Policy Shocks: On the Legal Auspices of Latin American Migration to the United States

Fernando Riosmena
Additional contact information
Fernando Riosmena: Population Program, Institute of Behavioral Science, at the University of Colorado at Boulder

The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 2010, vol. 630, issue 1, 270-293

Abstract: This article compares the transition into legal permanent residence (LPR) of Mexicans, Dominicans, and Nicaraguans. Dominicans had the highest likelihood of obtaining such residence, mostly sponsored by parents and spouses. Mexicans had the lowest LPR transition rates and presented sharp gender differentials in modes: women were found to be mostly legalized through husbands, while men were sponsored by their parents or through provisions of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA). Nicaraguans stood in between, presenting few gender differences in rates and modes of transition and a heavy dependence on asylum and special provisions in immigration legislation. These patterns are found to stem from the interplay of conditions favoring the emigration of, and the specific immigration policy context faced by, migrant pioneers; the influence of social networks in reproducing the legal character of flows; and differences in the actual use of kinship ties as sponsors. The implications of these trends on the observed gendered patterns of migration from Latin America are discussed.

Keywords: international migration; legalization; legal migration; undocumented migration; permanent residence; United States; Latin America; Mexico; Nicaragua; Dominican Republic; gender (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0002716210368113 (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:anname:v:630:y:2010:i:1:p:270-293

DOI: 10.1177/0002716210368113

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science
Bibliographic data for series maintained by SAGE Publications ().