NEW FROM IMR Identity, Inequality, Aging, and Migration Disruptions

December 31, 2018

The Winter 2018 edition of the International Migration Review (IMR) is now available online and in print through paid or institutional subscription. This edition is sorted thematically into four sections. The first section looks at identity and contact, and the second section examines inequality and difference. The third section, on migration policies and disruptions, features articles examining the 2014 mass exodus of Cambodians from Thailand, Swedish migration courts, and the impact of US immigration policies on repeat migration intentions. The last section is on immigration and aging. Lastly, this edition has two new book reviews, which are open access and freely available.

Migration Disruption: Crisis and Continuity in the Cambodian Mass Returns
Maryann Bylander

Through an examination of the mass exodus of Cambodians from Thailand in 2014, this article argues that large-scale migration crises offer insights on everyday migration dynamics. While outsiders called this mass exodus a “crisis” moment, migrants themselves saw it as a more extreme version of their everyday migration experience. The most significant features of the exodus — financial loss, indebtedness, restrictive immigration policies preventing migration, and fear of violence and deportation — have been and continue to be regular features of the Cambodian-Thai migration system. In light of these findings, this article suggests that taking migration disruptions seriously requires (1) changing the representations and understanding of migration “crises” and (2) considering what migration disruptions reveal about ordinary times.

Exploring the “Liberal Paradox” from the Inside: Evidence from the Swedish Migration Courts
Livia Johannesson

This study contributes to the liberal paradox theory by exploring how impartiality is constructed among judges and attorneys in Swedish migration courts when deciding asylum appeals. The liberal paradox theory holds that Western liberal democracies are governed by politicians that produce restrictionist immigration policies but have courts and other rule of law institutions that seek to grant rights and protections to immigrants. This article’s findings contradict the liberal paradox assumption that courts act in ways that benefit immigrants’ rights. At Sweden’s migration courts, judges and attorneys show impartiality by using a skeptical approach to asylum applicants, so as to distance themselves from the political discourse of generosity that dominates Swedish politics. This skeptical approach to asylum applicants can lead to restrictive policy outcomes for applicants themselves. The broader implications of these findings are that immigration policy theories can benefit from research exploring informal norm constructions in courts. Such research can offer new insights about courts’ role in the implementation of immigration policies.

Repeat Migration in the Age of the “Unauthorized Permanent Resident”: A Quantitative Assessment of Migration Intentions Postdeportation
Daniel E. Martinez, Jeremy Slack, and Ricardo D. Martinez-Schuldt

This article examines the impact of US immigration enforcement programs and social factors on the repeat migration intentions of Mexican migrants after deportation. Drawing on over 1,100 post-deportation surveys, the analysis suggests that immigrants with strong personal ties to the United States have higher relative odds of intending to cross the border again and that the different enforcement programs and policies are likely ineffective at deterring them. These findings highlight the inevitable failure of US immigration policy and enforcement programs when placed against the powerful pull of family and home. It also sheds greater insight on the complex nature of unauthorized migration in an era of immigrant criminalization and deportation.

The full table of contents for the Winter 2018 issue of IMR is available below:

Issue Information

Table of Contents

Immigration, Identity, and Contact

Negotiating Identity and Belonging through the Invisibility Bargain: Colombian Forced Migrants in Ecuador
Jeffrey Pugh

Inclusive or Exclusive? How Contact with Host Nationals May Change Immigrants’ Boundary Perceptions and Foster Identity Compatibility
Kristina Bakkaer Simonsen

Mobility, Inequality, and Difference

The New Third Generation: Post-1965 Immigration and the Next Chapter in the Long Story of Assimilation
Tomas R. Jimenez, Julie Park, and Juan Pedroza

Citizen Advantage, Undocumented Disadvantage, or Both? The Comparative Educational Outcomes of Second and 1.5-Generation Latino Young Adults
Caitlin Patler

Emotional Stress and the Integration of Muslim Minorities in France and Canada
Marie-Pier Joly and Jeffrey G. Reitz

Migration Policies and Migration Disruptions

Migration Disruption: Crisis and Continuity in the Cambodian Mass Returns
Maryann Bylander