IMR - International Migration Review
ISBN: 1-57703-028-1
Publisher: CMS

International Migration Review

Volume XLI, Number 4, Winter 2007

Table of Contents

Defining Nations in Asia and Europe:  A Comparative Analysis of Ethnic Return Migration Policy.   John D. Skrentny, Stephanie Chan, Jon Fox and Denis Kim

We argue that regional comparison of East Asian and European ethnic return migration policy offers important new perspectives on nationhood, nondiscrimination norms, and trans-nationality. We find that despite international nondiscrimination norms, preferential ethnic return policy is common in both regions.  These policies at least implicitly define the nation as existing across borders.  However, there are significant regional differences.  East Asian states use co-ethnic preferences instrumentally for economic goals and also offer preferential treatment of co-ethnic foreign investors. European states offer preferences to co-ethnics to protect these populations or express symbolic ties, sometimes at great expense.  Thus, in Europe the state has an obligation to assist co-ethnics abroad, but in Asia, foreign co-ethnics assist the state.

Darfurian Livelihoods and Libya:  Trade, Migration and Remittance Flows in Times of Conflict and Crisis.  Helen Young, Abdalmonium Osman and Rebecca Dale

Labor migration and commerce between Sudan and Libya has long been a feature of livelihoods in Darfur.  This paper describes the importance of historical trade and migration links between Darfur and Libya, and provides a background to the political and economic situation in Libya which has influenced opportunities for Sudanese migrant workers.  A case-study of the situation of the Darfurian migrants in Kufra (an oasis and trans-national trade hub in southern Libya) illustrates how the recent Darfur conflict has affected migration patterns from Darfur and remittance flows in the opposite direction. Official estimates of Darfurian migrant workers in Libya were unavailable but were estimated to be between 150,000 and 250,000.   The closure of the national border between Sudan and Libya in May 2003 largely a result of insecurity in Darfur, stopped the traffic of migrant workers between northern Darfur and southern Libya (which prevented the onward travel to Sudan of several thousand migrants in Kufra), and curtailed the well established trade routes, communications and remittance flows.   The current limited economic prospects for migrant workers in Libya, combined with the threat of detention, difficulties of return to Sudan, loss of contact with and uncertainty about the fate of their families in Darfur, have created a sense of despair among many Darfurians.  The paper concludes with a series of recommendations to improve the conditions of the Darfurian migrants in Libya, including an amnesty for illegal migrants, and also to ease the travel of migrants, promote communications between Libya and Darfur, and support the flow of remittances.

The Use of Remittance Income in Mexico.  Jim Airola

Immigration affects sending countries through the   receipt of remittance income.  The impact of these cash transfers on households and communities have brought attention on remittances as a development mechanism. This study attempts to understand the degree to which household consumption is affected by the receipt of remittance income and the ways in which the broader communities may be impacted. Using household income and expenditure data for Mexico, expenditure patterns of remittance receiving households are analyzed. Regression analysis indicates that remittance-receiving households spend a greater share of total income on durable goods, healthcare, and housing.

Assimilating to a White Identity: The Case of Arab Americans.  Kristin J. Ajrouch and Amaney Jamal

Racial identity is one of the primary means by which immigrants assimilate to the United States. Drawing from the tenets of segmented assimilation, this study examines how the ethnic traits of immigrant status, national origin, religious affiliation, and Arab Americaness contribute to the announcement of a white racial identity using a regionally representative sample of Arab Americans.  Results illustrate that being Lebanese/Syrian or Christian, and those who felt that the term Arab American does not describe them were more likely to identify as white. In addition, among those who affirmed that the pan-ethnic term “Arab American” does describe them, results illustrated that strongly held feelings about being Arab American and associated actions were also linked with a higher likelihood of identifying as white. Findings point to different patterns of assimilation among Arab Americans. Some segments of Arab Americans appear to report both strong ethnic and white identities, while others report a strong white identity, yet distance themselves from the pan-ethnic “Arab American” label. 

Immigration and Civic Participation in a Multiracial and Multiethnic Context.  Michael A. Stoll and Janelle S. Wong

This article seeks to understand civic participation among Asians and Latinos in a multiethnic, multiracial context.   We investigate the usefulness of an expanded model of civic engagement, one that makes central factors related to migration, such as length of residence, language acquisition, and citizenship, for groups that include a large number of immigrants. The 1992-1994 Los Angeles Survey of Urban Inequality allows us to test a model of civic participation that incorporates variables previously neglected – migration-related factors, but also multiracial contexts and interracial ties – to better explain participation differences among a diverse population.

Onward Emigration to the United States by Canadian Immigrants Between 1995 and 2000.  Karen M. King and K. Bruce Newbold

Using data drawn from the 2000 US and the 2001 Canadian Censuses, this paper analyzes the onward emigration of Canadian immigrants to the US between 1995 and 2000. The characteristics of an estimated 48,336 Canadian immigrants who made an onward emigration from Canada to the United States are examined. This paper also seeks to determine whether onward foreign-born emigrants are representative of immigrants in Canada and Canadian-born emigrants to the US. Results indicate that onward emigrants are primarily young, married, possess a bachelors degree, earn incomes of $100,000 US or greater, and reside in large immigrant-receiving states and metropolitan areas.

Contexts of English Language Use among Immigrants to the United States.  Ilana Redstone Akres

This analysis of New Immigrant Survey data indicates that the longer immigrants are in the U.S., the more likely they are to use English with friends, at work, at home, and with a spouse.  The average immigrant arriving as a young adult has a predicted probability of using English with friends upon arrival of 0.44, a figure that doubles after 15 years in the U.S.  The same average immigrant has a 0.40 probability of using English at home upon arrival, which rises to 0.55 after 15 years.  The results suggest substantial language shift with the first generation.

