New Immigration Articles on SSRN

Here are some new immigration articles posted by the Social Science Research Network (www.ssrn.com):

“Human Trafficking and the Effectiveness of Asylum Policies” JENNY MONHEIM, Luxembourg University, Center for the Study of Law and Economics  ABSTRACT:  We investigate the effects of restrictive asylum policies on the number and group composition of asylum seekers. We model the choices of refugees and traffickers about whether to migrate and to apply for asylum. Counterintuitively, restrictive asylum policies do not lead to a reduction in the inflow of refugees or to a better selection of asylum seekers. Instead, we show that under conditions outside the control of policy makers these policies can increase the number of asylum claims and the number of refugees working in slave-like conditions and prevent some of those most in need of protection from accessing it.

“European Union Initiatives in Tackling Migration and Organized Crime at its New Eastern Border” Romanian Journal of European Affairs, Vol. 8, No. 1, April 2008 ADRIAN POP, National School of Political Studies and Public Administration Bucharest ABSTRACT:  The EU migration strategy in relation to its new eastern neighbours has started to take shape. Among other things, it includes: applying the Global Approach to Migration to the eastern regions neighbouring the EU; securing the necessary funding for migration management through the European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) and the Thematic Programme for the cooperation with third countries in the areas of migration and asylum; promoting mobility partnerships and circular migration; concluding short-term visa facilitation and readmission agreements; and opening the first Common Visa Application Centre in the capital city of the Republic of Moldova. In addition, the EU has improved its regional focus by the help of the Black Sea Synergy European Commission Communication and extended for 2008-2009 the mandate of its Border Assistance Mission to Moldova and Ukraine (EUBAM), which is set to tackling irregular migration, drugs and cigarettes smuggling, and stolen cars and guns trafficking.

“Explaining the Residential Segregation of Hispanics and Asians with Anti-Density Zoning in U.S. Metropolitan Areas” JONATHAN T. ROTHWELL, Princeton University – Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs ABSTRACT:  Scholars have documented that new generations of immigrant communities, especially those who are the least advantaged, are experiencing higher levels of segregation. Using metropolitan data from the United States, this study finds that density zoning, a form of local land use regulation, is a significant cause of Hispanic and Asian segregation from whites in recent decades. The effect can account for virtually all of the increase in segregation during the 1980s and 1990s and roughly half of the total variation for both groups, and it is robust to instrumental variables: the number of local governments in the metropolitan area, which promotes sorting, and the year of statehood, which is associated with rural settlements.

[NOTE THAT THIS SUGGESTS THAT IT IS NOT ETHNIC SEPARATISM LEADING TO THE SEGREGATION OF CERTAIN IMMIGRANT COMMUNITIES IN THE UNITED STATES, BUT LOCAL LAND USE REGULATIONS.]

“Migration Creation and Diversion in the EU: Are CEECs Immigrants Crowding-Out the Rest?” Loughborough University Discussion Paper No. 2005-01 HELENA MARQUES, University of Manchester – Manchester Business School ABSTRACT;  This paper applies the concept of trade creation and diversion to immigration into the EU-15 in the 1980s and 1990s. In particular, the 1990s process of East-West integration, culminating in the May 2004 enlargement, could potentially create immigration from the new member countries and at the same time divert migration from non-EU countries. In this context, the question this paper tries to answer is fundamentally whether the extension of the EU Single Market to the new member countries has the potential to crowd-out non-EU immigrants. The analysis is carried out using trend analysis, Truman shares, and panel data gravity models. The results are quite robust to a range of regression methods, model specifications, dependent variables, and time periods. They broadly support the migration creation hypothesis, but the evidence on the migration diversion hypothesis is mixed. There is evidence of some diversion away from other non-member European countries, such as ex-USSR and ex-Yugoslavia countries, in favour of the new Central and Eastern European members. However, the evidence of diversion away from non-European countries is much weaker, if at all existent. The high impact of a common language, when compared to distance or even a common border, may help preserving migration channels from outside Europe. Within Europe, shorter distances and common borders become more relevant.

“Immigration Law Spanish-Style: A Study of Spain’s Normalizacion of Undocumented Workers” Georgetown Immigration Law Review, Vol. 21, No. 4, 2007 MARIA PABON LOPEZ, Indiana University School of Law – Indianapolis ABSTRACT: In 20005, Spain undertook what the New York Times called “an immigration experiment worth observing.” What this country did was called a regularizacion, a process of legalization of irregular immigrants. This process granted immigration amnesty to undocumented workers in the country who could meet certain statutory requirements. This is the legal process is studied in detail in this article. After discussing the background and history of Spain regarding labor immigration, Professor Lopez analyzes the situation regarding undocumented workers in Spain, the hardships faced by immigrants coming in and the problems created for Spain by the immigrants’ arrivals. She then examines the regularizacion itself, along with the policy analysis undertaken by the Spanish government as it decided to implement the amnesty. Lopez further discusses whether the Spanish regularizacion of 2005 comports with the legal and policy norms of the European Union, of which Spain is a member. This analysis tries to understand the criticism that this action was a form of “back door” immigration to the European Union. The article further draws conclusions about immigration policy choices by individual nations and how they affect a network of nations in a globalized world. The article concludes by analyzing whether the regularizacion of 2005 was considered a success, and discusses lessons that can be learned from this regularizacion in Spain.  [SOUNDS LIKE THE U.S. AND THE CONTROVERSY OVER AN “AMNESTY” for UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANTS MIGHT GAIN BY LOOKING TO WHAT SPAIN DID.]

“Globalizing U.S. Employment Statutes Through Foreign Law Influence: Mexico’s Foreign Employer Provision and Recruited Mexican Workers” Comparative Labor Law & Policy Journal, Vol. 29, No. 4, 2008 KATI L. GRIFFITH, Cornell University – School of Industrial and Labor Relations ABSTRACT: This article examines whether a provision of Mexican labor law may influence two U.S. employment law statutes, the Migrant and Seasonal Agricultural Worker Protection Act (AWPA) and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), in some circumstances. It draws from domestic case law and recent scholarship to demonstrate a pathway for the “incorporation of” foreign law requirements into a U.S. employment statute (AWPA) and the “use of” foreign law to aid the interpretation of a U.S. employment statute (FLSA). This examination of the potential for foreign law influence on U.S. employment law brings an under-explored area of inquiry to the growing literature on the scope of foreign workers’ rights in the United States. It also contributes to our understanding of U.S. employment law’s responsiveness to a globalizing context.

KJ