U.S. IMMIGRATION & IMMIGRANT POLICY

Transcription

1 Public Policy (PPOL-G797), University of Massachusetts Office: Wheatley Enrico Marcelli, Instructor Fall 2006: Mondays, 4:00-6:30pm Mobile Phone: U.S. IMMIGRATION & IMMIGRANT POLICY I. COURSE DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES One of the most important yet least informed policy debates occurring in the United States at the moment concerns U.S. immigration. This graduate student seminar will explore competing (e.g., realist, pluralist, elitist) theories of U.S. immigration and immigrant policy formation, and assess how well various policies have reflected public opinion and scientific evidence. In the first part of the course, we will consider archaeological evidence and theories concerning the first people to migrate to the Americas, recent immigration trends, and the conventional view that the United States has linearly lurched from relatively liberal to restrictionist immigration policies since English colonization. We will see that the newly independent nation took its first steps toward selective immigration policy quite early in 1788, while Congress was still operating under the Articles of Confederation (Zolberg 2006: 73). We will also consider evidence throughout the antebellum period suggesting that the United States has a long history of immigrant selectivity. That is, I will argue that viewing the 1875 restriction of convicts, paupers, and prostitutes from entering the United States as the first national-level law and commencement of restrictive U.S. immigration policy (Heer 1996: 37) is misleading because the colonies and then the states also approached immigration selectively. The first part of the course will conclude by reviewing the last three major immigration acts (of 1986, 1990, and 1996) much of which focused on what is alternatively labeled illegal, undocumented, or unauthorized immigration. The second part of our course will therefore shift from a history of immigration policy to research on illegal immigration. Specifically, we will review the two main methods for estimating the number, characteristics, and economic effects of unauthorized immigrant residents of the United States that were pioneered by demographer David Heer. The methodological core of the first is simply subtracting the 1

2 number of registered legal immigrants recorded in government administrative data from the number of foreign-born persons enumerated in a census and adjusting for deaths and emigration. This is the so-called residual or composite estimation methodology (Heer 1979) that is used to produce national and state level aggregate estimates by country of origin and U.S. state of residence. Alternatively, the direct surveybased estimation methodology developed by Marcelli and Heer (1997) provides estimates of the number and characteristics of unauthorized immigrants, but it can also distinguish authorized from unauthorized immigrants at the individual level and thus be employed to estimate how unauthorized immigrants affect other workers employment and earnings outcomes (Marcelli et al. 1999) as well as their use of public assistance (Marcelli and Heer 1998) in specific geographic areas. Such estimates, I shall argue, are critical for informing the current immigration policy debate, but are almost nonexistent. We will then consider a third approach to estimating the number of unauthorized immigrants the grouped-answers methodology that is currently being developed to estimate the number and characteristics of unauthorized immigrants in large (e.g., national) surveys at the individual level. This is still being validated by the U.S. Census Bureau and the General Accountability Office (1999), but promises to overcome several disadvantages of the residual (e.g., only aggregate numbers by country of birth and state of residence) and survey-based (e.g., geographically circumscribed) methods. The last part of the course will consider several topics concerning unauthorized immigrants that have received relatively little attention in the academic literature despite their persistent presence in contemporary media and policy debates (1) immigrant underenumeration in the 2000 Census, (2) immigrants demographic profile and geographic settlement patterns, (3) how unauthorized immigrants affect other workers employment and earnings outcomes, and how unauthorized status itself influences the average immigrant s labor market outcomes, (4) unauthorized immigrants use of public services and fiscal effects, and how localities respond to these, (5) immigrant remittances, and (6) immigrant access to medical care and overall health. Each of these six topical domains is hotly contested and requires significantly more study if immigration policy is to become well informed by social science research. There are two main goals of this course. The first is to review and understand the history of U.S. immigration and immigrant policies. The second is to master the academic literature on one of the six hot topics mentioned above, and to write a research article that contributes to the current immigration debate by being submitted to be reviewed for publication in a peer-reviewed journal such as the Journal of Immigrant Health, Demography, International Migration Review, International Migration, Population Research and Policy Review, or Migraciones Internacionales. Each student should select one of these journals to target for submission on or before the date the term paper s literature review is due (October 2, 2006). Course requirements include weekly essays that answer questions I will offer from required readings (due Friday afternoon before our next Monday evening class meeting) and a term paper (due 12/18/06). There will be no examinations. II. REQUIRED COURSE READING In addition to the three required books listed directly below, we will read various journal articles and selected readings from edited volumes, government agencies, and think tanks that will be available electronically. These are listed separately for each week in Section IV of this syllabus. Hayes, Helene U.S. Immigration Policy and the Undocumented: Ambivalent Laws, Furtive Lives. Westport, CT: Preager. Massey, Douglas S. et al., Eds Beyond Smoke and Mirrors: Mexican Immigration in an Era of Economic Integration. New York: Russell Sage Foundation. Zolberg, Aristide A Nation by Design: Immigration Policy in the Fashioning of America. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press and Russell Sage Foundation. 2

