Immigration and Immigrants

Abstract

Public opinion polls conducted from 1964 to 1999 found that Americans' desire to reduce immigration increased dramatically, but there existed a wide variation regarding which nationalities were to be restricted. Furthermore, the majority believed that many immigrants wind up on welfare and raise taxes for Americans and, hence, cause problems for the United States. This article reports on these findings and their implications for current political attitudes toward immigration and recent change and proposed changes inimmigration laws and programs.     

Latino Immigrants

Abstract

The Latino population continues to increase dramatically with some of the increase due to continuous immigration, both documented and undocumented. This article examines some of the demographic within group diversity that exists. The immigration experience is highlighted for the particular stresses that occur. The unique issues related to living in the United States without legal papers are noted. For those immigrants who are refugees, the impact of civil war and violence on their ability to adapt to this new culture is underscored. The consequences of immigration are noted in how children are affected. An Ecological Perspective illustrates how their adaptations can be classified into such specific areas as identity, relatedness, competence and autonomy. Some of the resources to support viable adaptation are delineated.     

Immigrants and Employer-provided Training

Much has been written about the labour market outcomes for immigrants in their host countries, particularly with regard to earnings, employment and occupational attainment. However, much less attention has been paid to the question of whether immigrants are as likely to receive employer-provided training relative to comparable natives. As such training should be crucial in determining the labour market success of immigrants in the long run it is a critically important question. Using data from a large-scale survey of employees in Ireland, we find that immigrants are less likely to receive training from employers, with immigrants from the New Member States of the EU experiencing a particular disadvantage. The immigrant training disadvantage arises in part from a failure on the part of immigrants to get employed by training-oriented firms. However, they also experience a training disadvantage relative to natives within firms where less training is provided.     

Practice with Immigrants and Refugees

Abstract

Immigrant clients and their social workers can provide useful insights regarding elements of productive practice. Thirteen social workers and 19 clients were interviewed about their experiences. Two major themes were derived: Multifaceted Perception of Self and Other, as revealed in multiple connection pathways, multiple levels of cultural incorporation, and multiple communication avenues, and Proactive Service Provision through cultural bridging, brokering for services, and advocacy for system sensitivity. Practice implications are discussed.     

Islam and Muslim Immigrants in Austria: Socio-Political Networks and Muslim Leadership of Turkish Immigrants

This essay outlines the unique historical and legal aspects of the institutionalization of Islam in Austria and its various organizations. Major attention, however, is given to the concept of socio-political networks in understanding the motives for, and processes of, self-organization of Turkish Muslim migrant communities. Finally, Turkish Muslim leadership (the imams), in Austria is discussed. Based on a pioneer study for Austria, the essay argues that in the context of migrant studies, the religious elites of Muslim immigrants have been largely neglected so far and, hence, deals with their function in the Muslim community and their situation in Austria.     

Islam and Muslim Immigrants in Austria: Socio-Political Networks and Muslim Leadership of Turkish Immigrants

This essay outlines the unique historical and legal aspects of the institutionalization of Islam in Austria and its various organizations. Major attention, however, is given to the concept of socio-political networks in understanding the motives for, and processes of, self-organization of Turkish Muslim migrant communities. Finally, Turkish Muslim leadership (the imams), in Austria is discussed. Based on a pioneer study for Austria, the essay argues that in the context of migrant studies, the religious elites of Muslim immigrants have been largely neglected so far and, hence, deals with their function in the Muslim community and their situation in Austria.     

Skilled Immigrants in Rome

Skilled migration, taking the forms of brain drain, movements of professionals and job transfers, has become an important component of contemporary migration flows. However, it does not necessarily follow that incoming flows of highly qualified immigrants automatically translate into an effective supply of skilled labour, since immigrants are often prepared to accept underemployment and working conditions that nationals from the local market have refused.
This study aims to verify whether the phenomenon of brain waste exists in Rome. We analysed the data of 147,587 foreigners recorded in the City Register Office as being residents on 31 August 1999. Of these, 68,539 indicated their educational level and 73,746 their occupation.
The data also revealed that the more stable segment of immigrants to Rome, i.e. those who have taken up residency, is composed mainly of qualified, or highly qualified, persons. Many foreign residents possess university degrees and are employed in managerial and/or intellectual professions. Alongside this important datum, however, we observe that the majority of foreign residents are employed in unqualified jobs, a considerable percentage of whom possess much higher qualifications than those required for the job they do.
Analysing the temporal evolution of these data on the qualifications and professions of foreign residents leads us to believe that the phenomenon of underemployment is decidedly on the upturn.
In order to understand the cause of this phenomenon, qualitative data from case study interviews have also been analysed. The most common reason why immigrants take on under-skilled jobs is lack of job offers appropriate to their academic or professional qualifications due to the peculiar situation of the Roman labour market. Other problems, such as the lack of protocols concerning the recognition of the academic qualifications of non-EU citizens and the language barrier, also play a role.     

Immigrants,Refugees and Asylum Seekers

Abstract

This article reviews policies and services related to immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers in the U.S. Definitions of immigration categories are provided to clarify the context in which services operate. Particular attention is given to issues that are unique to populations of the Southwest. Historical information on this region is offered; immigration trends and recent statistics are presented. The article is based on published data; field interviews with personnel in selected immigrant and refugee serving social agencies are used to compliment the literature. The authors highlight the social consequences of the global phenomenon of migration, whether motivated by economic or political realities. Recommendations for those who serve immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers are offered.     

