Securing the Future: U.S. Immigrant Integration Policy, A Reader
At a time when most of the growth in the U.S. labor force will have to come from immigration, and more than one in five U.S. children live in immigrant families, federal policymakers are giving little thought to the integration of these newcomers or to their community impacts. Further, their arrival occurs as the influence of many of the most important institutions that have promoted immigrant integration in the past—urban schools, unions, and political parties—is declining.
Securing the Future seeks to define what policymakers and scholars mean by integration while attempting to sketch the contours of U.S. integration policy. The volume reviews evidence of immigrants’ integration by examining the progress of the second generation, as well as trends in education, health, the workforce, and citizenship. The book concludes by discussing key elements of a national integration policy, noting several issues raised by current debates over immigration reform.
The volume is a synthesis of research prepared for the Independent Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future, convened by MPI in cooperation with the Manhattan Institute and the Division of United States Studies and the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
The volume is also the first publication for MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy.
Introduction
Doris Meissner
Immigrant Integration and Comprehensive Immigration Reform: An Overview
Michael Fix
Immigrant Integration — The American Experience
Tamar Jacoby
From Immigrant to Citizen
Janet Murguía and Cecilia Muñoz
Today’s Second Generation: Getting Ahead or Falling Behind?
Roger Waldinger and Renee Reichl
Part II: The Current State of Rights and Services
Immigrant Rights, Integration, and the Common Good
Donald Kerwin
Federal Spending on Immigrant Families’ Integration
Julia Gelatt and Michael Fix
Part III: Key Policy Issues
Access to Health Care and Health Insurance: Immigrants and Immigration Reform
Leighton Ku and Demetrios G. Papademetriou
Improving Immigrant Workers’ Economic Prospects: A Review of the Literature
Amy Beeler and Julie Murray
Educating the Children of Immigrants
Julie Murray, Jeanne Batalova, and Michael Fix
Designing an Impact Aid Program for Immigrant Settlement
Deborah L. Garvey