Research Note

Public Attitudes toward Immigrants and Immigration Policies across Seven Nations.  Rita J. Simon and Keri W. Sikich

This article reports national public opinion survey data for 1995 and 2003 across seven nations: Australia, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, France, and the United States. The data show that in both 1995 and 2003 most respondents favored decreasing the number of immigrants allowed into their country. In general, over the eight year period there was no consistent trend in public attitudes toward immigrants and the economy, whether immigrants take jobs away from people born in the country, immigrants and crime, and whether immigrants make a country more open to new ideas and cultures

Conference Report

Transnational Migration in East Asia:  Japan in Comparative Focus.  David W. Haines, Makito Minami and Shinji Yamashita

This special two-day conference on migration, held at Japan’s National Museum of Ethnology (Minpaku), was one of the first and most comprehensive meetings of scholars on the full dimensions and implications of migration both to and from Japan. It was also a valuable opportunity to reconsider international migration from an East Asian vantage point—and especially convenient for non-Japanese since the papers were written in English.

International Migration Review

Volume XLI, Number 3, Fall 2007

Table of Contents

Income Adequacy and Social Security Differences Between the Foreign-Born and U.S.-Born.  Lee Cohen and Howard Jams

This paper projects retirement income and Social Security taxes and benefits among the foreign-born and U.S.-born in the United States. Focusing on the Depression and the late baby boom birth cohorts, we find that foreign-born persons have higher poverty rates than the U.S.-born, and as a group do not receive higher lifetime net benefits from Social Security than do the U.S.-born. However, persons from the late baby boom cohort who immigrated after 1969 have higher projected rates of return in Social Security than do U.S.-born persons of the same birth cohort.

Are Immigrant Youth Faring Better in U.S. Schools?  Richard Fry

In spite of the growing numbers and geographic dispersion of foreign-born children, the school outcomes of foreign-born teens improved during the 1990s. Analysis of Decennial Census data reveals that fewer immigrant youth dropped out of school and their English language proficiency improved. Some of the improvement is due to compositional change in the foreign-born teen population. Levels of parental education increased over the decade. Poverty among foreign-born adolescents declined. Other youth background characteristics did not change in a favorable direction. Multivariate analysis reveals that there was a large decline in the likelihood of immigrant teens dropping out of school above and beyond the demographic changes over the decade. For example, the likelihood that a Mexican-born teen educated in U.S. schools drops out of school declined by an estimated 43 percent over the 1990s. There is little evidence, however, that U.S. schools have improved in their English language instruction over the decade.

Race, Gender, and Class in the Persistence of the Marie Stigma Twenty Years after the Exodus from Cuba.  Gaston A. Fernandez

The study examines the mediating effects of gender, race, and class in the Mariel Cuban immigrant adaptation process. It explores the significance of the Mariel identity by comparing the experiences of pre-1980 arrivals with those of the Mariel cohort (1980-1981) and post-Mariel arrivals (1982-1990, 1990-2000). The central question of the study is the extent to which the Marielitos' experience as a group with stigmatization and being labeled as "different" and pathological has persisted in having a different effect on their adaptation to the U.S. from that of other Cuban arrivals before and after Mariel. This study bases its definition of stigma on sociologically grounded theoretical orientation of the construction of a social identity in which a dominant group(s) attribute an undesired difference from what was anticipated to an out-group such that it leads to varieties of discrimination that reduce one's life chances.

Economic Incentive, Embeddedness, and Social Support: A Study of Korean-Owned Nail Salon Workers' Rotating Credit Associations. 
Joong-Hwan Oh

Much of the past research on rotating credit associations (RCAs) in the U.S. Korean community has been conducted in the context of Korean entrepreneurs' success in small businesses. By contrast, little has been known about the significance of RCAs in the lives of Korean immigrant workers. Based on a sample of Korean female workers at Korean-owned nail salons in the New York—New Jersey area, the first aim of this study is to address whether Korean immigrant workers, like Korean immigrant merchants, take into account RCAs as a way to save money or raise capital. Second, this study also speculates about the importance of embeddedness (Granovetter) and social capital (Portes and Sensenbrenner) views for both economic behavior and a likelihood of malfeasance by RCA participants. Lastly, this study regards RCA membership as a mechanism of social support for its participating members. Overall, the analyses provide evidence that RCA membership at nail salons leads to both economic benefit and social support for some of its participants, and that embedded networks and an accompanying sense of trust have some connection to the suppression of its members' latent malfeasance

The Reshaping of Mexican Labor Exports under NAFTA: Paradoxes and Challenges.  Raúl Delgado-Wise and Humberto Márquez Covarrubias

From the perspective of the political economy of development, this article analyzes the role played by Mexican labor in the U.S. productive restructur­ing process under the aegis of the North American Free Trade Agreement. By conceptualizing the labor export–led model it dissects three basic mechanisms of regional economic integration: maquiladoras, disguised maquilas, and labor migration. Not only does this analytical framework cast light on the contributions made by Mexican migrants to the economies of the United States and Mexico, it also reveals two paradoxes: the broaden­ing of the socioeconomic asymmetries between the two countries, and increased socioeconomic dependence on remittances in Mexico.

