Latinx Migration Narratives: Key Terms

• UGS 302: Latinx Migration Narratives explores Latinx migration. It will cover key terms, contributing factors, global migration, and impacts on origins and destinations. It will also touch on the history, causes, current makeup, policy shifts, and recent trends of Latinx migration.

Terminology

• Migration refers to the movement of people between countries or regions.
• Immigration is people coming into a country or region.
• Emigration is people leaving a country or region.
• An International Migrant, as per the UN definition, is a person who stays outside their usual country of residence for at least one year.
  • International Migrants account for three-percent of the world's population.
• Internal Migrant is a person who moves to a destination within one nation.

Categories of Migrants

• Migrants can be categorized as forced or voluntary, economic or political, documented or undocumented (irregular).
  • These categories are often blurred or overlapping.

Terminology: Displacement

• Displacement is the forced movement of people from their locality or environment due to social, political, environmental, or other causes.
  • There are 110 million people currently displaced globally, the largest since WWII.
  • 1% of the global population is displaced.
• Approximately 7 million have left Venezuela since 2014, constituting one of the largest current displacement crises.

Terminology: Refugee, Asylum-Seeker & Asylum

• A refugee is a person unwilling or unable to return to their country of origin because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group.
• An asylum seeker flees their home country and seeks sanctuary in another country, applying for the right to be recognized as a refugee to receive legal protection and assistance.
• Asylum is protection granted to foreign nationals in a country other than their own because they have suffered persecution or have a well-founded fear of persecution due to race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.

Terminology: Children with Immigrant Parents

• "Children with immigrant parents" includes both first- and second-generation immigrant children.
• First Generation are foreign-born children with foreign-born parents.
• 1.5 Generation are foreign born children who arrived in the US under 13 years of age.
• 2nd Generation are US-born children with one or more foreign-born parents.
• 3rd Generation are native born, with native-born parents and immigrant grandparents.

International Migration in Historical Perspective

• International migration is not a new phenomenon.
• It is associated with specific events such as revolutions, wars, the rise and fall of empires, economic expansion, nation-building, political transformations, conflict, persecution, and dispossession.

US: Waves of Immigration

• There have been three major waves of immigration into the U.S.
  • 1st Wave (1820-1870): Irish & German immigrants.
  • 2nd Wave (1870-1920): Russian Jews, Italians, and Polish.
  • 3rd Wave (1965-present): Asian and Latin American.

Regions of Birth for Immigrants in US 1960-Present

• There has been a shift in immigrant origins, from mostly European to predominantly Latin American and Asian, and more recently African.
  • This shift occurred as a result of significant changes in U.S. immigration and refugee laws and the growing U.S. economic and military presence in Asia and Latin America, and economic transformations and political instability in key sending countries.

Explanations for Migration

• "Push" factors at the origin include political repression, human rights abuses, conflict, poverty, loss of land.
• "Pull" factors at the destination include economic opportunities, political freedom, physical safety and security.

Migration Pull Factors

• "Pull Factors” draw people to migration.
• Income Earning Opportunities for immigrants.
• Sojourners are temporary economic migrants.
• Political and Religious Freedom
• Improved Educational Opportunities: Around ½ of foreign students stay in the US.
• Physical Geography: Better environmental and climatic conditions attract migrants to the Sunbelt.
• Land Resources: Distribution of land resources is a factor.

Impacts of Migration on Destination Nations

• Migration leads to increased labor force productivity.
• There is economic growth.
• Competition for jobs can occur.
• Pressure is placed on social services.
• New cultural norms replace the myth of the “melting pot."
• Racial/Ethnic Tensions can arise.
• Migration attracts “brightest and best." For example, 1/3 of US Nobel Laureates and ¼ of US patents are foreign born.
• Migration selects for hardest working & ambitious people.

Impacts of Migration on Origin Nations:

• Migration causes a loss of young, productive labor force.
• It leads to “Brain Drain.”
• Economic Contribution (Remittances=$ sent back home).
• It can relieve pressure on land resources.
• Change occurs in the Household Labor Structure as there is a shift in the “feminization" of farming.
• Divided Families are a result.

Historical Context of Hispanic/Latino/Latinx Migration

• “We didn't cross the border, the border crossed us."

• The Mexican-American war 1846-48 led to the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

• 1910-20 saw the MX Revolution.

• 1921 established National Quotas with the Chinese Exclusion Act 1882.

• 1925 saw the creation of the Border Patrol

• 1930s: 300,000 – 500,000 Mexican Americans deported, blamed for the depression.

  • 60% were US citizens.

• 1942-1964 involved the Bracero labor recruitment program.

• 1954-1958 saw "Operation Wetback," which deported 3.8 MX descent individuals.

• 1965 saw the Immigration and Nationality Act.

• 1980 saw the Refugee Act with the 1951 UN Refugee convention.

Key Policy Shifts and Their Implications for Latinx Migrants

• 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA) - "Amnesty”
  • 2.7 Million were legalized.
  • Borders were hardened.
  • Employer sanctions were enforced.
• 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA)
• Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA 2012)

Latinx Population in US

• In 2019, the U.S. Hispanic population reached nearly 61 million.
• The U.S. Venezuelan population grew the fastest between 2010 and 2021, increasing by 169%.
• The majority Latinx Population is Native Born, accounting for 66%.

