Immigration Policy Flashcards
Immigrant
someone who moves from one place to another (people who are going into the country of reference)
Emigrant
someone who moves from one place to another (people who have left the country of reference)
Disapora
the population of a country living outside of its political borders
Place of origin
the sending location or country
Place of destination
the receiving location or country
Immigration rate
ratio of in-migrants to the count of population at place of destination before immigrants arrived
Emigration rate
ratio of out-migrants to the population at place of origin before emigrants left
Net migration
the difference between the number of immigrants and number of emigrants
Net migration rate
difference between immigration rate and emigration rate
What region has seen a large increase in migration?
Asia
Theories of migration
sociologically oriented reasons as to why people migrate
Why are theories of migration helpful?
they help with predictions, designing migration policy, push and pull factors
Push factor
something about current context that is pushing you to migrate (poor economic conditions, crisis/disasters, etc)
Pull factor
something about somewhere else that is enticing or luring one to migrate
Macro-level economic theory
populations will shift spatially in response to wage differentials between regions
What will happen over time according to macro-level economic theory?
more labor in the new country leads to decrease in wages and labor scarcity in original country leads to increase in wages, so they will eventually have same wages
Micro-level economic theory
an individual evaluates the costs and benefits of living in one region, living in another region, and migration itself; more comprehensive
When will an individual move according to micro-level economic theory?
when their benefits outweigh their costs
New Home Economics Theory
a household decides to have one or more members migrate; goal is household economic resiliency through diversifying income streams
Segmented labor theory
shortage of native worker willing to do the specific work, so industry fills them with migrant workers who are willing
What does the segmented labor theory emphasize?
wage and status hierarchies; migrants prioritize wages over status; pull factors of receiving countries
Bracero program
agricultural industry recruited Mexicans to do agricultural work when men from US went to war for WW2
Chain/network migration theory
focuses on how people who have migrated before you can help “soften the landing” for when you migrate
Goals of immigration policy
decrease/increase number of migrants; social/ideological goals regarding national identity/composition
Naturalization act of 1790
Any foreign born free white person who had lived in the US for 2 years could become a citizen
What were the effects of the Naturalization act of 1790?
introduced racialization and associating race with citizenship
Racialization
the process of assigning and enforcing a racial categorization to a social group or characteristic
4 stages of immigration policy
before 1880, 1880-1920, 1921-1965, post 1965
immigration before 1880
no explicit immigration policies, most people coming from Western Europe
immigration 1880-1920
Had qualitative restrictions (chinese exclusion act, literacy requirements, naturalization act of 1906), high numbers of immigration, Eastern Europe immigrants
Immigrant act of 1882
Chinese exclusion act, stopped immigration of any people from China because of the massive increase
Naturalization act of 1906
expanded citizenship to African immigrants in addition to white
Immigration 1921-1965
moves towards quota laws, spike in German refugees after WW2 and increase in Mexican immigration
Immigration post 1965
immigration and naturalization act of 1965, IRCA,
Immigration and naturalization act of 1965
eliminated quotas based on national origin with a focus on family reunification and attracting skilled workers
Aims of Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1968 (IRCA)
2 aims: address the issue of undocumented immigrants by putting the responsibility on the employers; recognize that large part of US economy relies on undocumented labor so granted amnesty
Consequences of IRCA
increased permanent settlement and family reunification; prop 187(exclude all undocumented immigrants from any public service in CA)
Unauthorized migration population size trends
peaked in 2007 and has been decreasing
Unauthorized migrant composition
shift away from Mexico between 2007-2017; increased share from other parts of Latin America and Asia
How are people entering the country?
most are legal migrants that overstay their visa
Latino threat narrative
fear of Mexican immigrants and the perceived consequences of Mexican immigration on the US
impact of immigration policy on border crossings
declines in apprehensions, shifted how people cross and changed the crossing locations, increased use of human traffickers
