Search

Whereas the 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program allowed more than 800,000 beneficiaries to experience expanded educational and work opportunities, along with the emotional reassurance of knowing that they would not be, the precarity of this program was evidenced under the new Presidential administration when its rescission was announced in September 2017. Using the theoretical framework of ontological security, we analyze in-depth interviews with DACA recipients who currently live in Florida (current draft based on a subsample 16 of out of a larger sample) to explore how the change in policy affected their feelings of security and loss. Preliminary findings indicate that the election of President Trump initiated a period of anticipatory loss in which immigrants were managing the uncertainty of their fate. The rescission itself represented a trauma to them, resulting in ambiguous loss as young adults find themselves in a state of limbo and engage in emotion management to mitigate the loss of ontological security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from 35 in-depth interviews with undocumented 1.5-immigrant generation in Florida, this research argues that undocumented legal status results in a range of emotional challenges that fall upon youth and young adults as they transition to adulthood in the U.S. The emotions they must contend with range from frustration, to sadness and depression, to feelings of insecurity about their future and their well-being resulting in ontological insecurity. These young immigrants find positive ways to cope with their emotions, among them becoming involved in advocacy organizations and peer groups that provide them with the benefits of social networking and social capital. Most important is that these settings also provide them with a safe space to which they can belong. While young immigrants engage in many other positive coping strategies, some do struggle to maintain positive sense of well-being exacerbated by their ontological insecurity and turn to coping mechanisms that hurt them in the short and long term. We conclude with a discussion of the conditions under which the emotional well-being of undocumented immigrant youth and young adults can be attained and factors that can contribute to greater resilience in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from 17 in-depth interviews with members of the 1.5 immigrant generation who are undocumented, this paper examines the experiences of members of this specific group by examining their overlapping identities (e.g., as members of racial minority groups, as sexual minorities, as well as identities rooted in being undocumented). We further examine how these identities relate to their feelings of belonging to US society that we argue shape their emotional well-being, including the psychological and social struggles of fitting into a society that they might perceive rejects them. Moreover, our sample involves members of the immigrant rights movement, which allows us to also explore how involvement in this movement affects their emotional well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on transnationalism often considers transnational actors as those who actively and frequently engage in cross border activities such as sending remittances and cross border movement. In this paper we argue that part of transnational life also involves more hidden aspects of social life, such as sustaining connections with kin who stay behind, and emotionally being connected to the home country. We argue that in addition to looking at the traditional outcomes of immigrant incorporation such as income, education, and language use, there are key emotional outcomes resulting from being embedded in transnational social fields, such as one's emotional well-being. Using data from a random survey of South Florida immigrants (n=1253), we test these assumptions. Our findings reveal that the hidden dimensions of transnationalism have important explanatory capacities when it comes to examining emotional well-being as an outcome of incorporation. We discuss the implications of these findings for the literature that examines the relationships between transnationalism and immigrant incorporation. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using data from a study of South Florida immigrants, this paper focuses on the confluence of Island-born and mainland-born Puerto Ricans in Miami. I examine how Miami Puerto Ricans' diversity of origins shapes their settlement patterns. Findings reveal that the South Florida cultural environment facilitates feelings of emotional embeddedness and greater cultural citizenship than what was experienced in other parts of the United States. The growing inequalities related to Miami's positioning as a global city, however, affect these experiences. Moreover, findings reveal that social class, race, and citizenship statuses shape Puerto Ricans' experiences of incorporation in what is traditionally considered to be a "Latino" friendly city. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I examine patterns of labor market incorporation of two samples of middle-class Puerto Ricans that include Puerto Ricans who migrated and settled in the mainland U.S. and those who returned to settle in Puerto Rico. Findings illustrate that Puerto Ricans' social class origins impact the conditions under which they move the United States. For those from middle or upper- middle class families, educating themselves in the U.S. was often a product of the intergenerational transmission of class. For all Puerto Ricans, particularly those from working-class or poor backgrounds, their political mode of incorporation resulted in political capital, or advantages garnered through U.S. citizenship (e.g. student loans, scholarships; affirmative action policies). This political capital facilitates not just migration to the mainland, but more broadly, access to educational and occupational opportunities that pave the way for the entry of Puerto Ricans into a transnational middle-class. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using interview and focus group data with immigrants from Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Peru and Puerto Rico who have settled in South Florida, this paper examines some of the recent debates regarding transnational patterns of living among immigrants. Formal and informal connections to immigrants' home countries are examined for how they relate to patterns of assimilation and incorporation to U.S. society. Findings reveal that informal manifestations of transnationalism often lie at the heart of cross border activities and the maintenance of transnational linkages, resulting in patterns of transcultural embeddedness among the immigrant generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to widen the scope of how we conceptualize immigrant incorporation and adaptation to include the emotions associated with transnational migration. At what point in circular migration cycles do immigrants "feel" like they are home, and that they belong? This paper locates the role of emotions in examining adaptation to one's status of transnational migrant, and explores how the study of emotions can be a tool to illuminate how adaptation impacts integration, identity construction and international mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Racial and ethnic discrimination have had far reaching consequences for minorities. The negative impact of discrimination can carry over into family life. In this paper we examine whether the discrimination that immigrants living in the U.S. face affects their family dynamics, specifically the likelihood of them experiencing different types of family conflict, arguments and disagreements. Data gathered in 2008 from a random sample of South Florida immigrants are analyzed. We demonstrate that discrimination has a strong effect on the likelihood of families experiencing conflict, and family members arguing and disagreeing with each other on a regular basis. The implications of these findings are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]