New Migrant Destinations

As politicians debate how to address the estimated eleven million unauthorized immigrants residing in the United States, undocumented youth anxiously await the next policy shift that will determine their futures. From one day to the next, their dreams are as likely to crumble around them as to come within reach. In Shifting Boundaries, Alexis M. Silver sheds light on the currents of exclusion and incorporation that characterize their lives.

Silver examines the experiences of immigrant youth growing up in a small town in North Carolina—a state that experienced unprecedented growth in its Latino population in the 1990s and 2000s, and where aggressive anti-immigration policies have been enforced. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork and in-depth interview data, she finds that contradictory policies at the national, state, and local levels interact to create a complex environment through which the youth must navigate. From heritage-based school programs to state-wide bans on attending community college; from the failure of the DREAM Act to the rescinding of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA); each layer represents profound implications for undocumented Latino youth. Silver exposes the constantly changing pathways that shape their journeys into early adulthood—and the profound resilience that they develop along the way. https://www.amazon.com/Shifting-Boundaries-Immigrant-Negotiating-National/dp/1503605744

Global Heartland is the account of diverse, dispossessed, and displaced people brought together in a former sundown town in Illinois. Recruited to work in the local meat-processing plant, African Americans, Mexicans, and West Africans recreate the town in unexpected ways. Drawing on ethnographic research conducted in the US, Mexico, and Togo, Faranak Miraftab shows how this workforce is produced for the global labor market; how the displaced workers' transnational lives help them stay in these jobs; and how they negotiate their relationships with each other across the lines of ethnicity, race, language, and nationality as they make a new home. Beardstown is not an exception but an example of local-global connections that make for local development. Focusing on a locality in a non-metropolitan region, this work contributes to urban scholarship on globalization by offering a fresh perspective on politics and materialities of placemaking.

在世界各地的移民历史中，新移民与本地人民因文化、民族、国 家等综合性因素，经常出现意见分歧与冲突，他们的主体意识在建立的 过程中受到各方的挑战，尤以南洋移民为最。新移民的移入为新加坡国 家建设与认同带来相当大的挑战，多年来成为许多学者讨论的议题，甚 至进行影视改编，然而其受到制作方成本、审查、卖座程度及意识型态 的牵制而有差异，导致客观性不足，相关研究也因此出现缺口。
本文的研究范围锚定于一九九五年以后的新加坡，观察两代新移民 群体如何在本地生活与融入环境的方式，并且从早期报刊中建构移民的 历史脉络，探析离散经验下制作的《4:30》与《新新熊猫》虽然同样透 过感性的认知在理性的社会中展现各自的美学观，但是却呈显出差异极 大的移民论述，当中的吊诡性为何?本文从离散理论中的身分建构突破 意识形态的迷思，展现影视制作的二律背反及移民论述的新思维。

Rational choice, assimilation, and other traditional approaches to understanding Puerto Rican migration and incorporation are not sufficient for explaining newly emerging diaspora communities. Using census numbers, ethnographic data, and oral history narratives, we look at the case of Central Florida where Puerto Ricans struggle to build an ethnic community in the face of internal divisions and racialization pressures from their non-Hispanic neighbors. In the 21st-century Great Dispersal, it remains to be seen whether Puerto Ricans in new diaspora settlements will see economic bifurcation and birthplace diversity compounded by social assignments as either " honorary white " or " collective black, " or whether they will manage to forge a collective identification from which to challenge ongoing socioeconomic hierarchies in new destinations.

This article uses ethnographic data to examine the schooling experiences of Latinx emergent bilinguals and the educators who worked with them at a mid-size high school in a small Wisconsin city. Using Critical Race Theory, I argue that as tensions have increased in recent years from school funding cuts, deindustrialization, and demographic shifts, the community’s white residents have repeated long-standing patterns of white supremacy to assert economic and cultural dominance over Communities of Color. I examine the manifestation of these dynamics in the schooling experiences of my participants through a racially hostile schooling environment and a general lack of investment in their education. This work offers important insights on the sociohistorical
intersections of race and class within predominantly white, rural and suburban ‘new destination’ communities and problematizes the very notion of ‘new’ in such locals by questioning assumptions about who is ‘native’ and who is ‘new’ to a particular community.