Changes in the Initial Destinations and Redistribution of Canada's Major Immigrant Groups: Reexamining the Role of Group Affinity.  Feng Hou

This study examines to what extent Canada's recent immigrants have altered their geographic concentration over time, with a view of determin­ing the role of preexisting immigrant communities in immigrants' loca­tional choices, looking specifically at community size. The results show a large increase in concentration levels at the initial destination among major immigrant groups throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and a much smaller increase in the following decade. However, redistribution after immigration was generally small-scale and had inconsistent effects on changing concen­tration at initial destinations among immigrant groups and across arrival cohorts within an immigrant group. Finally, this study finds that the size of the preexisting immigrant community is not a significant factor in immigrant locational choice when location fixed effects are accounted for.

Hidden Spaces of Resistance of the Subordinated: Case Studies from Female Migrant Partners in Taiwan.  Hong-zen Wang

This paper explores how contradictory social structures influence power relations between "Vietnamese brides" and their Taiwanese family members. By analyzing two aspects of interaction between "Vietnamese brides" and their husbands' families, i.e., how the families require them to integrate into Taiwanese society and what strategies they employ to escape from these constraints, we argue that contradictory social relations together with commodified marriage and liminality help them to develop strategies of escape into the "hidden space." The development of these strategies indi­cates one thing: hegemony is never fully achieved – it is always negotiated and contested.

Sending States' Transnational Interventions in Politics, Culture, and Economics: The Historical Example of Italy.  Mark I. Choate

This article uses archival evidence to study in depth the historical policies of Italy as a classic sending state. Most of the mass migrations of a century ago came from multinational empires, but Italy was a recently formed independent state. Ambitious to benefit from emigration while assisting and protecting emigrants, Italy reached out to "Italians abroad" in several ways. For example, the state opened a low-cost channel for remittances through a nonprofit bank; promoted Italian language education among Italian families abroad; supported Italian Chambers of Commerce abroad; and subsidized religious missionary work among emigrants. Italy's historical example of political innovation and diplomatic negotiation provides context, comparisons, and possibilities for rapidly changing sending-state policies in the twenty-first century.

Research note

Ethnic Self-Identification of First-Generation Immigrants.  Laura Zimmermann, Klaus E. Zimmermann and Amelie Constant

This paper uses the concept of ethnic self-identification of immigrants in a two-dimensional framework. It acknowledges that attachments to both the country of origin and the host country are not necessarily mutually exclusive. There are three possible paths of adjustment from separation at entry, namely the transitions to assimilation, integration, and margin­alization. We analyze the determinants of ethnic self-identification in this process using samples of first-generation male and female immigrants, and controlling for pre- and post-immigration characteristics. While we find strong gender differences, a wide range of pre-immigration characteristics like education in the country of origin are not important.

Book Reviews

The Mediterranean in the Age of Globalisation: Migration, Welfare and Borders by Natalia Ribas-Mateos
MICHAEL COLLYER

The Housing Divide: How Generations of Immigrants Fare in New York City's Housing Market by Emily Rosenbaum and Samantha Friedman
RICHARD A. WRIGHT

Sex at the Margins: Migration, Labour Markets and the Rescue Industry by Laura Maria Agustin
LYNEL LONG

The New Americans: A Guide to Immigration since 1965. Edited by Mary Waters and Reed Ueda (with Helen B. Marrow)
GRETA GILBERTSON

International Migration Review

Volume XLI, Number 2, Summer 2007
Table of Contents

Irregular Migration, Human Smuggling, and the Eastern Enlargement of the European Union.
Michael Jandl

This article examines the consequences of the latest round of EU-Enlargement in May 2004 on irregular migration across Central and Eastern Europe. Drawing on a unique collection of both quantitative and qualitative data related to irregular migration and human smuggling, the article first presents some long-term trends in irregular migration across the region before taking up more recent developments in 2003 and 2004. While border apprehensions have broadly declined since about 2000 there is ample evidence for an increasing role of human smugglers in facilitating irregular migration. In addition, there are noticeable changes in the modus operandi of human smugglers.

Migration Control and Migrant Fatalities at the Spanish African Borders.  Jurgen Carling

This article addresses the dynamics of migration control along the Spanish-African borders and the associated problem of migrant deaths. The past decade and a half has seen rising numbers of migration attempts, large investments in control measures, and resulting geographical and organiza­tional responses on the part of smugglers. Advanced surveillance and inter­ception infrastructure on the border is a necessary but far from sufficient element in controlling unauthorized migration. The growth in the number of migrant deaths seems to result from an increased number of migration attempts. The risk of dying in the attempt appears to be constant or slightly falling.

Romantic Relationships among Immigrant Adolescents.  Rosalind Berkowitz King and Kathleen Mullan Harris

We examine the importance of the family and friendship group as two crucial developmental contexts for adolescent relationship experiences. We focus particularly on immigrant adolescents who make up an increasing proportion of the youth population and who come from cultural context; with stronger family traditions than native-born adolescents. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, we model the characteristics associated with having romantic relationships and participating in sex-related activities within relationships for immigrant adolescents, children of immigrants and adolescents in native-born families. First generation adolescents are less likely to enter romantic relationships than adolescents in native-born families, but those who do participate engage in similar sex-related activities as native-born youth. This evidence suggests that immigrant youth who enter romantic relationships are selective of the more assimilated to native adolescent norms of hetero­sexual behavior. The peer group is especially important for immigrant adolescents because it provides opportunities for romantic relationship involvement.

