Liquid migration,grounded lives: considerations about future mobility and settlement among Polish and Spanish migrants in Norway

The 2004 EU extension and the 2008 financial crisis triggered new migration flows within Europe, and subsequent debates about what the novelty of these migration flows consists of. We draw on adult Polish and Spanish migrants’ in Norway’s considerations about future mobility and settlement, and explore how these situate themselves in relation to conceptualisations of intra-European migration as ‘liquid’. Family concerns, economic factors and working life conditions in countries of origin appear as significant in migrants’ reflections about the future. This seems to contrast with conceptualisations of intra-European migration as ‘liquid’ in the sense of increasing individualisation, lifestyles of mobility and a migrant habitus. Rather a ‘normal life’ is emphasised by migrants’ underscoring desires to lead more grounded lives, under less ‘liquid’ conditions. Migrants’ already established lives in Norway, together with deregulated labour markets in Poland and Spain, are experienced as reasons not to return. Migrants’ considerations about the future suggest that key characteristics of South–North and East–West intra-European migration flows to Norway, appear to be converging: with a trend of transition to longer-term settlement and a wish for more grounded lives, where dignity is central and ongoing mobility is less prominent.     

Scapegoat citizens in times of austerity: the impact of the crisis on the immigrant population in Spain

The economic crisis has not yet produced alarming cases of racism and social conflict in Spain. However, as we shall analyse, there are indications that ‘immigrants’ are considered one of the first populations to be disposed of in times of crisis. A preference for nationals is increasing among traditional parties, alongside the rise of political parties with anti-immigrant agendas. Unemployment rates among the foreign born population are disproportionate in comparison with those of the native population. Migration policies that link residence permits to the possession of an employment contract have resulted in disturbing rates of irregularity. Health regulations have been amended to prevent irregular immigrants from accessing ‘universal’ health care. Police raids occur in public places to detain and expel undocumented immigrants, and ‘hospitality’ towards irregular immigrants is considered a criminal offence by a new reform in the Penal Code. As a parallel trend that is repeated in other European countries in times of austerity, we shall identify a depletion of universal rights, detention, and deportation as alienating strategies and technologies that are used to redefine the relations between citizens and ‘others’ within the contemporary citizenship regime. Leaning on Engin Isin's critical perspective on citizenship, this article argues that under the circumstances of crisis and austerity that harry Spain, the ‘immigrant’ is constructed as a disposable category, not only to balance the labour market and welfare state, but also to reinforce the notion of the national citizen as a subject of rights.     

The paradox of integration and isolation within immigrant organisations: the case of a Latin American Association in Israel

Most immigrant organisations aim to facilitate the integration of immigrants into the host society while seeking to preserve their cultural heritage. In order to explore the tension between these two apparently opposite processes within immigrant organisations, a case study was carried out on the Organization of Latin American Immigrants in Israel (OLEI). The research question focuses on how, and to what extent, OLEI contributes to the integration of Latin American immigrants into Israeli society and how, and to what extent, it contributes to their isolation. The findings indicate that while individual services promote the integration of Latin American immigrants into Israeli society, communal services both isolate and integrate them simultaneously. To address this paradox, I suggest an interpretation of this process as ‘integration through isolation’, since OLEI socially isolates immigrants, but at the same time integrates them into the host society by providing Israeli culture in Spanish.     

Looking forward into the past: Partido Nacionalista Vasco and the immigrant question in the Basque Country

ABSTRACT

This article examines the discursive and political response to immigrant-generated diversity by Partido Nacionalista Vasco (PNV) in the Basque Country of Spain. A much-ballyhooed fact about PNV is that its founder, Sabino Arana, articulated a racist nationalist doctrine in the late nineteenth century. Alarm bells were raised in the early 2000s when the Basque Country became a destination for foreign immigrants arriving in Spain from Latin America and North Africa: do foreign immigrants pose a threat to Basque national identity? The PNV's answer to this question has been a clear ‘no’. Rather than distance itself from its past, however, party elites legitimate the inclusive and compassionate attitude towards foreign immigrants through selective discovery of the Basque national narrative. While sceptics of ideational variables are quick to suggest that nationalist elites manipulate the past to serve current purposes, this article suggests that such an interpretation does not do justice to the subtle ways in which symbols, myths, and images of the past have shaped the worldviews of PNV elites in the realm of immigration.     

