the growth of the unauthorized population and trace the evolution of social provision of healthcare to immigrants, highlighting the restrictive nature of federal social provisions and greater autonomy of state and local governments in redefining eligibility criteria in the US. Second, we examine the impact of legal status on healthcare access and utilization among Mexicans, using original data from the 2007 Hispanic Healthcare Survey and the Mexican Migration Project. We find that unauthorized …

Human-Rights Discourse: An Examination Of Shifting Conceptions Of Human Rights Within The Netherlands, Declan O. Wicks

International ResearchScape Journal

The thrust of this research focuses on the dynamic ways in which conceptions of human rights, culture, and identity change in relation to increased inflows of allochthonous, non-western migration. Focusing on the Netherlands, this paper examines the Dutch public’s varied responses to migration – whether welcoming or antipathic – through two separate frames. First, an analysis of case law that focuses on the Dutch government’s response to personal family law within Islamic religious situations and the “free-speech trials” of Geert Wilders is undertaken to examine situational responses to perceived changes in culture and identity. Second, an exploration of migration within …

The Housing Crisis In Puerto Rico And The Impact Of Hurricane Maria, Jennifer Hinojosa, Edwin Melendez

CUNY Centro, The Center for Puerto Rican Studies

By all counts, Puerto Rico’s housing market is in a deep and prolonged crisis. At least 18 percent of Puerto Rico’s housing stock is vacant as a result of the island’s prolonged economic recession, which commenced in 2006, and the spike in foreclosures after Hurricane Maria suggests that vacant units are increasing at an accelerated rate. Puerto Rico’s economic recession led to depopulation and the loss of jobs, which induced a decline of home equity values and an increase in foreclosures. More recently, Puerto Rico’s housing stock has been damaged due to Hurricane Maria, which devastated the island on September …

Issue 14: Welcoming Diversity: The Role Of Local And Civil Society Initiatives In Integrating Newcomers, Feyzi Baban, Fuat Keyman, Hande Paker, Kim Rygiel

International Migration Research Centre

In a global context marked by growing international forced displacement and migration, societies are becoming increasingly more diverse. The question of how to live together with newcomers has become a policy issue of utmost concern. While populist governments in Europe and in the US are failing to offer citizens and
newcomers alternative models for living together that encourage greater ethnic, cultural and religious plurality, in this report we highlight the contributions and lessons drawn from local and civil-society initiatives that have been successful in bringing hosts and newcomers together. We explore three such cases: Riace, a small Italian village where …

Gentrification In Northern Queens? Demographic And Socioeconomic Transformations In Queens Community District 3: Jackson Heights And Corona, 1990 - 2016, Lawrence Cappello

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

Introduction: This report examines the extent of gentrification in the New York City neighborhood of Jackson Heights/Corona – officially designated Queens Community District #3 -- traditionally one of the borough’s most quintessential Latino neighborhoods.

Methods: The findings reported here are based on data collected by the Census Bureau IPUMS (Integrated Public Use Microdata Series), available at http://www.usa.ipums.org for the corresponding years and the US Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. This report analyzes data from PUMAS 05403 (1990) and 04102 (2000/2010/2016) in Queens.

Results: The Latino community of Jackson Heights/Corona is not being displaced in any meaningful way. On the contrary, …

Islamic Terrorism In The United States – The Association Of Religious Fundamentalism With Social Isolation & Paths Leading To Extreme Violence Through Processes Of Radicalization., Shay Shiran

Student Theses

This exploratory study focuses on identifying motivations for religious terrorism and Islamic terrorism in the United States in particular. Terrorism is a crime of extreme violence with the end purpose of political influence. This crime is challenging to encounter for its multi-faced characteristics, the unusual motivations of its actors, and their semi-militant conduct. The hypothesis of this study asserts that religious terrorists are radicalized by passing from fundamental to extreme devout agendas, caused by isolation from the dominant society, and resulted in high potential to impose those agendas by extreme violence. Under the theoretical framework of subculture in criminology, this …

Making A German-American Place: Davenport, Iowa, 1836-1918, Benjamin E. Bruster

Celebration of Learning

This study examines the impact of German-Americans in the creation of Davenport and Scott County, Iowa from 1836 through 1918. Like cities many other 19^th century places in the American interior, Davenport and Scott County direly needed people to settle it, build its infrastructure, develop its economy, and contribute to growing social and political life. Conveniently, Davenport and Scott County boosters’ desires occurred simultaneously with rampant pauperism, political, ideological, and religious revolutions, economic redundancy, and widespread dreams of rebirth in Germany. These conditions produced an unprecedented migration from Germany to Davenport and Scott County in the second-half of the …

"Give Me Your Tired..." And The Government Will Decide Who Stays: Examining The U.S.'S Inconsistent Responses To Immigrant Groups Seeking Protection, Clare Deck

Senior Theses

What accounts for the inconsistencies in the way the U.S. responds to large scale influxes of immigrants who are seeking protection within the U.S.’s borders? The author comes to conclusions that the political interests of the United States are largely responsible for how the U.S. responds to large scale immigrant groups seeking protection. The author further argues that the inconsistencies of the U.S. response from case to case is due to the protection gap that exists within the UNHCR’s definition of refugee, and the resulting ease with which the U.S. can apply the definition, when, where, and how it chooses …