Academic Performance of Young Children in Immigrant Families:  The Significance of Race, Ethnicity, and National Origins.  Jennifer E. Glick and Bryndl Hohmann-Marriott

Children of immigrants come from diverse backgrounds and enter school with different family migration experiences and resources. This paper addresses two basic questions: (1) to what extent does generation status exert an independent effect on early school performance net of race/panethnicity, language proficiency, and the family resources available to children as they enter formal schooling? and (2) to what extent do these broad conceptualizations of children in immigrant families mask variation by national origins? We take advantage of longitudinal data on a kinder­garten cohort from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study to examine children from diverse backgrounds. Considerable variation in academic performance persists across racial/panethnic groups as well as by country­-of-origin background and linguistic ability even when adjusting for family background, resources, and previous academic performance. We find some intriguing evidence of early "segmentation" among children from various groups, suggesting some convergence within race and ethnicity for some children. However, this conclusion should not be overstated, because the results also point to the great diversity by national origins that are masked by reliance on racial/panethnic groupings.

Immigrant and Native-Born Differences in School Stability and Special Education:  Evidence from New York City.  Dylan Conger, Amy Ellen Schwartz and Leanna Stiefel

Using the literature on achievement differences as a framework and moti­vation, along with data on New York City students, we examine nativity differences in students' rates of attendance, school mobility, school system exit, and special education participation. The results indicate that, holding demographic and school characteristics constant, foreign-born have higher attendance rates and lower rates of participation in special education than native-born. Among first graders, immigrants are also more likely to trans­fer schools and exit the school system between years than native-born, yet the patterns are different among older students. We also identify large variation according to birth region.

In this paper two gaps in North American immigrant homeownership research are addressed. The first concerns the lack of studies (especially in Canada) that identify changes in homeownership rates by skin color over time, and the second relates to the shortage of comparative research between Canada and the United States on this topic. In this paper the homeownership levels and attainment rates of Black, Chinese, Filipino, White, and South Asian immigrants are compared in Canada and the United States for 1970/1971-2000/2001. For the most part, greater similarities than differences are found between the two countries. Both Canadian and U.S. Chinese and White immigrants have the highest adjusted homeownership rates of all groups, at times even exceeding comparably positioned native-born households. Black immigrants, on the other hand, tend to have the lowest ownership rates of all groups, particularly in the United States, with Filipinos and South Asians situated between these extremes. Most of these differences stem from disparities that exist at arrival, however, and not from differential advancement into homeownership.

Mobility of the Foreign-Born Population in the United States, 1995-2000:  The Role of Gateway States. 
Katherine Hempstead

This study uses the 2000 PUMS to examine mobility among the foreign-born population and the role of the gateway states. Between 1995 and 2000, net domestic migration of the foreign-born population to gateway states was negative. Yet the rate of out-migration from gateway states was lower than that from non-gateway states. Overall, the findings do not sup­port the idea that gateway states are "losing their hold" on their foreign-born population. Yet trends in international and domestic migration are increasing the foreign-born population of non-gateway states relative to gateway states, and reducing differences in their characteristics.

A Global Labor Market: Factors Motivating the Sponsorship and Temporary Migration of Skilled Workers to Australia. 
Siew-Ean Khoo, Peter McDonald, Carmen Voigt-Graf and Graeme Hugo 

The recruitment of skilled foreign workers is becoming increasingly important to many industrialized countries. This paper examines the factors motivating the sponsorship and temporary migration of skilled workers to Australia under the temporary business entry program, a new development in Australia's migration policy. The importance of labor demand in the destination country in stimulating skilled temporary migration is clearly demonstrated by the reasons given by employers in the study while the reasons indicated by skilled temporary migrants for coming to work in Australia show the importance of both economic and non-economic factors in motivating skilled labor migration.

Sailing through Suez from the South: The Emergence of an Indies-Dutch Migration Circuit, 1815-1940.
Ulbe Bosma

This paper shows the importance of colonial garrisons and colonial migra­tory circuits in the history of European migration. During the nineteenth century the overwhelming majority of European-born migrants to the Dutch East Indies were military personnel. Rapidly decreasing mortality rates and a large influx of European military personnel in the decades of colonial wars were responsible for the remarkable growth of the European colonial population throughout the second half of the nineteenth century. As a consequence an extensive colonial-metropole migration circuit emerged. Contrary to expectations, neither the opening of the Suez Canal nor impe­rialist expansion resulted in a significant increase of white civilian emigration to colonial Indonesia in the late nineteenth century. Instead, sailings through Suez went north as frequently as south. It was only at a much later stage, following the end of World War I, that the tobacco and rubber plantations as well as the oil industry of the Outer Regions of the Indies archipelago generated an unprecedented demand for expatriate labor. 

Research Note

Nativity, Duration of Residence, Citizenship, and Access to Health Care for Hispanic Children.     
T. Elizabeth Durden

This article examines differences in access to a regular source of health care for children of Hispanic subgroups within the United States. Particular attention is paid to the impact of the immigration status of the mother – including nativity, duration in the United States, and citizenship status – and its affect on access to health care for Hispanic children. Data are pooled from the National Health Interview Survey for 1999-2001 and logistic regression models are estimated to compare Mexican American, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and Other Hispanic children with non-Hispanic whites and blacks. While initial disparities are recorded among the race/ethnic groups, in the final model, only Mexican American children display significantly less access to health care than non-Hispanic whites. The combined influence of the mother's nativity, duration, and citizenship status explains much of the differentials in access to a regular source of care among children of Hispanic subgroups in comparison to non-Hispanic whites.

Book Reviews

            A Nation by Design: Immigration Policy in the Fashioning of America by Aristide R. Zolberg

ELIOT DICKINSON

            Latinos and the New Immigrant Church by David A. Badillo

RODOLFO SORIANO-Nuňez

                Immigration and Crime edited by Ramiro Martinez and Abel Valenzuela, Jr.

