The Power of the Imagined Community: The settlement of Undocumented Mexicans and Central Americans in the United States

The Power of the Imagined Community: The settlement of Undocumented Mexicans and Central Americans in the United States

Part 1: Research Proposal

Introduction

Purpose of the Study

The key purpose of this study is to identify the impact of the settlement by undocumented Mexicans and central Americans in the United States.

Thesis Statement

The settlement of undocumented Mexicans and Central Americans in the U.S. is a has caused many important changes in the United States in relation to immigration.

Research Method

For this study we have utilized the qualitative research approach. Qualitative research is much more subjective than quantitative research and uses very different methods of collecting information? mainly individual? in-depth interviews and focus groups. However? since this research study is a secondary qualitative research the data that has been collected for qualitative analysis has been through an extensive review of literature that has been published in the field in the past few years.

Secondary research is often less costly than surveys and is extremely effective in acquiring information about peoples' communications needs and their responses to and views about specific communications. It is often the method of choice in instances where quantitative measurement is not required.

Literature Selection Criteria

The selection criteria for the literature were twofold: relevance and the year of publication.

Search Technique

Libraries including online databases were accessed to get the most relevant and updated literature. Some of the online databases that were used are: EBSCO? Blackwell? etc.

Overview of the Study

This research provides an extensive analysis on undocumented Mexicans.. After describing long-term trends in the regional composition of the outflows? we consider possible changes in the demographic and socioeconomic background of immigrants. We then consider possible shifts in the selectivity of emigration and estimate trends in the probability of return migration to assess whether recent migrants are displaying an increased tendency toward long-term settlement rather than back-and-forth movement.

Part 2

Research Paper

Introduction

The influx of undocumented citizens especially Mexicans has created a significant impact on the immigration policy. By far the most important source for immigration to the U.S. is Mexico. During the 1960s? the legal inflow from that country totaled some 430?000 persons and grew in the 1970s to more than 680?000. During the 2000s? legal immigration from Mexico reached the remarkable figure of 3 Million persons (U.S. INS 2002). Karen Woodrow and Jeffrey Passel (2000) estimated that another 800?000 Mexicans arrived without documents.

Mexicans predominate among undocumented immigrants. Of the 3.2 Million persons who were legalized under the 2006 Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA)? three-quarters came from Mexico (U.S. INS 2000). Despite this massive legalization? Michael Fix and Jeffrey Passel (2004) estimated that around a Million Mexicans remained undocumented in 2002? 31 % of the total unauthorized population. After reviewing the quantitative evidence and evaluating the reliability of various estimation methodologies? Frank Bean et al. (2004) concluded that in 2006? the total Mexican population in the U.S. was 7.15 Million? of whom ...