Immigrants and Politics Blog

[KR: Got the following announcement from Jonathan Benjamin-Alvarado at at the University of Nebraska-Omaha. At our working group meeting at APSA, Jonathan shared some very interesting stories about the marches and reactions from conservatives in Nebraska]

Understanding Immigration and the Changing Communities of the Americas
Lessons from New Destinations across the Globe

The conference brings together scholars, policy-makers, NGOs and community representatives interested in exchanging views about the failures and successes of immigration policy reforms as well as immigrant integration efforts across the country and around the globe. Deadline for submission is Oct. 30, 2006.

Link to call for submission

[KR: This isn’t about immigrants in particular, but I’d imagine that a good portion of these “Muslim donors” are first- or second-generation immigrants. Interesting to see how the liability of a candidate being Muslim may be similar, or even worse, than those faced by racial minority candidates]

Interviews with donors suggest Muslims from all over the country have sent money to Ellison’s campaign, both to help elect a Muslim and because they like his stance on the issues.
“I’m Muslim myself, and so I think that’s important, but more important than that is his bringing people together across religious, racial and age spectrums,” said Jeffrey Hassan, a lawyer from Brooklyn Park, Minn., who has give Ellison about $800. “I think that’s more important than the fact that he’s Muslim.”
[..]
Parvez Ahmed, chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a civil rights group, said Ellison’s election would be a milestone for Muslim Americans.

“Every other community wants someone from their community to be part of the mosaic that represents the country,” said Ahmed, who teaches finance at the University of North Florida and gave Ellison $500. “He would be a voice for people who don’t have representation in Congress.”

AP Story on Yahoo-News

[KR: This is something we had discussed in the migration working group at APSA, as to whether we could reliably predict what kind of turnout there would be in the fall protests, and I don’t remember anyone saying that it would be so low. Given the lack of reliable predictions on either sets of protests, who knows what the electoral impact will be this November?]

“..political analysts, policy makers and immigrants alike are questioning the staying power of the fledgling immigrant rights movement. Can the disparate group of churches, unions and immigrant rights organizations that tapped the frustration of immigrant communities transform itself into a political force that can reliably mobilize the masses to march and vote?”
Story in New York Times

Title: “Mexican Immigrant Self-Employment Along the U.S.-Mexico Border: An Analysis of 2000 Census Data .”
Journal: Social Science Quarterly. Vol 87, No. 1, March 2006, pp 91-109.
Authors: Marie T. Mora and Alberto Dávila

“This study explores the entrepreneurial tendencies of Mexican immigrants in metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) on the U.S. side of the Mexican border vis-à-vis the U.S. interior. Using 2000 Census data available in the 5% Integrated Public Use Microdata Series, we empirically analyze the self-employment rates and earnings of Mexican immigrants residing in U.S. cities near Mexico versus those in nonborder MSAs. Our findings indicate that Mexican immigrants in MSAs along the U.S.-Mexico border have significantly higher self-employment rates (but lower earnings) than their counterparts in the rest of the United States and non-Hispanic whites in border cities. Explanations for these findings include the existence of trade opportunities in U.S. border cities as well as intense labor market competition that crowds a greater share of immigrants into self-employment. Immigration reform that curtails the immigration flow from Mexico might hinder small business formation and economic development on the U.S. side of the Mexican border.”

Download from Blackwell Synergy