ORLANDO RODRIGUEZ

                The Legal Elements of European Identity: EU Citizenship and Migration Law by Elspeth Guild

WILLEM MAAS

International Migration Review

Volume XLI, Number 1, Spring 2007

Table of Contents

Did Manufacturing Matter? The Experience of Yesterday’s Second Generation: A Reassessment. Roger Waldinger

Research on the “new second generation” takes the success of the earlier second generation of southern and eastern Europeans as its point departure, but with little empirical basis.  The hypothesis of “segmented assimilation” asserts that the children of the 1880-1920 immigration moved ahead due to the availability of well-paying, relatively low-skilled jobs in manufacturing.  By contrast, defenders of the conventional approach to assimilation accent diffusionary processes, while conceding that the specific means by which the children of immigrants improved on their parents’ condition remains a matter about which relatively little is known.  This article returns to the world of the last second generation, just before it disappeared, to inquire into the extent and nature of the economic differences separating the adult immigrant offspring of the time from their third-generation-plus counterparts.  Using data from the 1970 Census of Population, this article shows that manufacturing mattered, but in ways neither expected nor consistent with either of today’s prevailing, theoretical approaches.

Child Mortality and Socioeconomic Status: An Examination of Differentials by Migration Status in South Africa.  Kevin J.  A. Thomas

This study examines child mortality and socioeconomic status among migrants and non-migrants. It also examines child mortality by migration status in all quintiles of socioeconomic status, comparing immigrants to the native-born and internal migrants to non-migrants. The results show that among migrants, child mortality decreased faster as socioeconomic status increased than among non-migrants. The results also show a cross-over in the likelihood of child mortality by immigration status as socioeconomic status increased. In the poorest socioeconomic quintiles immigrants had a greater likelihood of child mortality than the native-born while in the wealthiest quintiles child mortality was greater among the native-born.

Theorizing Migration Policy: Is There a Third Way?  Christina Boswell

This article critically reviews theories of migration policy according to two criteria: methodological rigor and explanatory plausibility. It finds that political economy accounts are theoretically robust, but at the price of over-simplification. Neo-institutional theories offer more sophisticated accounts, but fall short on a number of methodological and explanatory counts. As an alternative, this article suggests a theory focusing on the functional imperatives of the state in the area of migration, which shape its responses to societal interests and institutional structures.

Migration Estimation Based on the Labour Force Survey:  An EU-15 Perspective.  Mónica Martí and Carmen Ródenas

It can be observed in the research that the European Union Labour Force Survey (EU LFS) only allows a satisfactory estimation of the stocks of non-nationals or those born abroad in some countries, whereas it proves to be less than adequate in most of them with regard to migration flows. We believe that this very limited success is due to a two-fold statistical problem of imprecision and bias, which is intensified by the embarrassing question of answer impossible. These difficulties exist among the Member States to a greater or lesser degree, depending on the characteristics of the migratory domain and the particular features that the EU LFS acquires in each country.

Wealth in Middle- and Old- Age in Mexico:  The Role of International Migration.  Rebeca Wong, Alberto Palloni, and Beth J. Soldo

This article examines the impact that past migration to the U.S. has on the current economic well-being of individuals in middle or old age who have returned to Mexico. A priori, the net effect of U.S. migration on wealth among return migrants is difficult to predict; there are counteracting factors that can affect wealth positively or negatively. Using data from the Mexican Health and Aging Study 2001 and correcting for selection factors, the long-term effect of U.S. migration for return migrants was found consistently positive in terms of their accumulated personal wealth at middle and old age. The article speculates about the possible mechanisms that can explain this apparent advantage.

Early Child Care and the School Readiness of Children from Mexican Immigrant Families. Robert Crosnoe

Combining conceptual models from immigration and educational research, this study investigated whether a normative antecedent to the transition to formal schooling in the contemporary U.S.—early child care—links Mexican immigrant status to various aspects of school readiness.  Regression models with nationally representative data revealed that children from Mexican immigrant families were over-represented in parental care and under-represented in center-based care compared to their native peers from other race/ethnic populations, which helped to explain a significant but small portion of their generally lower rates of both math achievement and externalizing symptoms in kindergarten.  This mediating role of early child care, however, paled in comparison to family socioeconomic circumstances.

Politics not Economic Interests:  Determinants of Migration Policies in the European Union.  Simon Hix and Abdul Noury

In this article we examine the determinants of European Union (EU) migration policies. We look at the passage of six pieces of migration and immigrant integration legislation in the fifth European Parliament (1999-2004). Based on the sixty-one roll-call votes on these bills we create a ‘migration score’ for each Member of the European Parliament. We then use regression analysis to investigate the determinants of these scores. We find that the strongest determinants of policy outcomes on migration issues in this arena are the left-right preferences of EU legislators. These are stronger predictors than the economic preferences of national parties’ constituents or the economic interests or political preferences of the member states.

Neighborhood and School Factors in the School Performance of Immigrants’ Children.  Suet-Ling Pong and Lingxin Hao

This article examines the effects of neighborhoods and schools on the achievement gaps between adolescents of different nativities and ethnicities. We show that neighborhood and school conditions are better for natives’ than for immigrants’ children, and they are the worst for Hispanic immigrants. Using cross-classified hierarchical models, we find that introducing neighborhood and school characteristics helps to account for the disadvantage of Mexican immigrants’ children but to reveal the advantage of Filipino immigrants’ children, compared to native non-Hispanic Whites. Neighborhood and school effects are not universal: they influence school performance of immigrants’ children more than that of natives’ children

Immigrant Transnational Organizations and Development:  A Comparative Study.  Alejandro Portes, Cristina Escobar and Alexandria Walton Radford

This article explores how ninety Colombian, Dominican, and Mexican transnational immigrant organizations pursue philanthropic projects that aid in the development of their country or community of origin.  We find that each nationality’s context of exit and reception affects the origin, strength, and character of their organizations.  We produce “maps” of the interaction of transnational organizations with each country of origin and conduct multivariate regressions to establish determinants of key organizational characteristics, including their degree of formalization and form of creation.  Generally, Colombian organizations assume more middle-class forms, Dominican organizations stem largely from politics in the country of origin, and Mexican organizations are primarily hometown associations with greater involvement of the national state.  We observe that regardless of nationality, transnational immigrant organizations’ members are older, better-established, and possess above-average levels of education, suggesting that participation in transnational activities and assimilation are not incompatible.  The character of proactive activities by each national state are examined.  Theoretical implications for immigrant adaptation and community/national development are discussed.