Overcoming the crisis: the changing profile and trajectories of Latvian migrants

Taking mobility between Latvia and Western Europe as an empirical lens, this analysis explores the complex relationship between spatial disparities in earning potential and migration. The very dramatic shifts in the economic and political context against which migration from Latvia has occurred over the period 2004–2012 make it an especially apposite focus of research investigating the link between mobility and labour market circumstances. As an analytical starting point, conventional economic theory broadly explains the movement of workers from lower to higher wage regions. However, this investigation seeks to contribute to understandings of the economic drivers of migration through consideration of the effects of the Great Recession on not only the volume of flows from Latvia to higher wage economies elsewhere in Europe, but also on the characteristics of the migrants themselves and of the processes that produce their mobility. This is undertaken through analysis of a large-scale online survey of Latvian emigrants in five European countries. The findings point towards the Great Recession creating a distinctive cohort of reluctant ‘crisis migrants’. Analytically, the quantitative and qualitative attributes of this new phase of mobility raise a number of conceptually significant questions about understandings of the economy–migration nexus.     

Mexican illegality,black citizenship,and white power: immigrant perceptions of the U.S. socioracial hierarchy

While some scholars contend that immigrant integration is predicated on a strategic distancing from Blacks and closeness to Whites, others argue that highly racialised immigrants share more commonality with Black Americans than Whites. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Mexican immigrant newcomers to Los Angeles, California, this article examines how immigrants make sense of their position in U.S. socioracial hierarchy vis-à-vis other racialised groups. I show that as immigrants navigate U.S. social, racial, and political landscapes, they come to view ‘American-ness’ and the citizenship status inherent in it as a key marker of distinction between themselves and those they deem ‘American’. Immigrants thus view their group status as an inferior one relative not only to the dominant White group, but also to Black Americans, albeit for qualitatively different reasons. Findings highlight how the vulnerability of ‘illegality’ not only reinforces existing social boundaries with Whites, but also shapes the nature of socioracial boundaries with Black Americans that can hinder the potential for racial solidarity and has broader implications for the U.S. socioracial hierarchy.     

East-European immigrants responding to the recession in Britain: is there a trade-off between unemployment and over-qualification?

Most studies demonstrating the vulnerability of labour migrants following the recession have focused on unemployment. This article examines how the labour market performance of East-European workers in the U.K. has been affected by the recession by focussing on four possible employment outcomes: unemployment, self-employment, over-qualification and part-time jobs. By showing the relatively low rates of unemployment amongst East-European migrants, which have become even lower following the recession, it argues that the vulnerability of immigrants in periods of economic downturn cannot always be solely measured in higher rates of immigrant unemployment. Labour migrants may be prompted to take jobs (any jobs) below their skills and qualifications, thus suggesting a ‘trade-off’ between unemployment and over-qualification.     

The Benefits of in-betweenness: return migration of second-generation Chinese American professionals to China

In an era of growing transnational practices, this paper considers the trend of second-generation Chinese Americans who have ‘returned’ to the People's Republic of China (PRC) to work. Previous studies of return migration to China have focused on issues of ethnic and racial identity that arise during temporary homeland trips undertaken by those seeking to connect with ancestral and cultural origins. Accordingly, most research has highlighted the sense of cultural ‘in-betweenness’ experienced by Chinese Americans whose travels in the ancestral homeland bring an uncomfortable realisation that they are considered neither fully Chinese nor fully American. By contrast, my in-depth interviews with 52 second-generation Chinese American professionals in Beijing and Shanghai suggest that this liminality can be particularly useful in the workplace. I argue that first-world Chinese co-ethnics who work on a long-term basis in the PRC can uniquely leverage Western training with their assumed knowledge of Chinese culture to create personal economic advantage: a practice that I refer to as ‘strategic in-betweenness'. Nonetheless, while participants described distinct career-related benefits to being Chinese American in the PRC, they also feared they would soon be replaced by high-skilled, Western-educated Chinese natives who are moving back to their home country in large numbers.     

