1 / 26

Immigrant Naturalization and Immigrant Settlement

Immigrant Naturalization and Immigrant Settlement. Political Science 61 / Chicano/Latino Studies 64 November 29, 2007. Exam. Second exam – December 6, 2007 In class Not cumulative, but you can bring examples from the first half of class Goals Analysis and comparison – essay

sylvie
Download Presentation

Immigrant Naturalization and Immigrant Settlement

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript


  1. Immigrant Naturalization and Immigrant Settlement Political Science 61 / Chicano/Latino Studies 64 November 29, 2007

  2. Exam • Second exam – December 6, 2007 • In class • Not cumulative, but you can bring examples from the first half of class • Goals • Analysis and comparison – essay • Reward for careful reading of assigned readings – identifications • Balance between sections • Essay question in advance?

  3. From Last Time Immigration Reform and the Opportunities for Cross-Group Alliances

  4. Short-Term Goal of Protests Met • Criminalization provisions of HR 4437 quickly left the debate • … at some cost • 700 miles of wall authorized • $4.4 billion (most not appropriated) • Also, took key mobilizing issue from protest organizers • Low turnout in May 1, 2007 protests

  5. Long-Term Significance Great For Latino Community • Positive – Legalization • Engine of empowerment and electoral growth • Provides added protections for U.S.-born family members • Negative – Legally recognized temporary status • The longer it continues, the more it creates a legal underclass that becomes central to the economy (and shifts the position of capital in immigration debates) • The more it is likely to divide Mexican America/Latino communities internally

  6. Issue Less Salient in Asian American Communities • Smaller share of Asian immigrant population is unauthorized • Unauthorized population composed differently • Short-term visa over-stayers • Indentured labor • New “point system” would benefit higher share of potential Asian immigrants

  7. Also, Not Likely to Build Alliances with African Americans • Leadership of African American organizations • See immigration as a civil rights issue • Generally supportive of “reform” • At the mass level • Support less clear • Economic cost of immigration paid disproportionately by low-skilled urban workers • Growth in Latino population reduces Black electoral power at the local level (remember readings on Villaraigosa mayoral races)

  8. Conclusions • Advocates of various reforms increasingly seeing status quo as better than change • Enforcement advocates fear legalization as a lesson for the future • Legalization advocates fear new enforcement, fines, touchback, and bureaucratic requirements • Business leaders see that enforcement remains sporadic (so they don’t have to fear loss of labor) • People who pay price for status quo: 12 million unauthorized immigrants

  9. Today’s Lecture Immigrant Naturalization and Immigrant Settlement

  10. Naturalization Primarily Issue for Latinos / Asian Americans • Percent of adult citizens who are naturalized (2004): • Anglo – 2.6% • Black – 3.8% • Latino – 24.8% (3.3 million) • Asian American – 62.3% (2.9 million) • Total number of naturalized citizens (2005): 14.9 million

  11. Percent Citizen and Non-Citizen Among Adults (2004)

  12. Naturalization Steadily on the Increase • Lagged response to increase in immigration after 1965 immigration act • Not a linear increase however (doesn’t keep up with immigration) • Threats generally increase demand for naturalization • Proposition 187/Welfare Reform in mid-1990s • HR 4437 and anti-immigrant rhetoric today • Community resources to help immigrants naturalize also increase in these periods • Naturalization will stay high for foreseeable future • But, 8 million eligible immigrants have not naturalized

  13. Naturalization, 1976-2005

  14. Naturalization: Opportunities and Barriers • Immigrants’ perspectives • Do immigrants want to naturalize? • Why do immigrants interested in naturalization not naturalize? • Government perspective • Who should be offered citizenship? • What characteristics should they have?

  15. Do Immigrants Want to Naturalize? • Best evidence – answer is yes • Just 15 percent of all Latino adults report no interest in naturalizing • Among eligible Latino immigrants • 8.7 percent say naturalization “not very important” • 3.8 percent say naturalization “not at all important” • No reliable attitudinal data on Asian immigrants, but • Asians immigrants who naturalize do so soon after they become eligible

  16. Behavioral Evidence • Latino immigrants • Approximately, 2/3 of eligible have done something concrete to naturalize • Taking English classes to prepare for exam • Taking civics classes to prepare for exam • Yet, only half of those who try, succeed

  17. Why the Gap? • Confusion • Fear of consequences of failure • Concern about loss of home-country citizenship • Bureaucracy • Form complex • INS/BCIS impenetrable • Bureaucracy expects steady flow of applicants, immigrants apply in response to threats • Cost • Absence of community-level assistance • Naturalization works best as a community-wide experience

  18. Who Should be Offered Citizenship? • Statute • Five years legal residence • Not limited by gender after 1922, race/ethnicity after 1952 • Required skills/characteristics • 1790 – good moral character • 1795 – renounce former allegiances • 1906 – speaking knowledge of English • 1950 – reading and writing knowledge of English

  19. Statute Isn’t the Primary Barrier, Implementation Is • Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) / Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services (BCIS) • Decentralized • “N” / “S” often gets lost to enforcement functions • Not antagonistic, but also not helpful • Doesn’t respond well to pressure

  20. Naturalization: Overview • Immigrants interested in pursuing citizenship • Many more start than finish • Formal requirements relatively minimal • But they have steadily increased in the 20th Century • U.S. government doesn’t promote citizenship and INS/BCIS hinders

  21. Immigrant Settlement: Does Government Play a Role? • Yes • Education, a resource for young immigrants and the second generation • English as a Second Language (outside California) • Non-needs-based social-welfare programs and insurance programs • … and No • Immigrants excluded from many needs-based social welfare programs after 1996 • Limited support for naturalization promotion

  22. U.S. Comparison to Other Immigrant-Receiving Countries • Somewhere in the middle • Canada • State promotion of multiculturalism • State encouragement of naturalization • Immigrants eligible for government assistance programs • Germany • Difficult for immigrants to naturalize • Children of guest-workers not eligible for citizenship • Immigrant financial assistance only for ethnic Germans

  23. Settlement Policy • U.S. has never thought comprehensively about developing policy to incorporate new immigrants • Left largely to the states and, mostly to the private sector • Liberal naturalization policy and civil rights, otherwise sink or swim • Opportunity to link the interests of Latinos and Asian Americans (and other immigrant/ethnic populations)

  24. What Would this Policy Arena Look Like? • Needed resources for incorporation • Adult English language training • Job training/re-training • Short-term voting rights • Revisit 1996 Welfare Reform • Promotion of dual-citizenship • Tensions • Cost • Native-born American perception that their ancestors made it on their own and today’s immigrants should also • Link between citizenship and voting rights

  25. Costs of Neglect High • Multigenerational failure to incorporate immigrants and their children • Europe is now facing • Consequence in U.S. potentially much higher because of size and diversity of immigrant population • Unintentional resource for intergenerational immigrant incorporation: 14th Amendment • U.S.-born children of immigrants are citizens regardless of parent’s status

  26. For Next Time • Please bring a possible ID from the readings since the midterm to class • Marta Tienda and her colleagues speak of the Hispanic future (and, by extension, the minority future) as an “uncertain destiny.” • Why? • What public policies need to be implemented today to ensure that “uncertain” becomes an empowered future?

More Related