Book Reviews

Racial Politics in an Era of Transnational Citizenship:  The 1996 “Asian Donorgate” Controversy in Perspective
By Michael Chang

Elusive Citizenship:  Immigration, Asian Americans, and the Paradox of Civil Rights
By John S. W. Park          

Probationary Americans:  Contemporary Immigration Policies and the Shaping of Asian American Communities
By Edward J. W. Park and John S. W. Park
LINDA TRINH VÕ

Les Diasporas
By Stephane Dufoix
ROGER WALDINGER

European Migration:  What Do We Know?
Edited by Klaus F. Zimmermann
WILLEM MAAS

 Migration Policies and Political Participation:  Inclusion or Intrusion in Western Europe
By Pontus Odmalm
GÖKÇE YURDAKUL
 

International Migration Review

Volume XL, Number 4, Winter 2006

 Table of Contents

Guestworkers in Europe:  A Resurrection.  Stephen Castles

Around 1974, most Western European countries abandoned migrant labor recruitment, and introduced restrictive entry rules. Today, policymakers are reexamining temporary migrant worker programs. This article examines demographic, economic, and social pressures for labor recruitment, discusses temporary migrant worker programs in Germany and the United Kingdom, and examines the European Commission's 2005 Policy Plan for Legal Migration. Current approaches differ significantly from the past and there is no question of a general return to labor recruitment policies. However, today's policies do share some common features with past guestworker programs, and may lead to negative social outcomes in both receiving and sending countries.

A Country on the Move:  International Migration in Post-Communion Albania.  Calogero Carletto, Benjamin Davis, Marco Stampini and Alberto Zezza

Albania is a country on the move. This mobility plays a key role in household-level strategies to cope with the economic hardship of tran­sition. economic hardship of tran­sition. With the relaxing of controls on emigration at the beginning of the 1990s, international migration has exploded, becoming the single most important political, social, and economic phenomenon in post-communist Albania. Based on the 1989 and 2001 population censuses we estimate that over 600,000 Albanians live abroad, mostly in nearby Greece and Italy, with the vast majority coming from a limited number of districts located at the coastal and transport gateways to these destination countries, as well as Tirana. The available data also suggest that a similar number have con­sidered migrating, and of these, half have tried and failed. Almost one-half of the children who since 1990 no longer live with their parents are now living abroad, a number of almost exodus proportions. This article also identifies clear patterns of temporary migration, with Greece being by far the most important destination and rural areas from the Center and North­-East of the country being the primary origins of these flows. Although migration, with the resulting remittances, has become an indispensable part of Albanian economic development, there is increasing consensus on the necessity to devise more appropriate, sustainable strategies to lift households out of poverty and promote the country's growth.

“Reactive Ethnicity” or “Assimilation”?  Statements, Arguments, and First Empirical Evidence for Labor Migrants in Germany.  Claudia Diehl and Rainer Schnell

In this article, we scrutinize the often stated assumption that labor migrants in Germany turn away from integration and reaffirm their ethnicity by examining their identificational, cognitive, and social assimilation pro­cesses. Using data from the German Socio-economic Panel, we present trend analyses of different hostland- and homeland-related indicators for the past fifteen years. Results are presented separately for first- and second­ generation migrants from Turkey, the EU, and the former Yugoslavia. While not all assimilation-related indicators change a great deal over time, they show at least a substantial difference between the first and the second generation. With regard to the homeland-related indicators, the results by no means suggest that Turkish migrants try to compensate for their comparatively disadvantaged social status by revitalizing ethnic cultural habits or homeland-oriented identifications.

Conversion as a Migration Strategy in a Transit Country:  Iranian Shiites Becoming Christians in Turkey.  Sebnem Koser Akcapar

The role of religion during migration processes has been overlooked by scholars in the past although the relationship between religion and migra­tion has a long history. Normally, religion is considered as an integrating agent, but for some Iranian asylum seekers in Turkey, religion and especially religious conversion is used as a tool for migration. This article draws on the migration histories of Iranian asylum seekers in Turkey who initially intended to go further west only to have stayed in Turkey either because of the long procedures of asylum application in Turkey or because they were rejected and have become "illegal aliens" who do not want to return to Iran. Turkey still preserves geographic limitation of the 1951 Geneva Convention on Refugees. Therefore it does not accept non-European asylum seekers to settle on Turkish soil. Ironically, however, most asylum applications were made by people from the Middle East, mainly from Iran. Based on the extensive fieldwork carried out in various cities in Turkey where the Iranian migrants are heavily concentrated, this article demonstrates how conversion from Shi'a Islam to Christianity is used as a migration strategy and how and to what extent these asylum seekers use religion and their newly acquired social and religious networks within churches of the transit country to reach ultimately the West as refugees. As conversion is sustained through social networks as well as churches and missionaries, this unique situation can be explained by employing the social capital theory within the context of an institutional component.