3 III. COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING Final grades will be based on two components. First, each student is required to me a 2-3 page response essay addressing a question I will ask related to required readings each week, beginning with the second week. The best 10 of a possible 12 essays will constitute 50 percent of the final grade. I must receive each essay by 3:00 pm the Friday before our next class meeting by or a grade of zero will be assigned. There will be no exceptions here given that two of the 12 essays can be missed altogether without any harm to one s grade. The second component of the final grade is a term paper (50 percent). Each student should schedule a time to meet with me privately during the first two weeks of the semester to discuss a plan for completing the three core sections of the term paper (literature review, data and methodology, results). Regular class attendance and arrival before 4:00pm are expected. If you anticipate any difficulty in this regard, please seriously reconsider whether you want to take this course. A. Weekly Essays (50%): Weekly essays should answer the question I draw from the required readings. Do not simply regurgitate what you read or simply list things from the readings in a bulleted format. These should be short critical essays that might, for instance, be found in The New Yorker, The Nation, or some other popular magazine. They should be fun and provocative. B. Term Paper (50%): Each student will select one of the six hot topics listed below and write a research paper not to exceed 15 double-spaced pages (excluding title page and references). For those who are inclined to write an empirical paper that statistically analyzes data, I recommend one of the following fairly well-known and respected data sources on immigration: Los Angeles County Mexican Immigrant Residency Status Survey (LAC-MIRSS) See me if you are interested in using these data California Health Insurance Survey (CHIS) See for other ideas and publications. 3. Latin American Migration Project (LAMP) See for ideas and publications. 4. New Immigrant Survey (NIS) See for ideas and publications. Each paper should have an introduction which clearly states the hypothesis, hypotheses, or events that motivate the paper in a few sentences only, a literature review that summarizes the main findings of the most important past research on the selected topic, a section explaining the data and methods employed to test the hypothesis or hypotheses, a results section, and a brief conclusion. Students are encouraged to submit an outline for the paper during the first several weeks of class, and to discuss the project with me at any time throughout the semester. The literature review will be due on or before October 2 nd, 2006 and the final draft of the paper is due on or before December 18 th, Each day the literature review or the final paper is late I will deduct half a letter grade. For example, if you hand in a paper that receives a score of 90% one day late, it will be reduced to 85%, It will be reduced to a grade of 80% if it is handed in two days late, etc. IV. COURSE SCHEDULE I shall reserve the right to alter the schedule or reading assignments shown below, and will make an effort to announce any changes well in advance. 3

4 PART I: HISTORY OF MIGRATION & U.S. IMMIGRATION POLICY Introduction: Histories and Theories of Human Migration Deadline to Add/Drop Class Ends ( ) Davis, Kingsley The Migrations of Human Populations, Scientific American 231(3): , reprinted in David M. Heer Kingsley Davis: A Biography and Selections from His Writings. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, pp Hanson, Gordon H. Why Does Immigration Divide America? Public Finance and Political Opposition to Open Borders. Working Paper # 129. San Diego, CA: UCSD Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, pp. 1-17, Hauber, Jeannie and Elizabeth Fussell Explaning Pro-Immigrant Sentiment in the U.S.: Social Class, Cosmopolitanism, and Perceptions of Immigrants, International Migration Review 40(3): Massey et al An Evaluation of International Migration Theory: The North American Case, Population and Development Review 20(4): A History of Colonial and U.S. Immigration Policy: s, , and 1965-Present Please select only one of the three historic periods listed below from which to read: 1. Group #1: s Colonialist/U.S. Immigration Policy Zolberg (2006: ) Heer, D. M Immigration in America s Future: Social Science Findings and the Policy Debate. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, pp Group #2: 1870s-1964 U.S. Immigration Policy Zolberg (2006: ) 3. Group #3: 1965-Present U.S. Immigration Policy Zolberg (2006: ) Massey (2002: 1-51) Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) Baker, Susan Gonzales The Amnesty Aftermath: Current Policy Issues Stemming from the Legalization Programs of the 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act, International Migration Review 31(1): Chiswick, Barry R Illegal Immigration and Immigration Control, Journal of Economic Perspectives 2(3): Hayes (2001: 1-72) Massey (2002: 52-72) 4

