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Workers, Families, and Immigration Policies

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Undecided Nation

Part of the book series: Immigrants and Minorities, Politics and Policy ((IMPP,volume 6))

Abstract

With hundreds of thousands of immigrant families forcibly separated over the last several years, and millions more living in fear of possible deportation, stakes are high as we enter discussions about immigration reform. At a time when public discourse more clearly recognizes the presence of women and children in the immigrant community, this chapter aims to shed light on how immigration policies andenforcement practices affect immigrants and their families.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    These migrants’ presence and labor is unsanctioned by host governments. The terminology used to describe them is a point of major debate amongst academics, journalists, and politicians alike. Here, we opt to use the terms “unauthorized” and “undocumented” to highlight the fluid nature of legal status. We also hold that the term “illegal” is both pejorative and inadequate to address the complexity of these migrants’ experiences.

  2. 2.

    Formal estimates of unauthorized immigrants refer to “foreign-born individuals who entered without inspection or who violated the terms of a temporary admission and who have not acquired LPR [legal permanent resident] status or gained temporary protection against removal by applying for an immigration benefit” (US Department of Homeland Security 2008).

  3. 3.

    By far, the occupation with the largest share of unauthorized immigrants is farming (25 %), though significant levels are also found in building grounds-keeping and maintenance (19 %), construction (17 %), food preparation and serving (12 %), and production (10 %; Passel 2009).

  4. 4.

    Chief Justice William Rehnquist, writing for the majority, stated that even though the facts in Hoffman affirmed the employer’s culpability, granting full rights to undocumented immigrants “not only trivializes the immigration laws, [but] also condones and encourages future violations.” In his dissent, Justice Stephen Breyer countered that the decision would grant egregious employers “immunity in borderline cases” and ultimately encourage employers to “hire with a wink and a nod those potentially unlawful aliens” (iv).

  5. 5.

    Though the Social Security No Match Letter program was suspended pending a legal challenge, it was renewed in 2011.

  6. 6.

    Surveys were conducted from June 2010 through April 2012, and spanned four workers’ rights clinics in the San Francisco Bay Area: San Francisco (97), Oakland (61), Berkeley (58), and San Jose (237). Respondents were surveyed while waiting for their consultation, with the understanding that they were free to opt-out and that their participation would in no way affect their claim. A subset of workers were then interviewed 12–30 months following their initial claims. Typical issues clinic staff frequently see include wage theft, discrimination, sexual harassment, and health and safety violations—all of which then shapes workers’ family lives and mobility.

  7. 7.

    This demographic reality that is the result of a long history of direct labor recruitment followed by massive deportation campaigns (Calavita 1992; Zahniser et al. 2012).

  8. 8.

    See Table 38 of the Department of Homeland Security’s Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2010 http://www.dhs.gov/files/statistics/publications/YrBk10En.shtm (Retrieved April 24, 2012) for a breakdown of the number of deportees with and without histories of criminal offenses.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of California, Los Angeles, CA, USA

    Leisy J. Abrego PhD

  2. Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA

    Shannon Gleeson PhD

Authors
  1. Leisy J. Abrego PhD
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  2. Shannon Gleeson PhD
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Correspondence to Leisy J. Abrego PhD .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Director, Mexico Center, James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, Rice Universtiy, Houston, Texas, USA

    Tony Payan

  2. Baker Institute, Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA

    Erika de la Garza

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Abrego, L., Gleeson, S. (2014). Workers, Families, and Immigration Policies. In: Payan, T., de la Garza, E. (eds) Undecided Nation. Immigrants and Minorities, Politics and Policy, vol 6. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-06480-2_10

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