Full Citation
Title: The Implications of Unauthorized Migration for the Educational Incorporation of Mexican-americans
Citation Type: Miscellaneous
Publication Year: 2011
ISBN:
ISSN:
DOI:
NSFID:
PMCID:
PMID:
Abstract: Ever since the 1880s and the development of rail connections between northern Mexico and the U.S. interior, Mexican migrants have been coming to the United States in notable numbers (Cardoso 1980; Spener 2009). Those lacking official permission to enter are often today called “unauthorized” migrants (Bean and Lowell 2007), although most arriving before World War I (and even long afterward) would scarcely have entertained the idea they were “unauthorized” (Massey, Durand and Malone 2002). Indeed, there was no official government agency charged with the responsibility of interdicting illegal border crossers until 1924, when the Border Patrol was established (Zolberg 2006). But most Mexican migrants, then and now, move because they need jobs and U.S. employers need their labor. Consistent with this, the United States for more than two decades permitted Mexican contract laborers to enter the country legally through the Bracero program. When that program ended in 1964, the number of unauthorized migrants began to escalate (Calavita 2010). The difficulties such migrants face have always been considerable (Chavez 1998; Gonzalez 2006). And after the penalties for unauthorized entry began to increase in 1996 (National Research Council 2011), their hardships became even more severe. Yet the country continues to rely as much as ever on unauthorized less-skilled Mexican workers (Bean, Brown and Bachmeier 2012). This contradiction highlights the growing relevance for public policy of assessments of how unauthorized migration affects the incorporation of Mexican-Americans.
User Submitted?: No
Authors: Bean, Frank, D; Brown, Susan, K; Leach, Mark, A
Publisher: Columbia University
Data Collections: IPUMS CPS
Topics: Education, Migration and Immigration
Countries: