This work explores the competition for jobs between different Latin American immigrant groups in the U.S. economy. Bohon's research looks at occupational status attainment among Latino groups in Miami and three other U.S. cities with flourishing Latino enclaves.

Given current demographic trends, nearly one in five U.S. residents will be of Hispanic origin by 2025. This major demographic shift and its implications for both the United States and the growing Hispanic population make Multiple Origins, Uncertain Destinies a most timely book. This report from the National Research Council describes how Hispanics are transforming the country as they disperse geographically. It considers their roles in schools, in the labor market, in the health care system, and in U.S. politics. The book looks carefully at the diverse populations encompassed by the term "Hispanic," representing immigrants and their children and grandchildren from nearly two dozen Spanish-speaking countries. It describes the trajectory of the younger generations and established residents, and it projects long-term trends in population aging, social disparities, and social mobility that have shaped and will shape the Hispanic experience.

Historically, residential segregation of Latinos has generally been seen as a result of immigration and the process of self-segregation into ethnic enclaves. The only theoretical exception to ethnic enclave Latino segregation has been the structural inequality related to Latinos that have a high degree of African ancestry. This study of the 331 metropolitan area in the United States between 1990 and 2000 shows that Latinos are facing structural inequalities outside of the degree of African ancestry. The results of the author's research suggest that Latino segregation is due to the mobility of Latinos and structural barriers in wealth creation due to limited housing equity and limited occupational mobility. In addition, Latino suburbanization appears to be a segregation force rather than an integration force. This study also shows that Mexicans, Puerto Ricans and Cubans have different experiences with residential segregation. Residential segregation of Cubans does not appear to be a problem in the U.S. Puerto Ricans continue to be the most segregated Latino sub-group and inequality is a large factor in Puerto Rican segregation. A more in-depth analysis reveals that the Puerto Rican experience is bifurcated between the older highly segregated enclaves where inequality is a large problem and new enclaves where inequality and segregation are not an issue. The Mexican residential segregation experience reflects that immigration and mobility are important factors but previous theorists have underestimated the barriers Mexicans face in obtaining generational wealth and moving from the ethnic enclave into the American mainstream.

This third edition of the widely acclaimed classic has been thoroughly expanded and updated to reflect current demographic, economic, and political realities. Drawing on recent census data and other primary sources, Portes and Rumbaut have infused the entire text with new information and added a vivid array of new vignettes and illustrations. Recognized for its superb portrayal of immigration and immigrant lives in the United States, this book probes the dynamics of immigrant politics, examining questions of identity and loyalty among newcomers, and explores the psychological consequences of varying modes of migration and acculturation. The authors look at patterns of settlement in urban America, discuss the problems of English-language acquisition and bilingual education, explain how immigrants incorporate themselves into the American economy, and examine the trajectories of their children from adolescence to early adulthood. With a vital new chapter on religion—and fresh analyses of topics ranging from patterns of incarceration to the mobility of the second generation and the unintended consequences of public policies—this updated edition is indispensable for framing and informing issues that promise to be even more hotly and urgently contested as the subject moves to the center of national debate..

This dissertation examines the role of ethnic enclaves on diabetes and depression risk for older Latinos of Mexican-origin living in the Southwestern United States. I use the 2004-2005 Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiological Studies of the Elderly (Hispanic EPESE) survey, in addition to United States (U.S.) Census data and business data from Infogroup. Using multilevel logistic regression, I examine if ethnic enclaves are associated with diabetes, and explore the possible underlying mechanisms by testing for mediation or moderation by social networks and ethnic ownership of businesses. I follow the same analysis for ethnic enclaves and depression risk. My findings suggest that ethnic enclaves provide a protective effect for diabetes, even when controlling for neighborhood- and individual-level characteristics. I do not observe mediation or moderation by social networks as measured by a social ties scale and the social cohesion and trust scale. There is also no moderation by the concentration of Latino-owned businesses in a neighborhood. For depression risk, my findings show a protective effect by ethnic enclaves, however the protective effect is only present once I adjust for neighborhood- and individual-level characteristics including having recently moved. Further examining the ethnic enclave and depression risk relationship, I observe some mediation by social ties and social cohesion and trust. However I do not find any impact on the ethnic enclave and depression risk association by concentration of Latino-owned businesses. Furthermore, results indicate a different health effect by immigrant enclaves on depression risk. Living in a neighborhood with a high immigrant concentration is a risk factor for depression, however this effect appears to be mediated by social networks, measured by social ties and social cohesion and trust. Thus, while ethnic enclaves seem to be protective of health for older Mexican-origin adults, the mechanisms explaining the protective effect may be different for diabetes and depression risk. Also there appears to be differences in the impact of neighborhood characteristics on health, such that an ethnic enclave may be protective while an immigrant neighborhood is a risk factor to health.

The image of the "underclass," framed by persistent poverty, long-term joblessness, school dropout, teenage pregnancy, and drug use, has become synonymous with urban poverty. But does this image tell us enough about how the diverse minorities among the urban poor actually experience and cope with poverty? No, say the contributors to In the Barrios. Their portraits of eight Latino communities—in New York, Los Angeles, Miami, Houston, Chicago, Albuquerque, Laredo, and Tucson—reveal a far more complex reality. In the Barrios responds directly to current debates on the origins of the "underclass" and depicts the cultural, demographic, and historical forces that have shaped poor Latino communities. These neighborhoods share many hardships, yet they manifest no "typical" form of poverty. Instead, each group adapts its own cultural and social resources to the difficult economic circumstances of American urban life. The editors point to continued immigration as an issue of overriding importance in understanding urban Latino poverty. Newcomers to concentrated Latino areas build a local economy that provides affordable amenities and promotes ethnic institutional development. In many of these neighborhoods, a network of emotional as well as economic support extends across families and borders. The first major assessment of inner-city Latino communities in the United States, In the Barrios will change the way we approach the current debate on urban poverty, immigration, and the underclass.

Marcha is a multidisciplinary survey of the individuals, organizations, and institutions that have given shape and power to the contemporary immigrant rights movement in Chicago. A city with longstanding historic ties to immigrant activism, Chicago has been the scene of a precedent-setting immigrant rights mobilization in 2006 and subsequent mobilizations in 2007 and 2008. Positing Chicago as a microcosm of the immigrant rights movement on national level, these essays plumb an extraordinarily rich set of data regarding recent immigrant rights activities, defining the cause as not just a local quest for citizenship rights, but a panethnic, transnational movement. The result is a timely volume likely to provoke debate and advance the national conversation about immigration in innovative ways.