Occupational Mobility Among Legal Immigrants to the United States.  Ilana Redstone Akresh

Using data from the New Immigrant Survey Pilot, which follows immigrants for one year after receiving green cards, occupation in the U.S. is compared with that of the last job abroad. Fifty percent of immigrants experience downgrading. Among the highest-skilled immigrants from Latin America and the Caribbean, more than three-fourths end up in lower-skilled jobs than what they had abroad. Human capital acquired in Latin America and the Caribbean is valued less than that from Europe, Australia, and Canada in the U.S. labor market, while immigrants with some U.S. education can increase the returns to that acquired previously abroad.

Self-Employed Mexican Immigrants Residing along the U.S.-Mexico Border:  The Earnings Effect of Working in the U.S. versus Mexico.  Marie T Mora

This study uses U.S. census data from the year 2000 to analyze the earnings of Mexican immigrants along the U.S.-Mexico border while accounting for the location in which they work. The empirical results indicate that Mexican entrepreneurs who live in U.S.-border cities but primarily operate in Mexico accrue a significant earnings premium over their entrepreneurial and salaried counterparts working on the U.S. side of the border, even after controlling for differences in observable characteristics. This work-location earnings gap widens when focusing on Mexican business owners lacking U.S. citizenship. It follows that policies which reduce trade and labor flows across the U.S.-Mexico border may inadvertently dampen the entrepre­neurial activities of foreign-born residents in U.S.-border cities.

1.5 Generation Internal Migration in the U.S.:  Dispersion from States of Immigration?  Mark Ellis and Jamie Goodwin-White

The issue of immigrant spatial concentration and the possibilitie_s for immigrant dispersion through migration features in at least three interrelated debates about immigration. First, the ethnic enclave literature centers on the question of whether spatial concentration improves or harms the economic well-being of immigrants. Second, spatial assimilation theory links immigrant relocation away from residential enclaves to socioeconomic gains. Although framed at an intra-urban scale, we suggest that similar assimilation logics infuse thinking and expectations about immigrant settlement and spatial mobility at other scales. And third, immigrant clustering links to anxieties about the threats posed by non-European origin newcomers to the traditional cultural fabric of the nation. In the current wave of immigration, research on questions of settlement geog_raph_y and spatial mobility has so far been restricted to the first generation. But as the current wave of immigration matures there is a growing population of adults who are the children of immigrants. This article investigates the migration behavior of these adult children, specifically the 1.5 generation, seeking to answer the question of whether they will remain in the states in which their parent's generation settled or move on. It also assesses whether the out-migration response of the 1.5 generation in states of immigrant concentration is similar to that of their parent's generation or the U.S.-born population.

Stepping-Stone to Intergenerational Mobility?  The Springboard, Safety Net, or Mobility Trap Functions of Korean Immigrant Entrepreneurship for the Second Generation.  Dae Young Kim

Much research has viewed immigrant entrepreneurship positively because of its reputed role in immigrant economic adaptation. With the growing professionalization of children of Korean immigrant proprietors, small business ownership is seen as a stepping-stone to intergenerational mobility. To assess whether immigrant entrepreneurship serves as springboard to upward mobility for the second generation, this article compares the educational and occupational achievements between children of entrepre­neurs and children of professionals. The comparisons reveal that a higher proportion of children of professionals attended selective colleges, obtained professional occupations, and earned competitive salaries. Results from multiple regression analyses also indicate that entrepreneurship was not a good predictor of college selectivity and earnings for the second generation. Nevertheless, children of entrepreneurs attained comparable educational and occupational achievements as those of children of professionals, suggesting that rapid financial security through entrepreneurship can replicate similar residential and educational opportunities for children of entrepreneurs. While the springboard and safety net functions of small business on inter­generational mobility are salient, in some circumstances, obligations to help out in a family business can lead to personal sacrifice on the part of children of entrepreneurs, constraining their educational and occupational choices and leading some toward downward mobility.

Conference Report   

United Nations General Assembly High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development, 14-15 September 2006, New York

          Address of Mr. Kofi Annan, Secretary-General, to the High-Level Dialogue of the United Nations General Assembly on International Migration and Development, New York, September 14, 2006.  Kofi Annan

          Chairperson's Summary of the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development

H.E. Siieikha Haya Rashed At, Khalifa,  President of the United Nations General Assembly

Book Reviews

The Migration Reader:  Exploring Politics and Policies
By Anthony M. Messina and Gallya Lahav
FIORELLA DELL^'OLIO

Being Buddhist in a Christian World: Gender and Community
in a Korean American Temple
By Sharon Suh

Faithful Generations: Race and New Asian American Churches
By Russell Jeung

Religion and Immigration: Christian, Jewish, and Muslim Experiences in the United States
Edited by Yvonne Yatzbeck Haddad, Jane I. Smith, and John L. Esposito
PYONG  GAP MIN

Mexican New York: Transnational Lives of New Immigrants
By Robert Courtney Smith
RUBEN HERNANDEZ-LEO

Migration and Voodoo
By Karen E. Richman
STEPHEN D. GLAZIER

Encyclopedia of Racism in the United States
Edited by Pyong Gap Min
NATALIE P BYFIELD

International Migration Review

Volume XXXX, Number 3, Fall 2006

Table of Contents

Explaining Pro-Immigrant Sentiment in the U. S.: Social Class, Cosmopolitanism, and Perceptions of Immigrants. 
Jeannie Haubert and Elizabeth Fussell

In the U.S., research on attitudes toward immigrants generally focuses on anti-immigrant sentiment. Yet, the 1996 General Social Survey indicates that half the population believes that immigrants favorably impact the U.S. economy and culture. Using these data, we analyze theories of both pro- and anti-immigrant sentiment. While we find some support for two theories of intergroup competition, our most important finding connects a cosmopolitan worldview with favorable perceptions of immigrants. We find that cosmopolitans―people who are highly educated, in white-collar occupations, who have lived abroad, and who reject ethnocentrism―are significantly more pro-immigrant than people without these characteristics.