Coping with the Libyan migration crisis

ABSTRACT

This article discusses the EU's response to the recent Libyan ‘migration crisis’. The central Mediterranean migration route, via Libya, is now the principal route for mixed flows into the EU – primarily owing to the non-existence of a Libyan state to enforce migration controls in collaboration with the EU. The situation in Libya itself is dire, with extensive human rights violations committed against mostly African migrants. While the EU's efforts to curb migration from Libya through enhanced maritime patrol operations have been largely unsuccessful, the recent Italian–Libyan collaboration seems to have led to a significant reduction in the number of migrants departing from Libya's shores. In addition, the EU has also been enlisting transit countries further south – Niger, in particular – in its migration control efforts, with the provision of financial and other resources for capacity-building in migration management. Overall, the EU persists with buttressing its fortress, continues to push for the external hosting of refugee populations within the region and intensifies its collaboration with countries with a dismal track record in terms of respecting the rights of migrants and refugees.     

Chinese Children Among the Poor: Comparing U.S. Natives with Immigrants from Taiwan, Mainland China, and Hong Kong

Research on Chinese Americans often centers on successful economic incorporation in American society (e.g., “model minority”). Unfortunately, previous research has overlooked the changing economic circumstances of native- and foreign-born Chinese children, despite the fact that Chinese children living in America are diverse in socioeconomic status and geographic origin. In this paper, we use data from the 1990 and 2000 censuses to compare levels and changes in child poverty rates among U.S.-born Chinese and immigrants from Taiwan, Mainland China, and Hong Kong, and to investigate how changes in maternal employment and family structure (including cohabitation) contributed to the decline in poverty rates in the 1990s. Compared to other Asian Americans and non-Asians, Chinese children in the U.S. are less likely to live in poverty, thanks in part to more married-couple families and higher levels of maternal employment. Yet, child poverty rates vary among Chinese American subpopulations—being lowest for children of U.S.-born Chinese and highest for children of mainland-born Chinese. In addition, we find that poverty among U.S.-born and Taiwan-born Chinese would have been even lower had their rates of divorce and cohabitation had been similar to those for mainland-born and Hong Kong-born Chinese.     

Onward migration from Spain to London in times of crisis: the importance of life-course junctures in secondary migrations

This study examines one response of migrants to the challenging economic conditions caused by the 2008 financial crisis in Spain: onward migration. Focusing on Colombians and Ecuadorians who mobilise their newly acquired Spanish citizenship to migrate to London, I argue that their new migration is part of their migratory careers and that this process is different from that of Spain-born emigrants because it is marked by the first socioeconomic incorporation. Acknowledging that the crisis is the main driver of this new move, I draw a typology based on life-course junctures to show the differences in how onward migrants understand this new move and what their expectations are. There are three broad types of onward migrants: (1) mature, reluctant migrants, (2) mid-life, career advancement migrants and (3) young, independence-seeking migrants. What they do have in common is that, through their first migration, they have acquired a certain migratory knowledge of the process that shapes their paths and expectations.     

Bridging the territorial divide: immigrants’ cross-border communication and the spatial dynamics of their kin networks

The transnational perspective emphasises the persistence of immigrants’ home country connections, yet existing research adds little to our understanding of the mechanisms by which cross-border ties are maintained. We use nationally representative data of immigrants in Spain to describe changes in their kin network and study how two characteristics, migration stage (whether kin already resided in Spain at the time of emigration and whether any kin remained in the birth country (BC) at the time of interview) and relationship-specific locations of kin (children, parents, spouse, siblings), influence the frequency of cross-border communication. We find an expansion in the total number of kin largely due to childbearing and marriage. The average fraction of migrants’ immediate kin in Spain shifts from 6% to 41%. The presence of at least one kin in the BC increases the frequency of cross-border communication, but with the exception of siblings, the presence of family already in Spain at the time of emigration does not. Siblings and parents were far more likely to retain a BC presence, but they were less likely than spouses or children to be contacted daily. While these ties are generally long-lasting, communication wanes as immigrant embeddedness in the receiving country grows.     