This book describes an American town that became home to thousands of Mexican migrants between 1995-2016, where the Mexican population increased by over 1000% and Mexicans became almost a third of the town. We explore how the descendants of earlier migrants interacted with Mexican newcomers, describing how experiences of and stories about migration unfolded across institutional spaces—residential neighborhoods, politics, businesses, public spaces, churches, schools, community organizations. We emphasize the ongoing changes in prior migrant communities and the interactions these groups had with Mexicans, showing how interethnic relations played a central role in newcomers’ pathways. The book richly represents the voices of Irish, Italian, African American and Mexican residents. The book shows how Mexicans’ experiences were shaped by stories about the town’s earlier cycles of migration. Many Irish, Italian and African American residents narrated an idealized but partly accurate histor...

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The influx of Latin American immigrants into the U.S. South since the early 1990s has changed the demographic face of the region, particularly among school-aged populations where the rate of growth among Latinos has been the fastest. Despite an emerging literature addressing changing racial and ethnic relations in the New U.S. South, relatively little research has addressed the incorporation of Latino youths within southern schools. Relying on data from a four year ethnographic and in-depth interview study in one North Carolina town, findings suggest powerful benefits of ethnic-identity based clubs for Latino youths in new immigrant destination schools. While both Latino and African American respondents faced discrimination within their community, Latino students received more formal support at school which helped shield them from the negative impacts of discrimination.

This article questions what is different and what is not about Puerto Rican political identifications and practices in 21st-century diaspora, as this is emerging in non-traditional destinations, especially the U.S. Southeast. There, Puerto Ricans from Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans from long-established diaspora communities in the U.S. North encounter each other in spaces that are new to both. The article describes Puerto Rican heterogeneity in Orlando, Florida, and points to the importance of examining the intersection of this heterogeneity with the historically constructed specifics of Orlando’s social field. It uses the case of one extended Puerto Rican family in Orlando to provoke deeper examination of new dimensions in Puerto Rican Studies.

Background Youth resettling to the U.S. from conflict-affected countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) face countless challenges. As they cope with their experiences of armed conflict and forced migration, these girls and boys must also adjust to the language and social norms of their new society, often encountering prejudice and discrimination along the way. Previous studies indicate that schools can play a central role in facilitating this adjustment while also promoting mental health and psychosocial wellbeing. This qualitative study aims to understand the lived experiences of MENA newcomers resettled in Austin, Texas and Harrisonburg, Virginia and to assess how schools, families, and communities support their mental and psychosocial wellbeing. Methods We held six focus group discussions across the two cities with a total of 30 youths (13–23 years) from Iraq, Syria, and Sudan. We also conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 caregivers and 27 key informants, incl...

Every year, thousands of young refugees and their families face challenges as they adjust to schools in the US. This article explores how families resettled to the US from conflict-affected, Arab-majority countries in the Middle East and North Africa region , such as Iraq and Syria, view education, and how parents support their children's education following the experiences of resettlement. To centre the voices and lived experiences of these families, we analysed focus group discussions with 30 adolescents and in-depth interviews with 30 parents and 27 key informants. constant comparative method and thematic analysis showed that, upon resettlement, education remained highly valued by families. Our study finds that, despite the challenges associated with families' newcomer status, parents in this study provided educational support to their children by engaging with the school and with their children's learning at home. We offer suggestions on how schools and organizations can bolster parents' ability to support their children's education.

Rational choice, assimilation, and other traditional approaches to understanding Puerto Rican migration and incorporation are not sufficient for explaining newly emerging diaspora communities. Using census numbers, ethnographic data, and oral history narratives, we look at the case of Central Florida where Puerto Ricans struggle to build an ethnic community in the face of internal divisions and racialization pressures from their non-Hispanic neighbors. In the 21st-century Great Dispersal, it remains to be seen whether Puerto Ricans in new diaspora settlements will see economic bifurcation and birthplace diversity compounded by social assignments as either " honorary white " or " collective black, " or whether they will manage to forge a collective identification from which to challenge ongoing socioeconomic hierarchies in new destinations.

One night in February 2008, on the eve of a protest to be held against a Florida Congresswoman who had referred to Puerto Ricans as "foreign citizens," the National Public Radio (NPR) station in Orlando featured the issue on an evening program. I listened as Guillermo Torres,1 an island-born Puerto Rican living in Orlando, patiently fielded questions that strongly suggested that the interviewer, the intended audience, or both knew next to nothing about Puerto Rico, Puerto Rican history and culture, or the dynamics of Puerto Rican diaspora-living in the U.S. states - and this despite the over 800,000 Puerto Ricans living in Florida at the time.2 He had to say more than once that Puerto Ricans are U.S. citizens as the interviewer repeatedly referred to Puerto Rican citizenship. I knew Guillermo, although not well, and could only imagine what feelings of frustration he was keeping to himself. His answer to a question about the protest, however, was less patient and left me su...

