The Adaptation of Migrant Children

The Adaptation of Migrant Children The Adaptation of Migrant Children Alejandro Portes and Alejandro Rivas Summary Alejandro Portes and Alejandro Rivas examine how young immigrants are adapting to life in the United States. They begin by noting the existence of two distinct pan-ethnic populations: Asian Americans, who tend to be the offspring of high-human-capital migrants, and Hispanics, many of whose parents are manual workers. Vast differences in each, both in human capital origins and in their reception in the United States, mean large disparities in resources available to the families and ethnic communities raising the new generation. Research on the assimilation of these children falls into two theoretical perspectives. Culturalist researchers emphasize the newcomers’ place in the cultural and linguistic life of the host society; structuralists, their place in the socioeconomic hierarchy. Within each camp, views range from darkly pessimistic—that disadvantaged children of immigrants are simply not joining the Ameri- can mainstream—to optimistic—that assimilation is taking place today just as it has in the past. A middle ground is that although poorly endowed immigrant families face distinct barriers to upward mobility, their children can overcome these obstacles through learning the language and culture of the host society while preserving their home country language, values, and customs. Empirical work shows that immigrants make much progress, on average, from the first to the second generation, both culturally and socioeconomically. The overall advancement of the immigrant population, however, is largely driven by the good performance and outcomes of youths from professional immigrant families, positively received in America. For immigrants at the other end of the spectrum, average socioeconomic outcomes are driven down by the poorer edu- cational and economic performance of children from unskilled migrant families, who are often handicapped further by an unauthorized or insecure legal status. Racial stereotypes produce a positive self-identity for white and Asian students but a negative one for blacks and Latinos, and racialized self-perceptions among Mexican American students endure into the third and fourth generations. From a policy viewpoint, these children must be the population of greatest concern. The authors cite two important policy measures for immigrant youth. One is to legalize unauthorized migrants lest, barred from conventional mobility channels, they turn to unorthodox means of self-affirmation and survival. The other is to provide volunteer programs and other forms of outside assistance to guide the most disadvantaged members of this population and help them stay in school. www.futureofchildren.org Alejandro Portes is the Howard Harrison and Gabrielle Snyder Beck Professor of Sociology and director of the Center for Migration and Development at Princeton University. Alejandro Rivas is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Sociology at Princeton University. VOL. 21 / NO. 1 / SPRING 2011 219 Alejandro Portes and Alejandro Rivas he rapid growth of the immi- than it reveals because of the heterogeneity grant population in the United of its component groups. States is one of the most important demographic and First, there is a significant difference between social trends confronting children born abroad and those born in the Tthis society. Close to 13 percent of the U.S. host society. The former are immigrant population today is foreign-born. In 2008, children, while the latter are children of 1.11 million immigrants were admitted for immigrants—the first and second immigrant legal permanent residence; another 72,000 as generation, respectively. Research points to refugees and asylees.1 Although the flow of major differences in the social and cultural unauthorized immigration slowed in the wake adaptation of the two groups.4 Another of the economic crises beginning in 2007, the resident unauthorized population approaches, distinct group, the “1.5 generation,” includes according to the best estimates, 12.5 million.2 children born abroad, but brought to the host society at an early age, making them socio- Among the most important social conse- logically closer to the second generation. quences of this large immigrant flow are the reconstitution of families divided by migration and the procreation of a new generation. Vast differences in the Unlike adult immigrants, who are born and educated in a foreign society and whose out- human capital origins of look and plans are indelibly marked by that these populations and in the experience, the children of immigrants commonly become full-fledged members of the way they are received in the host society with outlooks and plans of their United States translate into own.3 If their numbers are large, socializing these new citizens and preparing them to significant disparities in the become productive and successful in adult- resources available to families hood becomes a major policy concern. and ethnic communities That is the challenge facing the United States to raise a new generation today. The rapid growth and diversity of this young population have naturally sparked in America. worries and questions about its future. We review in the next section the various theo- These young immigrants also differ by their retical perspectives that researchers have countries of origin and their socioeconomic advanced on the question of how young background. It turns out, though, that the immigrants are adapting to life in the United States and shaping their futures, but first it is two characteristics overlap to a large degree necessary to make some important prelimi- because immigration to the United States has nary distinctions. Although public discourse divided into two streams. One is made up of and some academic essays treat this young highly skilled professional workers coming to population in blanket terms, the truth is that fill positions in high-tech industry, research the term migrant children conceals more centers, and health services. The other is a 220 THE FUTURE OF CHILDREN The Adaptation of Migrant Children larger manual labor flow seeking employment oblivious of their historical origins, treat- in labor-intensive industries such as agricul- ing “Hispanic” and “Asian” as almost time- ture, construction, and personal services.5 less, immanent categories. In examining Professional migration, greatly aided by the research findings about the adaptation of H1-B temporary visa for highly skilled work- migrant youths from these distinct groups, ers that was approved by Congress in 1990, it is important to keep in mind that adapta- comes primarily from Asia, mainly from India tion is not a process that happens to a child and China, with smaller tributaries from alone. Rather, it entails constant interaction the Philippines, South Korea, and Taiwan. with others. Language and cultural learning, Manual labor migration comes overwhelm- for example, involve not just the individual ingly from adjacent Mexico, and secondarily but the family, with parents and children from other countries of Central America and commonly acculturating at different paces. from the Caribbean. To the disadvantages Similarly, self-esteem and future aspirations attached to their low skills and education are are not developed in isolation or even under added those of a tenuous legal status, as the the influence of families alone. And many majority of these migrants come surrepti- circumstances (including, for example, age tiously or with short-term visas.6 of migration) shape the varied types of social interactions that migrant children will have in To the extent that migrant workers, either the host society. professional or manual, return promptly to their countries of origin, no major conse- Theoretical Perspectives on the quences accrue to the host society. In reality, Future of the Second Generation however, many of them, both professionals Social scientists have offered a range of per- and manual workers, stay and either bring spectives on the future of this large cohort of their families or create new families where immigrant children, each with its own impli- they settle. Over time, the divide in the major cations for both the second generation and sources of contemporary migration has given society as a whole. In this section, we outline rise to two distinct pan-ethnic populations in briefly these contrasting perspectives; later we the United States—“Asian Americans,” by review empirical findings bearing on them. and large the offspring of high-human-capital Researchers’ explanations of and predictions migrants, and “Hispanics,” the majority of about the social and economic assimilation of whom are manual workers and their descen- children of immigrants vary according to their dants.7 Vast differences in the human capi- views on the nature of assimilation, the extent tal origins of these populations and in the to which assimilation will take place, and the way they are received in the United States segment of society into which the children of translate into significant disparities in the immigrants will assimilate. resources available to families and ethnic communities to raise a new generation in Theoretical perspectives fall into two groups America. Naturally, the outcomes in accul- that may be labeled “culturalist” and “struc- turation and social and economic adaptation turalist.” Culturalist views emphasize the vary accordingly. relative assimilation of immigrants into the cultural and linguistic

Load more