5 August 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) and September 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) Term paper literature review due Espenshade, Thomas J. et al Implications of the 1997 Welfare and Immigration Acts for U.S. Immigration, Population and Development Review 23(4): Fragomen, Jr., Austin T Welfare Bill Severely Curtails Public Assistance to Noncitizens, International Migration Review 30(4): Fragomen, Jr., Austin T The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996: An Overview, International Migration Review 31(2): Massey (2002: ) COLUMBUS DAY HOLIDAY NO CLASS MEETING PART II: ESTIMATING UNAUTHORIZED IMMIGRATION Residual, Components of Change, or Composite Methodologies Bean, Frank D. et al Circular, Invisible, and Ambiguous Migrants: Components of Difference in Estimates of the Number of Unauthorized Mexican Migrants in the United States. Demography 38(3): Heer, David M What is the Annual Net Flow of Undocumented Mexican Immigrants to the United States? Demography 417(16): Passel, Jeffrey S Unauthorized Migrants: Numbers and Characteristics. Washington, D.C.: Pew Hispanic Center. Warren, Robert Estimates of the Unauthorized Immigrant Population Residing in the United States: , Washington, D.C.: U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service Direct Survey-based Methodologies Chiswick, Barry R Illegal Aliens: Their Employment and Employers. Kalamazoo, MI: W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research, pp Marcelli, Enrico A. and David M. Heer "Unauthorized Mexican Workers in the 1990 Los Angeles County Labour Force," International Migration 35(1): Massey, Douglas S. and Chiara Capoferro Measuring Undocumented Immigration, International Migration Review 38(3): Grouped-Answers Methodologies Guest Speaker: Judy Droitcour and/or Eric Larson,U S General Accountability Office Droitcour, Judith A. and Eric M. Larson An Innovative Technique for Asking Sensitive Questions: The Three-Card Method, Bulletin de Méthodologie Sociologique 75:

6 U.S. GAO Immigrant Statistics: Information Gaps, Quality Issues Limit Utility of Federal Data to Policymakers. Washington, D.C.: U.S. General Accounting Office. PART III: HOT TOPICS IN IMMIGRATION RESEARCH Underenumeration of Unauthorized Immigrants Deadline for Opportunity to Switch to Pass/Fail ( ) Marcelli, Enrico A. and Paul M. Ong Sources of Mexican Immigrant Underenumeration in the 2000 U.S. Census, Boston, MA: Department of Economics, University of Massachusetts Boston. Robinson, J. Gregory et al Coverage of the Population in Census 2000: Results from Demographic Analysis, Population Research and Policy Review 21: Treat, James B. and Hebert F. Stackhouse Demographic Comparison between Self-response and Personal Interview in Census 2000, Population Research and Policy Review 21: Van Hook, Jennifer and Frank D. Bean Estimating the Underenumeration among Unauthorized Mexican Migrants to the United States: Applications of Mortality Analysis, In Mexican Ministry of Foreign Affairs and U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform, Binational Study: Migration between Mexico and the United States, Volume 2. Mexico City, Mexico and Washington D.C., pp Available at Immigrants Demographic Profile and Settlement Patterns Durand, Jorge, Douglas S. Massey and Rene M. Zeteno Mexican Immigration to the United States: Continuities and Change, Latin American Research Review 36(1): Marcelli, Enrico A. and Wayne A. Cornelius The Changing Profile of Mexican Migrants to the United States: New Evidence from California and Mexico, Latin American Research Review 36(3): Reyes, Belinda Changes in Trip Duration for Mexican Immigrants to the United States, Population Research and Policy Review 23: Singer, Audrey. The Rise of New Immigrant Gateways. Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution Unauthorized Immigrant Labor Market Effects Bean, Frank D.; Lowell, B. Lindsay and Taylor, Lowell J "Undocumented Mexican Immigrants and the Earnings of Other Workers in the United States," Demography (1): Hayes (2001: ) Marcelli, Enrico A The Institution of Unauthorized Residency Status, Neighborhood Context, and Mexican Immigrant Hourly Earnings in Los Angeles County, In Dell P. Champlin and Janet Knoedler, Eds., The Institutionalist Tradition in Labor Economics. Armonk, NY: M.E. Sharpe, pp Marcelli, Enrico A. et al Estimating the Effects of Informal Economic Activity: Evidence from Los Angeles County, Journal of Economic Issues 33(3):

