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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2015. The Integration of Immigrants into American Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21746.
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The Integration
of Immigrants
into

AMERICAN
SOCIETY

Panel on the Integration of Immigrants into American Society

Mary C. Waters and Marisa Gerstein Pineau, Editors

Committee on Population

Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education

images

THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, DC
www.nap.edu

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2015. The Integration of Immigrants into American Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21746.
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THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS 500 Fifth Street, NW Washington, DC 20001

This activity was supported by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the National Science Foundation, the Russell Sage Foundation, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, with additional support from the National Academy of Sciences Kellogg Fund. The contribution of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development in sponsoring the planning meeting for this activity is also acknowledged. Any opinions, findings, conclusion, or recommendations expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect the views of the organization or agencies that provided support for the project.

International Standard Book Number-13: 978-0-309-37398-2
International Standard Book Number-10: 0-309-37398-0
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015958960
Digital Object Identifier: 10.17226/21746

Additional copies of this report are available from the National Academies Press, 500 Fifth Street, NW, Keck 360, Washington, DC 20001; (800) 624-6242 or (202) 334-3313; http://www.nap.edu.

Copyright 2015 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America

Suggested citation: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. (2015). The Integration of Immigrants into American Society. Panel on the Integration of Immigrants into American Society, M.C. Waters and M.G. Pineau, Eds. Committee on Population, Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21746.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2015. The Integration of Immigrants into American Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21746.
×

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The National Academy of Sciences was established in 1863 by an Act of Congress, signed by President Lincoln, as a private, nongovernmental institution to advise the nation on issues related to science and technology. Members are elected by their peers for outstanding contributions to research. Dr. Ralph J. Cicerone is president.

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Learn more about the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine at www.national-academies.org.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2015. The Integration of Immigrants into American Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21746.
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Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2015. The Integration of Immigrants into American Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21746.
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PANEL ON INTEGRATION OF IMMIGRANTS INTO AMERICAN SOCIETY

MARY C. WATERS (Chair), Department of Sociology, Harvard University

RICHARD ALBA, Department of Sociology, Graduate Center of the City University of New York

FRANK D. BEAN, Center for Research on Immigration, Population and Public Policy, University of California, Irvine

IRENE BLOEMRAAD, Department of Sociology, University of California, Berkeley

MICHAEL FIX, Migration Policy Institute

NANCY FONER, Department of Sociology, Hunter College, and Graduate Center of the City University of New York

CHARLES HIRSCHMAN, Department of Sociology at the Daniel J. Evans School of Governance and Public Policy, University of Washington

DANIEL T. LICHTER, Department of Policy Analysis and Management, Department of Sociology, and the Cornell Population Center, Cornell University

DOUGLAS S. MASSEY, Department of Sociology and Public Affairs and the Woodrow Wilson School, Princeton University

CECILIA MENJIVAR, Department of Sociology, University of Kansas

S. KARTHICK RAMAKRISHNAN, Department of Public Policy and Political Science, University of California, Riverside

AUDREY SINGER, Metropolitan Policy Program, Brookings Institution

DAVID T. TAKEUCHI, Boston College School of Social Work

KEVIN J.A. THOMAS, Department of Sociology, Demography, and African Studies, and the Population Research Institute, Pennsylvania State University

STEPHEN TREJO, Department of Economics, University of Texas at Austin

RICHARD WRIGHT, Department of Geography and Public Affairs, Dartmouth College

HIROKAZU YOSHIKAWA, Department of Globalization and Education at the Steinhardt School and Global TIES for Children Center, New York University

MARISA GERSTEIN PINEAU, Study Director

THOMAS J. PLEWES, Senior Staff Officer

MARY GHITELMAN, Program Assistant

TINA M. LATIMER, Program Coordinator

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2015. The Integration of Immigrants into American Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21746.
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COMMITTEE ON POPULATION 2015

KATHLEEN MULLAN HARRIS (Chair), Department of Sociology, UNC Population Center, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

JERE R. BEHRMAN, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania

VICKI A. FREEDMAN, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan

MARK D. HAYWARD, Population Research Center, University of Texas at Austin

HILLARD S. KAPLAN, Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico

SARA S. MCLANAHAN, William S. Todd Professor of Sociology and Public Affairs, Princeton University