The Occupational Assimilation of Hispanic Immigrants in the U.S.: Evidence from Panel Data. 
Maude Toussaint-Comeau

This study focuses on the occupational component of the labor market adjustment of Hispanic immigrants. The author asks whether Hispanic immigrants assimilate with natives and what factors influence occupa­tional attainment. The findings suggest that years since migration narrow the socioeconomic gap between Hispanic immigrants, their U.S.-born Hispanic counterparts, and non-Hispanic whites. The level of human capital affects the rate of occupational mobility and determines whether convergence occurs in the groups' socioeconomic occupational status. The occupational status of Hispanic immigrants with low human capital remains fairly stable and does not converge with that of non-Hispanic whites. However, those with high human capital experience upward occu­pational mobility. In part, their occupational assimilation is driven by the acquisition of human capital among younger Hispanic immigrants.

Second-Generation Pessimism and Optimism: How Chinese and Dominicans Understand Education and Mobility Through Ethnic and Transnational Orientations. 
Vivian Louie

Higher education is crucial to the outcomes of the second generation. This paper explores the contrasting views second-generation Dominicans and Chinese have on their educational trajectories and social mobility. Draw­ing on interviews with individuals who have gone on to college, I argue that the optimism of the Dominicans emerges from their use of both transnational and ethnic/panethnic perspectives. The Dominicans believe they are doing better than peers in the Dominican Republic and in the United States. The pessimism of the Chinese can be traced to their use of ethnic/panethnic frames of comparison. The Chinese believe they are faring worse than peers in the United States. The results complicate segmented assimilation and transnationalism theories.

From Filial Piety to Religious Piety: Evangelical Christianity Reconstructing Taiwanese Immigrant Families in the United States.  Carolyn Chen

While current scholarship suggests that immigrant religion reproduces ethnic traditions, this article suggests that religion can also challenge and transform ethnic traditions. Like other immigrants from Confucian cultures, Taiwanese immigrants find that their Confucian family traditions are difficult to maintain in the United States. The immigrant church is an important community institution that offers new models of parenting and family life. This article discusses how through the influence of evangelical Christianity, the immigrant church reconstructs Taiwanese immigrant families by (i) shifting the moral vocabulary of the family from one of filial duty to religious discipleship; (ii) democratizing relationships between parents and children; and (iii) conse­crating the individuality and autonomy of children. These new models of family life both reproduce and alter Taiwanese traditions in the United States. Religion mediates and shapes immigrant cultural assimilation to the United States.

Cherishing the Goose with the Golden Eggs: Trends in Migrant Remittances from Europe to Morocco 1970-2004. 
Hein de Haas and Roald Plug

In contrast to earlier predictions, migrant remittances from Europe to Morocco have shown an increasing trend over the past decades. Remit­tances constitute a vital and relatively stable source of foreign capital. The so-called "euro effect" and concomitant money laundering can only explain part of the recent, extreme surge in remittances. The structural solidity of remittances is explained by the unforeseen persistence of migra­tion to northwestern Europe; new labor migration toward southern Europe; and the durability of transnational and transgenerational links between migrants and stay-behinds. The stable economic-political environment and new "enlightened" policies toward migrants explain why Morocco has been relatively successful in channeling remittances through official channels.

Labor Market Impact of Migration: Employment Structures
and the Case of Greece.
Jennifer Cavounidis

The impact of migration on the labor markets of host countries has fueled research and policy debates. While the impact of migration on the employ­ment opportunities and wages of natives has come under extensive focus, another dimension of labor market impact of migration apparent in the case of Greece, the relations under which work is performed, has attracted less attention. The prevalence of family-based forms of production and the relatively limited extent of waged employment have long made Greece an outlier with respect to European employment structures. However, much of the work previously carried out within the framework of the family is now undertaken by migrants for wages. This substitution of unpaid family labor by migrant wage-labor is contributing to the convergence of Greek employment structures with those of other countries of the European Union.

Regional Economic Performance and Net Migration Rates in Russia, 1993-2002. 
Theodore P Gerber

Soviet legacies and uneven economic distress make post-Soviet Russia an especially interesting case in which to assess the effects of economic per­formance on regional net migration rates. Random effects models of net regional migration in 77 Russian regions from 1993 to 2002 indicate that mean wages and unemployment levels have substantial and predictable effects. These effects have several dynamic aspects: changes in mean wages (but not changes in unemployment) exert effects independently of wage and unemployment levels, the effect of unemployment decreases over time, and the effect of wage levels appears to increase. Overall, the results suggest a tendency toward regional equilibrium with respect to employment following the initial shock of Soviet collapse and market reforms, but continuing disequilibrium with respect to wages.

Research Note

Why Did House Members Vote for H.R. 4437?  Joel S. Fetzer

This article examines why members of the U.S. House of Representatives voted for H.R. 4437, the controversial 2005 bill to construct a 700-mile immigration barrier along the U.S.-Mexican border and to criminalize ille­gal presence and aid to undocumented immigrants. Logit analysis suggests that being a first-term House member or a Republican and representing a district that was in the South or the West or heavily blue-collar substan­tially boosted the odds of supporting H.R. 4437. If a member's district was disproportionately Asian, Latino, or, especially, African American, he or she was instead more likely to oppose the measure.