MIGRATION, PUBLIC POLICY, and LATINO COMMUNITIES

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MIGRATION, PUBLIC POLICY, andLATINO COMMUNITIES
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READING

• Smith, Talons, ch. 8 again
• Domínguez and Fernández de Castro, chapters 2, 4,
  5 (Mexico, Central America, Caribbean)
• Jorge Castañeda, ExMex From Migrants to
  Immigrants, ch. 8 (Course Reader 6)

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• INTRODUCTION PATTERNS AND POLICIES
• THE NUMBERS GAME(S)
• Flows
• Stocks
• Proportions
• Costs and benefits
• Rates of assimilation

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• EMOTIONAL ISSUES AND POLITICAL DEBATES
• Ethnicity vs. melting pots
• Diversity vs. tradition
• Fairness vs. efficiency

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NUMERICAL DIMENSIONS

• 11 million illegal immigrants in U.S.
• 55-60 from Mexico
• 25 of Mexicos able-bodied male workforce now in
  U.S.
• U.S.-Mexican wage ratio 81 or 101

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Mexican-Origin Population in United States,
1900-2003
Mx-born (9.9)
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Regional Origin of Mexican Migrants
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Geographical Concentration of Mexican Migrants
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Remittances to Mexico, 1990-2003
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BORDER PATROL AGENTS
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EFFECTS 0F BORDER ENFORCEMENT

• 1. Shifting routes (toward Arizona)
• 2. Increased use of polleros (smugglers)
• 3. Reduced circularity (more permanent stays)
• 4. More women and families
• 5. Increased loss of life

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• Deaths at the Border
• 2001 528
• 2002 470
• 2003 478
• 2004 460
• 2005 gt 500

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MIGRATION AND THE GLOBAL ECONOMIC CRISIS

• Context joblessness everywhere
• New entries down (not due to border enforcement,
  since 95 of migrants without papers get through)
• Return migration stable (despite concern in
  Mexico about major increase)
• Within USA, unemployment among Latino men gt Anglo
  men

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• THE RANGE OF POLICY CHOICE
• LEGAL MIGRATION
• Revise legal quotas
• Revise criteria for entry
• THE RANGE OF POLICY CHOICE
• ILLEGAL MIGRATION
• Strategies for restriction
• Building fences
• Blocking corridors (e.g., Operation Gatekeeper)
• Withdrawing incentives and benefits (e.g., Prop
  187)
• Punishing employers

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• Strategies for opening
• Augmenting quotas
• Guest-worker programs
• Eliminating barriers
• Strategies for reduction
• Targeting economic development
• Circulating information
• Additional steps?

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• Initiatives on Migration
• Phase 1 The Whole Enchilada (January-September
  11, 2001)
• Phase 2 Focus on Security
• Phase 3 The Second Bush Term
• Temporary amnesty for those here and employed
• Guest-worker program
• Eventual path to citizenship
• Phase 4 Barack Obama?

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What Would You Do?