Venezuelan Humanitarian Crisis

• More than 7.3 million Venezuelans have left the country since 2014.
  • This is the largest exodus in Latin America's recent history and one of the largest displacement crises in the world.
• The vast majority of Venezuelans, 6 million, are hosted by countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
  • 20 percent of the population has fled, with an average of 2,000 people continuing to leave per day.

Latin American Asylum Seekers Increasing

• Western Hemisphere countries have seen a major increase in asylum-seeker and refugee populations.

U.S. Refugee Admissions at All-Time Low in 2021

• In 2021, the U.S. saw all-time low Refugee Admissions.

Review: Factors Contributing to Latin American Displacement

• Colonial legacy of inequality
• Wealth and power asymmetries between LA & US
• US imperialism, intervention = instability & Conflict
• Government corruption
• Adoption of neoliberal model
• Extractivism
• Violence
• Organized crime (gangs & cartels)
• Impunity
• Drug, arms, migrant smuggling networks and human trafficking, drugs consumption
• Corruption
• Forced labor
• Extortion
• Land appropriation

Citizenship

• Jus soli means birthright citizenship, a law of ground that recognizes nationality or citizenship to individuals born in the territory of the related state.
• Jus sanguinis means right of blood, a social policy where nationality or citizenship is gained through having an ancestor who is a national or citizen of the state
• US law follows both rules

Legal Status of Foreign-born Living in the US

• "Front door" (legal):
  • Legal immigrants
  • Refugees and asylees
• Ways to earn legal residence:
  • Relatives of US residents
  • Employment-based immigrants
  • Refugees
  • Diversity immigrants
• "Side door" (legal temporary migrants): Temporary legal migrants
• "Back door": Unauthorized, undocumented, or irregular immigrants

How to Gain Immigration Status

• Family-based
• Employment-based
• Diversity Visa Lottery
• Special Categories
• Refugees/Asylees
• Relief from Removal

Elements of Asylum

• The basis for Asylum is 8 USC 1101(a)(42)
• Establish refugee status through either:
  • Past persecution or
  • Well founded fear of future persecution (due to government actor or person government unable to control)
• On account of:
  • Race
  • Religion
  • Nationality
  • Political Opinion
  • Membership in a Particular Social Group (PSG)
• One year after asylum is granted, asylees may apply for lawful permanent residence (green card).
• An asylee shall not be removed to country of persecution, following non-refoulement.

Social Group

• In Matter of Acosta, 19 InN Dec 211 (BIA 1985) the rule that a social group should encompass shared characteristics that members cannot change or should not be required to change was established.
  • “Immutable characteristics."

Potential Asylum Scenarios

• Child slave scenario
• Child abuse/domestic violence
• Own or imputed political activity
• Gender/LGBT related persecution
• Gang violence related persecution.

Case law update: 2014 – present

• In Matter of A-R-C-G-, 26 I&N Dec. 388 (BIA 2014) depending on facts and evidence in an individual case, “married women in Guatemala who are unable to leave their relationship" can constitute a cognizable particular social group forming the basis of a claim for asylum or withholding of removal.

ТВPRA and UACS

• Federal law prevents human trafficking.
  • Section 235 (2008) is designed to protect children and return them.
• Substantive changes to immigration legal relief for UACs.
• More child-sensitive procedures and protections for UACs in custody and detention.
  • Flores Agreement of 1997, DHS Security Act of 2002

Contiguous/Non-Contiguous

• Non-Contiguous countries include Honduras, El Salvador, and Guatemala (Section 235 (b)).
• Contiguous countries are Mexico and Canada Section 235 (a).
• Within 48 hours determine the following:
  • Victim of a severe form of trafficking
  • Possible claim to asylum
  • Independent decision to voluntarily return

TVPRA and remedies

• UAC ASYLUM refugee/fear/persecution
• T visa – visa for victims of severe trafficking
• SIJS - special immigrant juveniles – abused, neglected or abandoned, reunification not viable with family

Elements of Special Immigrant Juvenile (SIJ) Status:

• Under 21
• Unmarried
• Dependent on “juvenile court" OR placed in custody of an individual/entity by a "juvenile court."
• Findings by a “juvenile court” that:
  • Child's reunification with one or both parents is not viable due to abuse, abandonment, neglect or similar basis under TX law.
  • Not in child's best interest to return to home country

Common SIJ Scenarios:

• Physical abuse by a parent
• Verbal abuse by a parent
• Inaction by a parent, constituting neglect
• Lack of financial or emotional support
• Abandonment by a parent

3 Stages for SIJ Relief from Removal

• State court predicate order
• Petition for SIJ status
• Lawful permanent residence

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA)

• Young people who were brought to the United States as young children, do not present a risk to national security or public safety. Those who meet several key criteria will be considered for relief from removal from the country or from entering into removal proceedings.”

Logics of US Immigration System at the Border (Gilman 2019)

• Border arrivals are detained and ordered deported (immediately put into removal).
• Asylum is a defense to removal.
• Adversarial removal proceedings are conducted before immigration courts, without specialized refugee adjudication.
• Vanishing grant rates

Framing Narrative (Gilman 2019)

• 2018 Attorney General Sessions: “As we work to restore the rule of law in our immigration system, we will send a clear message to the world that the lawless practices of the past are over.”
• 2018 DHS Secretary Nielsen: “[W]e need to reform our asylum laws to end the systemic abuse of our asylum system and stop fraud.”
• 2019 -President Trump: “The asylum program is a scam” It's a big fat con job.”