Survey research shows that foreign-born Latinos in the USA are among the least likely to participate in political activism. Yet during the spring of 2006, up to five million (mostly Latino) immigrants and their allies took part in a historic national protest wave. This article examines how nativist legislation can spark immigrant large-scale collective action in an unexpected location. The case of Fort Myers, FL illustrates the cognitive mechanisms that help explain why and how external threats can transform a latent sense of group membership among unconventional protest organizers (e.g. immigrant soccer league members and ethnic small business owners) into a willingness to take action and utilize pre-existing community resources for the purpose of mass mobilization. These findings have important implications for Latino politics, immigration, and social movement scholars.

Youth resettling to the U.S. from conflict-affected countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) face countless challenges. As they cope with their experiences of armed conflict and forced migration, these girls and boys must also adjust to the language and social norms of their new society, often encountering prejudice and discrimination along the way. Previous studies indicate that schools can play a central role in facilitating this adjustment while also promoting mental health and psychosocial wellbeing. This qualitative study aims to understand the lived experiences of MENA newcomers resettled in Austin, Texas and Harrisonburg, Virginia and to assess how schools, families, and communities support their mental and psychosocial wellbeing.

We held six focus group discussions across the two cities with a total of 30 youths (13–23 years) from Iraq, Syria, and Sudan. We also conducted semi-structured interviews with 30 caregivers and 27 key informants,
including teachers, administrators, service providers, and personnel from community-based organizations.

Guided by Bioecological Theory, our thematic analysis identifies several means by which various actors work together to support resettled adolescents. We highlight promising efforts that seek to enhance these
supports, including sheltered instruction, school-parent collaboration, peer support programming, social and emotional learning initiatives, and integrated mental health centers.

While this study underscores the resilience of newcomers and the value of local support systems, it also reflects the importance of investment in schools, mental health systems, and resettlement programs that can
enable newcomers to achieve their full potential.

In the U.S., students’ characteristics are quantified into statistics—the state’s products in the modern world (Koyama and Menken 2013). I interrogate how such representations are fashioned by analyzing the measurement and recording of student and parent languages during school registration. Among its numerous uses, student data informs culturally sustaining pedagogies (Paris and Alim 2014), screening for language issues, and accessibility in school-home communication.

Data on U.S. students’ languages typically come from Home Language Surveys (HLSs). By law, schools must measure home languages and identify students who need language services (ECS 2014). Similar to how they are used at schools in the present research site, California (CA) HLSs ask about students’ first language, the language the child most often uses at home, the language parents use most often in talking with the child, and the language most often spoken at home (Mendoza-Denton 2008). Per official policies, only students who answer English to all items should be coded as ‘English’, while other answers result in evaluation and a ‘non-English’ coding. HLSs vary and have questionable reliability in detecting English learners (Bailey and Kelly 2011).

This 2014-2015 ethnographic research is set in public K-12 schools in an agricultural, conservative central Florida (FL) county, anonymized as ‘Central County’. Due to migration, the 5,300 children in public K-12 schools are 61 percent Latinx, 30 percent white, 6 percent African American, 1 percent Asian, and less than 1 percent American Indian. However, it should be noted that these state-sanctioned ethno-racial demographic figures underreport American Indian and other minority groups (Campbell 2016). As the U.S. experiences more demographic change and in the current political landscape, examining how language information is recorded and codified becomes more pressing.
School office observations, records, a language inventory, and interviews and casual conversations with parents, school employees, and community members offer multiple perspectives. Triangulated analyses show that language repertories of students and families sometimes became misrepresented in school records due to ‘linguistic re-formation’, occurring when registrars changed languages reported by families (e.g., Náhuatl) into others (e.g., Spanish) on the school registration form and electronic records system. Analyses of 1,000+ student electronic school records and responses to a researcher-conducted language inventory show that languages of some students and parents (especially Indigenous Mexicans) measured during school enrollment are not recorded accurately. Specifically, indigenous Mexican languages were under-recorded at a rate of 19x—for every 19 students with an indigenous language-speaking parent, only the records of one student showed they had a parent who spoke an indigenous language. Analyses of observations and interviews showed that this linguistic re-formation was also caused by differential questioning practices by registrars, raciolinguistic ideologies, employee training, the design of the electronic records system, and policy.

Applied efforts may resolve this issue through experimentation with improved language documentation practices and understanding the multiple effects that such practices have on various stakeholders. Doing so is critical, given the use of such data in potentially opening gates in student and parent access to school resources (Campbell 2016; Campbell-Montalvo and Castañeda 2019).