California, the largest employer of seasonal labor in the United States, provides low-cost housing for migrant farmworkers in 15 counties during the harvest season from April through November. In 1987, the 21st year of data collection, 27 housing centers with 2,071 housing units served 2,461 families containing 12,174 individuals. About 53% of…

The Office of Migrant Services' (OMS) summary presents demographic data on the 2,500 migrant families in 25 housing centers in 14 California counties in 1980. The typical migrant family in an OMS center is shown to be a Mexican family of 4, with 2 parents between the ages of 18 and 44, who have completed 2 to 6 years of school, and have 2 to 3…

This paper uses data from the U.S. decennial censuses and March Supplements to the Current Population Survey of 1995-99 to examine the historic patterns of immigrant settlement within the United States, recent shifts in these patterns, and the extent to which changes are due to the international versus internal migration, focusing particularly on…

Over the past 20 years, California has experienced a continuous, growing flow of Mexican immigrant laborers. Although Mexican labor was originally linked to agriculture, by 1980 Mexican-born labor was filling a substantial proportion of jobs in all sectors of the California economy, particularly in manufacturing. Because they are concentrated in…

Census data were used to test various hypotheses about growing Latino concentration and economic deterioration in rural California communities and found factors related to both Latino inmigration and White outmigration. Public policy implications are discussed relative to improving ethnic relations and building human capital to support economic…

Proposed United States immigration reforms are founded on the assumption that illegal immigration can be significantly curbed by reducing economic incentives to migrate. Effects of these reforms, however, are not the same for all undocumented workers. Data from 61 rural Mexican households in Michoacan were used to explore which undocumented…

Migration patterns in Texas, Florida, California, the Southeastern States, and elsewhere are examined through official reports, statistical data, migrant statistics at rest camps, migrant children's registrations in New Mexico, conversations, and informal observations. It is concluded that the plight of the migrant worker will grow more dismal…

In 1980, 25% of the 14 million foreign-born persons in the United States were in California; 1.7 million of these were in Los Angeles County. Half of the 2.1 million undocumented immigrants counted in the 1980 United States Census lived in California, and about 75% of these were of Mexican origin. Results of a 1983 Urban Institute poll revealed…

Since 1965, changes in the immigration law have altered the influx from abroad and transformed the nation, especially California. This book examines the fundamental transformation of the state's population, focusing on local outcomes in California communities. Chapters 1 and 2 discuss social and economic causes of immigration, types of migrants,…