7 Winegarden, C.R. and Lay Boon Khor "Undocumented Immigration and Unemployment of US Youth and Minority Workers: Econometric Evidence." Review of Economics and Statistics 73(1): Community/Public Assistance & the Fiscal Effects of Immigrants Borjas, George J Welfare Reform and Immigrant Participation in Welfare Programs, International Migration Review 36(4): Lee, Ronald D. and Timothy W. Miller The Current Fiscal Impact of Immigrants and Their Desecendants: Beyond the Immigrant Household, In James P. Smith and Barry Edmonston, Eds., The Immigration Debate: Studies on the Economic, Demographic, and Fiscal Effects of Immigration. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, pp Loveless, Stephen C. et al Immigration and Its Impact on American Cities. Westport, CT: Praeger, pp Hanson, Gordon H. Why Does Immigration Divide America? Public Finance and Political Opposition to Open Borders.Working Paper # 129. San Diego, CA: UCSD Center for Comparative Immigration Studies, pp Marcelli, E.A. and D.M. Heer "Unauthorized Mexican Immigration and Welfare: A Comparative Statistical Analysis," Sociological Perspectives 41(3): Immigrant Remittances Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina and Susan Pozo On the Use of Differing Money Transmission Methods by Mexican Immigrants, International Migration Review 39(3): Bair, Sheila C Improving Access of Recent Latin American Migrants to the U.S. Banking System, In Donald F. Terry and Steven R. Wilson, Eds., Beyond Small Change: Making Migrant Remittances Count. Washington, D.C.: Inter-American Development Bank, pp Marcelli, Enrico A Remittances and Health among Legal and Unauthorized Mexican Immigrants in the United States, , Paper presented at the Binational Policy Forum on Migration and Health, Guadalajara Mexico (10/9/06) Marcelli, Enrico A. and B. Lindsay Lowell Transnational Twist: Pecuniary Remittances and Socioeconomic Integration among Authorized and Unauthorized Mexican Immigrants in Los Angeles County, International Migration Review 39(1): Immigrant Health and Access to Medical Care Term paper due on or before 12/18/06 Fairchild, Amy L "Policies of Inclusion: Immigrants, Disease, Dependency, and American Immigration Policy at the Dawn and Dusk of the 20th Century." American Journal of Public Health 94(4): Hagan et al The Effects of Recent Welfare and Immigration Reforms on Immigrants Access to Health Care, International Migration Review 37(2): Jasso, Guillermina et al Immigrant Health Selectivity and Acculturation, In N. B. Anderson, R. A. Bulatao and B. Cohen, Critical Perspectives on Racial and Ethnic Differences in Health in Late Life. Washington, DC: National Academy Press, 2004,

8 Marcelli, E.A The Unauthorized Residency Status Myth: Health Insurance Coverage and Medical Care Use among Mexican Immigrants in California, Migraciones Internacionales 2(4): V. ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION I will be available to meet with students throughout the semester and prefer to schedule times by . Please contact me at enrico.marcelli@umb.edu to schedule an appointment during my office hours or for another time. Should you have an urgent question or message, you may contact me by mobile phone at My office is located in room 25 on the 5 th floor of Wheatley (5-025). 8