MIGRATION AND PUBLIC POLICY

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MIGRATION AND PUBLIC POLICY

• LATI 50
• Introduction to
• Latin America

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I. PATTERNS OF MIGRATION

• INTRODUCTION
• THE NUMBERS GAME(S)
• Flows
• Stocks
• Proportions
• Costs and benefits
• Rates of assimilation

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• EMOTIONAL ISSUES AND POLITICAL DEBATES
• Ethnicity vs. melting pots
• Diversity vs. tradition
• Fairness vs. efficiency
• NAFTA AND MEXICAN MIGRATION
• Claims and expectations
• Preliminary realities
• Hypotheses and prognostications

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Mexican-Origin Population in United States,
1900-2003
Mx-born (9.9)
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Geographical Concentration of Mexican Migrants
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II. QUESTIONS OF PUBLIC POLICY

• DIMENSIONS
• 12 million illegal immigrants in U.S.
• 55-60 from Mexico
• 25 of Mexicos able-bodied male workforce now in
  U.S.
• U.S.-Mexican wage ratio 81 or 101

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• PUBLIC PERCEPTIONS
• Economic threat?
• Cultural threat?
• Societal threat?

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• THE RANGE OF POLICY CHOICE
• LEGAL MIGRATION
• Revise legal quotas
• Revise criteria for entry
• THE RANGE OF POLICY CHOICE
• ILLEGAL MIGRATION
• Strategies for restriction
• Building fences
• Blocking corridors (e.g., Operation Gatekeeper)
• Withdrawing incentives and benefits (e.g., Prop
  187)
• Punishing employers

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• Strategies for opening
• Augmenting quotas
• Guest-worker programs
• Eliminating barriers
• Strategies for reduction
• Targeting economic development
• Circulating information
• Additional steps?

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• Bush on Migration
• Phase 1 The Whole Enchilada (January-September
  11, 2001)
• Phase 2 Focus on Security
• Phase 3 The Second Term (January 2005-present)
• Temporary amnesty for those here and employed
• Guest-worker program
• Eventual path to citizenship

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What Would You Do?