Migration Dialogue provides timely, factual and nonpartisan information and analysis of international migration issues through five major activities: the newsletters Migration News and Rural Migration News, Changing Face and other Research & Seminars, and the Sloan West Coast Program on Science and Engineering Workers.
Contact us at migrant@primal.ucdavis.edu.
The number of unauthorized foreigners in the US fell from 12.5 million in summer 2007 to 10.8 million in early 2009, according to an analysis of Current Population Survey data by the Center for Immigration Studies. The Pew Hispanic Center estimated that the number of unauthorized fell from 12.4 million in 2007 to 11.9 million in 2008, while DHS estimated that the number fell from 11.8 million in 2007 to 11.6 million in 2008.
There is agreement that the number of unauthorized is falling, but a debate over the relative importance of the recession and stepped-up enforcement to explain the decline. If the number dropped because the unemployment rate more than doubled between summer 2007 and summer 2009, from 4.6 to 9.7 percent, the number of unauthorized could be expected to resume increasing with recovery. If more enforcement explains the drop, the number of unauthorized would be expected to continue shrinking during recovery.
Stepped-up enforcement worries migrant advocates, who question what they call "the aggressive enforcement policies" of DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano. She responded: "The underlying complaint is that we are simply enforcing the law. Because people are unhappy with the underlying law doesn't mean that we are not going to enforce it."
Migration News is produced with the support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacAurther Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and UCB Institute of European Studies. A paper edition is available by mail for $30 domestic and $50 foreign for one year and $55 and $95 for two years. Make checks payable to Migration Dialogue and send to
Philip Martin, Department of Ag and Resource Economics, University of California, Davis, California 95616 USA.
Rural Migration News is produced with the support of the Colcom, Farm, and Giannini Foundations, and the UCD Gifford Center for Population Studies. A paper edition is available by mail for $30 domestic and $50 foreign for one year and $55 and $95 for two-years. Make checks payable to Migration Dialogue and send to
Philip Martin, Department of Ag and Resource Economics, University of California, Davis, California 95616 USA.
This network of researchers hosts seminars on labor and immigration issues affecting science and engineering workers, compiles and distributes information on these issues, and cooperates closely with the NBER's SEWP.
The Changing Face project assesses the effects of immigrant farm workers on agriculture and agricultural communities.
Include Opinion Leader Seminars, the Comparative Immigration and Integration Program, and Transatlantic Migration Policy Issue seminars.
UC Davis makes no warranties, either expressed or implied, concerning the accuracy, completeness, reliability or suitability of the information contained on these Web pages or of the security or privacy of any information collected by these Web pages. All views expressed in this Web site are those of the author and not UC Davis. Please contact ARE Computer Support with any questions.