How Measurement of Inequalities in Wealth by Race/Ethnicity Impacts Narrative and Policy: Investigating the Full Distribution

In recent decades, analysts and researchers have expanded understanding of economic security by adding wealth to traditional income measures of economic security, documenting substantial and growing inequalities in wealth in the USA that exceed notable income inequalities. Racial disparities in wealth have been well-documented and represent a major barrier to economic equality for communities of color. However, while the racial wealth gap is typically measured at the median due to the substantial skew of the wealth distribution, much remains unknown about racial disparities across the wealth distribution. This study aims to advance analytic discussions about measurement of racial wealth disparities examining recent trends in wealth by race/ethnicity using a more complete view of the wealth distribution. Using the Survey of Consumer Finances (SCF) from 2001 to 2013, results reveal that racial wealth disparities across the distribution are even more widespread than an examination of central tendencies alone can observe. Also, while all households experienced notable wealth declines in recent years during the Great Recession, African American and Latino households across the distribution of wealth were particularly affected. From 2007 to 2013, the 75th percentile of wealth for African Americans and Latinos fell by approximately 50%, while losses for whites at the third quartile were just 15%. Similar differences in impacts of the economic downturn are seen across the distribution. Examination of net worth trends over the period reveals that losses were disproportionally experienced by households of color across the wealth distribution.     

Obamacare in action: how access to the health care system contributes to immigrants’ sense of belonging

ABSTRACT

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) aimed to reduce stark health inequalities by providing universal health insurance to all Americans and long-term authorised immigrants. Later regulations, however, gave the 50 U.S. states latitude to choose the degree of coverage for their constituencies. In this paper, we explore how interactions with these diverse systems of care contribute to the incorporation of immigrants into America, especially among the most likely to remain uninsured: the working poor. We uncovered a process in which immigrants’ access to health coverage and care was informed by the procedural justice embedded in their interactions with representatives of the health care system. These interactions signalled to immigrants their deservingness in American society, operating as a system of incorporation in the most inclusive states and as a barrier to incorporation in the most exclusive ones. Repealing the ACA may exacerbate differences across states in access to health care among eligible immigrants and end the incipient transformation of the U.S. health care system into an agent of immigrant incorporation.     

Immigrant entry visa categories and their effects on the children of immigrants’ education

As the U.S. continues to debate how to reform the current immigration system, there has been an increased emphasis on increasing skilled migration via employment sponsorship and subsequently decreasing other forms of migration, such as family reunification or refugees and asylees. Employment migration is viewed favourably because immigrants tend to arrive with greater education and language skills. However, it is unclear whether the descendants of immigrants admitted via employment categories have greater integration outcomes than the descendants of immigrants admitted via other categories. This study examines whether an immigrant’s entry visa (e.g. temporary work, refugee, student, etc.) affects their children’s education. Using data from the 2004 Immigration and Intergenerational Mobility in Metropolitan Los Angeles, this study finds that children whose fathers arrived via student/tourist visas have greater odds of college attainment. Related, this study identifies a possible mechanism, advanced/honors courses in high school, that may explain why father’s student/tourist visa exerts a positive effect on student’s pathway to college completion. However, there are no significant effects for fathers arriving under temporary work visas or as legal permanent residents.     

Immigration and Economic Conditions Among Older Asian Americans

This study compares native-immigrant gaps in economic conditions among older Asian Americans to those in other racial groups. This study uses the American Community Survey data collected from 2006 to 2010. The sample consists of Asians, whites, blacks, and Hispanics, who are 65 years old or older (N = 2,205,148). The dependent variables are per capita income, poverty, asset income, homeownership, and vehicle ownership. This study employs linear and logit regressions. Analysis results show that older native Asian Americans’ economic statuses are comparable to or better than older native whites. Older immigrant Asian Americans’ economic situations are worse off than older immigrant whites but better off than their black and Hispanic counterparts. Regression analyses indicate that native-immigrant gaps among older Asian Americans are significantly larger than those among other racial groups. These findings suggest that the public perception of economically successful immigrant Asians is not consistent with the economic reality of older immigrant Asian Americans. Analysis results call for further research on native-immigrant gaps among older Asian Americans and policy interventions to enhance economic security among older minority groups, including older immigrant Asian Americans.     