From Habits To Habitus: Chinese Elites Attempt To Create An Aristocratic Class Along The British Model, Karina Salomatina

Master's Projects and Capstones

Lately, new trends have appeared in the spending habits of Chinese elites, which include money spent on etiquette classes, butler service, British afternoon tea, debutante balls, education in boarding schools, and immigration to Britain. These new consumption patterns of Chinese elites signify their desire and attempt to adopt the British aristocratic lifestyle portrayed in popular TV series, classical novels and mass media. This study examines anthropological research, documentary videos, news reports and interviews with Chinese elites and applies Bourdieu’s theory of habitus as the main analytical tool in order to explain this phenomenon. Considering that forty years ago all Chinese …

“Se Van A Trabajar, Pero Se Quedan A Vivir”: A Qualitative Exploration Into The Subjective Well-Being Of Mexican Women In A Migrant-Sending Community, Vanessa Saldivar

Master's Theses

The study of subjective well-being and migration are two fields that have increased in prominence in recent decades. However, in the area where the two fields intersect, significant gaps exist. Meanwhile, the majority of research on migration ignores those who stay, resulting in an unbalanced and incomplete understanding of the phenomenon of migration. Using an ethnographic and life history approach, this study explores the subjective well-being of women residing in the migrant-sending community of Tlachichila. Narratives from semi-structured interviews and participant observation field notes were analyzed thematically and emergent themes were identified. Findings suggest that despite the hardship that underscores …

Self-Empowerment Of Minorities Focusing On Trans-Border Communities, Lizbet Carrillo

M.A. in Leadership Studies: Capstone Project Papers

The purpose of this research is to study how migrants could experience self-empowerment having no representation as they are segregated by the communities they live in. Examining current literature regrading empowerment and how to reach self-empowerment, belongingness and the importance of it in everyone’s’ life including minorities focusing on trans-border communities and migrants. Is it possible for unrepresented minorities to reach self-empowerment? How to successfully cross established boundaries, expectations and stereotypes?

Gender Boundary Negotiation Within The U.S. Immigrant/Refugee Resettlement : How Transnational Bridge-Building Matters., Telesphore Kagaba

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

For the past several decades, social research about U.S. immigrant and refugee resettlement has focused on some of the ways federal and non-governmental organizations help immigrants and refugees integrate into mainstream society. Little research, if any, has explored how giving voice to immigrants and refugees is done in bridging transnational gaps and strengths in the process of their adjustment to the host country. This dissertation is grounded within transnational theory (Avenarius 2012, Levitt 2011, Peteet 1997) that argues that immigrants and refugees bring their experiences and cultures from their home countries, time in refugee camps, and other often traumatic experiences …

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 …

Interethnic Marriages In The United States: An In-Depth Look At Marital Challenges, Spring C. Miles

Senior Theses

As ethnic diversity increases in the United States, interethnic marriages are becoming increasingly prevalent. Despite their increasing rates, interethnic unions experience lower levels of relationship quality and are at a higher risk of divorce than same-ethnic unions. Other factors that influence marital outcomes include age at marriage, education, religion, and parental divorce. However, factors that influence specifically interethnic marriages include internal stressors, such as conflicting values and relationship expectations, and external stressors, such as a lack of social support and/or legal barriers. The best theoretical framework for studying interethnic unions is interdependence theory because it analyzes these factors and their …

Crimmigration, Deportability And The Social Exclusion Of Noncitizen Immigrants, Shirley P. Leyro, Daniel L. Stageman

Publications and Research

The spread of crimmigration policies, practices, and rhetoric represents an economically rational strategy and has significant implications for the lived experience of noncitizen immigrants. This study draws up in-depth interviews of immigrants with a range of legal statuses to describe the mechanics through which immigrants internalize and respond to the fear of deportation, upon which crimmigration strategies rely. The fear of deportation and its behavioral effects extend beyond undocumented or criminally convicted immigrants, encompassing lawful permanent residents and naturalized citizens alike. This fear causes immigrants to refuse to use public services, endure labor exploitation, and avoid public spaces, resulting in …

International Nurse Migration From India And The Philippines: The Challenge Of Meeting The Sustainable Development Goals In Training, Orderly Migration, And Healthcare Worker Retention, Maddy Thompson, Margaret Walton-Roberts

Global Nurse Migration Pathways: A Comparative Project

This paper examines nurse migration from India and the Philippines through the lens of the sustainable development goals (SDGs) 4.3 (access to training), 10.7 (orderly and responsible migration) and 3.c (retention of health workers). The international migration of health workers has increasingly featured on the agenda of global health agencies. Ameliorating the negative impact of international nurse emigration from low-income nations has been addressed by several western governments with the adoption of ethical recruitment guidelines, one element of an orderly migration framework. One of the challenges in creating such guidelines is to understand how the emigration of trained nurses influences …