Social Contacts and the Economic Performance of Immigrants: A Panel Study of Immigrants in Germany

Using data from the German Socio‐Economic Panel, we examined the impact of social contacts on immigrant occupational status and income. In addition to general social contacts, we also analyzed the effects of bonding (i.e., co‐ethnic) and bridging (i.e., inter‐ethnic) ties on economic outcomes. Results show that general social contacts have a positive effect on the occupational status and, in particular, annual income of immigrants. We also find that bridging ties with Germans lead to higher occupational status, but not to increased income. These effects remain visible even when social contacts are measured (at least) 1 year prior to the economic outcomes, as well as when earlier investments in German human capital are considered. Finally, we show that co‐ethnic concentration in the region of residence weakly affects economic returns to German language proficiency and schooling.     

Ecological Succession and Asian Immigrants in Australia

In recent immigration policy debates in Australia, it has been asserted that Asian immigrants concentrate in ethnic ghettos, thus posing a threat to the social cohesion of Australian society. This assertion has been based mainlyon selective observations made by anti-immigration groups. Nevertheless, it is more or less consistent with expectations of an ecological succession model that has guided studies on patterns of housing consumption behaviour of new immigrants in the West.
The ecological succession model contends that new immigrants concentrate in ethnic ghettos or low-cost housing areas and will move to good neighbourhoods only after they improve their socio-economic position in the host society.
Using data from the 1991 Housing and Location Choice Survey conducted in Melbourne and Sydney, the article shows that the assertion concerning the poor housing condition of Asian immigrants in Australia is unfounded. There is no ecological succession among them because they lived in good neighbour-hoodsin Melbourne and Sydney shortly after their arrival in Australia.
The ecological succession model is a valid framework for poor immigrants from Indo-China, but it does not apply to patterns of housing consumption behaviour among well-to-do immigrants from North and South-East Asia.     

Between Spatial and Social Segregation among Immigrants: The Case of Immigrants from the FSU in Israel

Studies on immigrants' residential concentration have reported mixed findings. Some have argued that immigrants' residential concentration is a necessary step in the process of their social integration because there the newcomers find housing and employment opportunities as well as social support. As they learn the language and improve their socioeconomic status, they move to neighborhoods where they share space with the native population. Others have argued that the ethnic neighborhood delays the process of social integration in the new society because it nurtures informal ethnic social networks that provide incomplete information and retard the process of language acquisition. The study reported here investigated the effect of motivations, perceptions of attitudes of the host society, acculturation and socioeconomic factors on immigrants' residential concentration. It also sought to expand previous research by examining the relationship between immigrants'residential concentration and social relationships with nonimmigrants. Data for the study were collected in 1999 through a survey of immigrants from the FSU who had settled in one northern city in Israel after 1989. The results show a negative relationship of socioeconomic status and fluency in Hebrew with the percentage of immigrants residing in a given neighborhood. The higher the socioeconomic status and the more fluent the immigrant in Hebrew, the lower the percentage of immigrants in his or her neighborhood. Immigrants who expressed a proactive motivation for migration resided in neighborhoods with a low percentage of immigrants. Immigrants' residential concentration was not found to be related to the development of social relationships with the local population. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

Tolerance Toward Immigrants as a Dimension of Cosmopolitanism: Explaining Attitudes Toward Immigrants in Houston

Tolerance toward immigrants can be explained as the development of dispositions toward the acceptance of foreigners as locals influenced by the city’s multicultural contexts. Accordingly, tolerance toward immigrants represents a dimension of cosmopolitanism in metropolitan areas of receiving societies. In this study, I examine whether the proportion of immigrants in communities is directly associated with tolerance toward immigrants and whether there are significant differences in attitudes toward immigrants by occupation and educational attainment in the metropolitan research setting of Houston, Texas. Using data from the Houston Area Survey, I find that the percentage of foreign born in census tracts is directly associated with tolerance, that white-collar workers are not more tolerant than non-white-collar workers, and that the effect of education on tolerance toward immigrants is not always positive. I conclude that, in Houston, tolerance toward immigrants represents a dimension of cosmopolitanism, and cosmopolitanism is not well founded on socioeconomic status.     

Estimating Self‐Selection of Immigrants: Comparing Earnings Differentials Between Natives and Immigrants in the US and Israel

Immigrants’ economic assimilation in host countries is determined by patterns of self‐selection on both – observed attributes (mainly human capital) and unobserved attributes of the immigrants from their source countries. In the present study immigrants’ economic assimilation in the United States and Israel are compared. More specifically, the study compares the impact of immigrants’ unobserved characteristics on their earnings in both countries by applying a model for decomposing difference in differentials. It makes use of United States and Israeli decennial census data for comparing self‐selection patterns on unobserved attributes of Jewish immigrants from the former Soviet Union (FSU) who arrived in the United States and Israel during the 1970s. The results indicate that FSU immigrants who chose the United States have significantly higher levels of unobserved earnings determinants than those who chose Israel. These results are discussed in light of migration theories.