EMILIO A. PARRADO, Department of Sociology and Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania

DAVID R. WEIR, Survey Research Center, Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan

JOHN R. WILMOTH, Population Division/DESA, United Nations

THOMAS J. PLEWES, Director

TINA M. LATIMER, Program Coordinator

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2015. The Integration of Immigrants into American Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21746.
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Preface

In the years since the publication of the institution’s last major report on immigration, The New Americans (National Research Council, 1997), there have been massive shifts in the demographics, legal status, geographic location, and overall impact of immigration. These shifts have raised new concerns about the integration of immigrants in the United States. The aim of this project was therefore to facilitate a more informed and fact-based discussion of this topic.

The panel formally met six times over the period from January 2014 to March 2015 in order to collect information to assist in its deliberations and to prepare this report. During this time, an active national debate over the course of U.S. immigration policy was ongoing, highlighted by the November 2014 announcement by President Obama of the Immigration Accountability Executive Action, intended to provide relief from deportation for parents of citizen children and people who arrived as children and to prioritize the deportation of felons, along with further strengthening border enforcement. These actions could significantly affect the path to integration into U.S. society of millions of immigrants, particularly those in the country without proper documentation. The Executive action also expanded the population eligible for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) Program and extended the period of DACA and work authorization, from 2 to 3 years and allowed parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents who have been present in the country since January 1, 2010, to request deferred action and employment authorization for 3 years under the new Deferred Action for Parental Accountability (DAPA) Program. However, the expansion of DACA and establishment of

Page viii Cite
Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2015. The Integration of Immigrants into American Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21746.
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DAPA were quickly blocked by federal courts. At the time this report was completed, the implementation of the Executive action was unsettled, and its possible effects are unknown.

At the same time he announced the Executive action, President Obama established the White House Task Force on New Americans, an interagency group tasked with reviewing the federal government’s immigrant integration efforts in order to make recommendations to improve these services. The task force released an initial report in April 2015, and its findings and recommendations are cited throughout this report. The Task Force will report its final findings and recommendations to the President in November 2015.

The panel’s charge was to address the questions of immigrant integration in multiple domains. We did this by our own research, by inviting leading researchers to meetings to offer their perspectives on these questions, and by commissioning papers to address specific issues. The presentations and subsequent panel deliberations gave the panel the opportunity to develop the perspectives and articulate the challenges shared here. This volume is the product of that study process, and drafting the report was a collaborative enterprise.

We thank everyone who made presentations to the panel, including Erwin de Leon, The Urban Institute; Roberto Gonzalez, Harvard Graduate School of Education; Robert P. Jones, Public Religion Research Institute; Ali Noorani, National Immigration Forum; Jeffrey Passel, Pew Research Center; Anne Piehl, Rutgers University; Alex Piquero, University of Texas at Dallas; and Veronica Terriquez, University of Southern California. A special note of appreciation is owed to those who contributed commissioned papers: Catherine Barry, U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs; Leighton Ku, George Washington University; and Charis Kubrin, University of California, Irvine. We particularly thank Cristina Rodriguez of Yale University who prepared a paper for us on the legal aspects of immigrant integration that was the foundation of Chapter 2; this report is very much strengthened by her contributions. We also thank Youngmin Yi, Department of Sociology, Cornell University, who prepared three tables for Chapter 6.

This report was authored by the committee. Despite having many other responsibilities, members of the committee generously donated their time and expertise to the project. Members contributed to the study by drafting and revising chapters, providing background readings, leading discussions, making presentations, and critically commenting on the various report drafts. The perspectives that members brought to the table were instrumental in synthesizing ideas throughout the committee process. The committee worked together remarkably well and with a great commitment to balance and to reviewing the available evidence to draw conclusions on a very complex and contentious topic. It was a pleasure to serve with them.

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2015. The Integration of Immigrants into American Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21746.
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Several members of the staff of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine made significant contributions to the report. The panel was established under the auspices of the Committee on Population, directed by Thomas Plewes, who was instrumental in developing the study and providing guidance and support to the staff throughout the project. We are all greatly indebted to our study director, Marisa Gerstein Pineau, who worked tirelessly, wrote brilliantly, edited ruthlessly, and with great humor and equanimity managed a task that never should have been possible in such a short period of time. Special thanks are due to Danielle Johnson, Tina Latimer, and Mary Ghitelman, who provided logistics and report preparation support throughout the project. Kirsten Sampson Snyder ably guided the volume through report review, Robert Katt served as editor, and Yvonne Wise managed the report production process.