Different narratives,one area without internal frontiers: why EU institutions cannot agree on the refugee crisis

ABSTRACT

This article contextualizes contemporary institutional responses of the European Union (EU) to the refugee crisis within the historical setting in which EU migration and asylum policies emerged – namely during the implementation of the border-free Schengen Area (1984–1995). Using the analytical framework of ‘policy narratives’, it argues that EU institutions have used the creation of the ‘area without internal frontiers’ to build coherent narratives about the nature and scope of EU action and of their own role in it. Such narratives became locked into the institutional discourse and influenced the subsequent evolution of EU politics on the topic.     

Origins of the New Latino Underclass

Over the past four decades, the Latino population of the United States was transformed from a small, ethnically segmented population of Mexicans in the southwest, Puerto Ricans in New York, and Cubans in Miami into a large national population dominated by Mexicans, Central Americans, and South Americans. This transformation occurred through mass immigration, much of it undocumented, to the point where large fractions of non-Caribbean Hispanics lack legal protections and rights in the United States. Rising illegality is critical to understanding the disadvantaged status of Latinos today. The unauthorized population began to grow after avenues for legal entry were curtailed in 1965. The consequent rise in undocumented migration enabled political and bureaucratic entrepreneurs to frame Latino migration as a grave threat to the nation, leading to a rising frequency of negative framings in the media, a growing conservative reaction, and increasingly restrictive immigration and border policies that generated more apprehensions. Rising apprehensions, in turn, further enflamed the conservative reaction to produce even harsher enforcement and more still more apprehensions, yielding a self-feeding cycle in which apprehensions kept rising even though undocumented inflows had stabilized. The consequent militarization of the border had the perverse effect of reducing rates of out-migration rather than inhibiting in-migration, leading to a sharp rise in net undocumented population and rapid growth of the undocumented population. As a result, a majority of Mexican, Central American, and South American immigrants are presently undocumented at a time when unauthorized migrants are subject to increasing sanctions from authorities and the public, yielding downward pressure on the status and well-being of Latinos in the United States.     

The unseen protagonists. Ecuadorians’ daughters between Ecuador and Southern Europe

Scholars consider Latin American migration toward Europe to be a case study in the feminization of international migration. However, these studies have not focused on second-generation girls. Beginning from a gender and intergenerational approach, this paper stresses the agency role played by the reunified teenage daughters of Ecuadorian migrants both in Ecuador as well as in Southern Europe. The discussion is based on two transnational ethnographic studies conducted with Ecuadorian children aged 13–18 and their families in two medium-sized Southern European cities, Genoa and Seville, and in Ecuador between 2008 and 2011. First, the paper shows that girls carry out an essential task as caretakers in the transnational household, both in the point of origin and destination. Despite these responsibilities, they show a higher commitment to school, both in terms of time spent in school and their results. Secondly, it analyses how girls negotiate their role both inside and outside of the family, challenging the parents’ moral and sexual control strategies. The results disclose an identity struggle in the everyday lives of these girls: they participate in the migration project of the transnational family, but simultaneously they implement practices of resistance and renegotiation addressing the traditional division of gender roles.     

Conflict, Consensus, and Coalition: Economic and Workforce Development Strategies for African Americans and Latinos

Any work toward racial equity in America will need to include strengthening the black–Latino coalition. While there are political and social tensions between these groups, much of the underlying issue involves real and perceived perceptions of economic competition, particularly the notion that immigrant Latinos undercut African American wages. We note that there is some evidence that immigrants pull down incomes of US-born unskilled workers—both black and Latino. We argue, however, that highly restrictive immigration policy will have minimal effects and erode collective political power; a superior alternative is working together to reduce high school dropout rates, raise the minimum wage, reintegrate ex-offenders, rigorously enforce antidiscrimination law, promote comprehensive immigration reform, and pursue community development. Such an analysis is gaining ground in grassroots efforts to build trust and forge policy coalitions between Latinos and African Americans.