The project was undertaken with the support of the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Russell Sage Foundation, and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Particular thanks go to Geri Mannion of the Carnegie Corporation of New York; Patricia White of NSF; Aixa Cintron-Velez of the Russell Sage Foundation; and Jason Ackleson, Delancey Gustin, Michael Hoefer, Tiffany Lightbourn, Laura Patching, and Nathan Stiefel of USCIS, all of whom represented these sponsoring organizations throughout the study development and information gathering processes and made innumerable contributions to the final product. Patricia White also provided the panel with original analysis of polling data for our report while on sabbatical at the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. We are grateful to them and their organizations for their support.

This report has been reviewed in draft form by individuals chosen for their diverse perspectives and technical expertise, in accordance with procedures approved by the institution’s Report Review Committee. The purpose of this independent review is to provide candid and critical comments that will assist the institution in making its published report as sound as possible and to ensure that the report meets institutional standards for objectivity, evidence, and responsiveness to the study charge. The review comments and draft manuscript remain confidential to protect the integrity of the deliberative process.

We thank the following individuals for their review of this report: Claire D. Brindis, Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health and Adolescent and Young Adult Health-National Resource Center, University of California, San Francisco; Katharine M. Donato, Department of Sociology, Vanderbilt University; Elena Fuentes-Afflick, Pediatrics and Academic Affairs, University of California, San Francisco; Tomás Jiménez, Department of Sociology, Stanford University; Michael Jones-Correa, Department of Government, Cornell University; John R. Logan, Spatial Structures in the

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2015. The Integration of Immigrants into American Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21746.
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Social Sciences, Department of Sociology, Brown University; Emilio A. Parrado, Department of Sociology and Population Studies Center, University of Pennsylvania; Manuel Pastor, Sociology and American Studies and Ethnicity and Program for Environmental and Regional Equity and Center for the Study of Immigrant Integration, University of Southern California; Giovanni Peri, Department of Economics and Temporary Migration Cluster, University of California, Davis; Zhenchao Qian, Department of Sociology and Institute for Population Research, Ohio State University; and David D. Yao, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research, Columbia University.

Although the reviewers listed above provided many constructive comments and suggestions, they were not asked to endorse the contents of this volume before its release. The review of this report was overseen by Michael Hout of the Department of Sociology, New York University, and Ellen W. Clayton of the Center for Biomedical Ethics and Society, Vanderbilt University. Appointed by the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine, they were responsible for making certain that an independent examination of this report was carried out in accordance with institutional procedures and that all review comments were carefully considered. Responsibility for the final content rests entirely with the authors.

Mary C. Waters, Chair
Panel on the Integration of Immigrants
into American Society

Suggested Citation:"Front Matter." National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. 2015. The Integration of Immigrants into American Society. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. doi: 10.17226/21746.
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The United States prides itself on being a nation of immigrants, and the country has a long history of successfully absorbing people from across the globe. The integration of immigrants and their children contributes to our economic vitality and our vibrant and ever changing culture. We have offered opportunities to immigrants and their children to better themselves and to be fully incorporated into our society and in exchange immigrants have become Americans - embracing an American identity and citizenship, protecting our country through service in our military, fostering technological innovation, harvesting its crops, and enriching everything from the nation's cuisine to its universities, music, and art.

Today, the 41 million immigrants in the United States represent 13.1 percent of the U.S. population. The U.S.-born children of immigrants, the second generation, represent another 37.1 million people, or 12 percent of the population. Thus, together the first and second generations account for one out of four members of the U.S. population. Whether they are successfully integrating is therefore a pressing and important question. Are new immigrants and their children being well integrated into American society, within and across generations? Do current policies and practices facilitate their integration? How is American society being transformed by the millions of immigrants who have arrived in recent decades?

To answer these questions, this new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine summarizes what we know about how immigrants and their descendants are integrating into American society in a range of areas such as education, occupations, health, and language.

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