Components of Context: Respecifying the Role of Context in Migration Research

For a century, scholars have studied immigrant integration in a range of destinations. Yet, the precise role of context in shaping integration outcomes remains poorly understood. Drawing from an analysis of an original database of articles and books in migration studies, I argue that this knowledge gap may be due to two closely related tendencies in the scholarship. First, case selection has relied on criteria such as the immigrant population's size and growth rate that are not clearly connected to integration outcomes. Second, most scholars have studied either heavily urban contexts (with large immigrant populations) or very rural contexts (where the immigrant population is growing rapidly), while much less attention has been given to destinations in-between. To improve the understandings of the role of context in immigrant integration, migration scholars should endeavor to move past population criteria when selecting study sites and to study the full range of contexts where immigrants are settling. To contribute to these efforts, I propose a framework that does not rely on population or newness as criteria for case selection and that focuses, instead, on the components of context that existing research has shown matters for intergenerational mobility. I also introduce a typology of contexts based on possible combinations of four of these components and offer some initial hypotheses of how these context types might affect immigrant integration. The arguments presented here recenter the role of local context in migration studies and contribute to debates about where and how scholars should study context moving forward.

The Effect of Immigrant Integration Policies on Public Immigration Attitudes: Evidence from a Survey Experiment in the United Kingdom

Drawing on intergroup threat theory, this article argues that immigrant integration policies can improve public attitudes toward immigrants and, particularly, toward refugees and asylum-seekers. Examining evidence from an original survey experiment conducted in the United Kingdom, I find that support for admitting asylum-seekers increases when respondents are made aware that prospective asylum-seekers will be required to partake in language and civic-education courses. This effect is particularly strong among respondents who were more likely to perceive asylum-seekers as a symbolic threat (i.e., conservatives). Similarly, support for admitting asylum-seekers increases when respondents are told that future asylum-seekers will only have limited access to welfare. This effect is stronger among respondents who were more likely to view asylum-seekers as a material threat (i.e., conservatives and individuals with low socioeconomic status). These findings have important implications for the literatures on immigrant integration policies, intergroup threat theory, and public immigration attitudes generally. Importantly, the results reported in this article illustrate the significance of structural determinants for the study of immigration attitudes and demonstrate the importance of disaggregating immigrant integration policies when evaluating their effects.

Interregional Mobility of Latin American Immigrants in Canada: Explorations Using Tax Filer Data

Using data from the Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB), which links tax filer information to provinces of landing information and current regions, the author carried out data explorations regarding the interregional mobility of 98,440 Latin American immigrants arriving in Canada between 2000 and 2014. These were observed in the tax year 2014. The interregional mobility of citizens from 15 citizenship countries was examined: Argentinians, Bolivians, Brazilians, Chileans, Colombians, Cubans, Ecuadorians, Salvadoreans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, Mexicans, Nicaraguans, Peruvians, Uruguayans, and Venezuelans. Immigrants were allowed entry into Canada under various immigrant intake classes such as economic, family, and refugee. Examination of retention and net migration rates showed that Alberta and British Columbia were among those who benefited the most from Latino immigrant inflows during the observation period. About one in five Latinos had moved outside their original landing region by the tax year 2014. Citizens of various nationalities left the Atlantic, Quebec and Manitoba regions for other ones. Interregional mobility was found the highest among males, earlier arrival cohort members, those with higher educational levels and economic principal applicants. Colombian citizens were the most mobile group while Nicaraguans, Bolivians, and Ecuadorians were the least mobile. The regional triangle constituted by Alberta, Ontario, and Quebec was found to be the dominant one in the network of all migratory exchanges. Tracking the interregional mobility of Latin American immigrants to Canada after arrival provides interesting insights into how this particular immigrant population is redistributed, how it may respond to the needs of regional economies, and also speaks to the success of immigrant integration and resettlement of Latin American immigrants in particular regions of Canada.

New Zealand: Good Ideas from Successful Cities : Municipal Leadership on Immigrant Integration

<div>Our main report, Good Ideas from Successful Cities: Municipal Leadership in Immigrant Integration, explores these themes through a selection of nearly 40 profiles of municipal practice and policies from cities across Canada, the US, Europe and Australasia. In this companion report, New Zealand: Good Ideas from Successful Cities, we present an additional snapshot of municipal leadership and excellence in immigrant integration from cities in New Zealand. Each of these five city profiles in the snapshot report also includes a selection of related international city practices.</div>

United States : Good Ideas from Successful Cities : Regional Snapshots in Comparative Perspective

<div>Our main report, Good Ideas from Successful Cities: Municipal Leadership in Immigrant Integration, explores these themes through a selection of nearly 40 profiles of municipal practice and policies from cities across Canada, the U.S., Europe and Australasia. In this companion report, United States: Good Ideas from Successful Cities, we present an additional snapshot of municipal leadership and excellence in immigrant integration from cities in the United States. Each of these five city profiles includes a selection of related international city practices to encourage comparative perspective and enriched learning.</div>

United Kingdom : Good Ideas from Successful Cities : Municipal Leadership on Immigrant Integration

Our main report, Good Ideas from Successful Cities: Municipal Leadership in Immigrant Integration, explores these themes through a selection of nearly 40 profiles of municipal practice and policies from cities across Canada, the US, Europe and Australasia. In this companion report, United Kingdom: Good Ideas from Successful Cities, we present an additional snapshot of municipal leadership and excellence in immigrant integration from cities in the United Kingdom. Each of these five city profiles includes a selection of related international city practices to encourage comparative perspective and enriched learning

New Zealand: Good Ideas from Successful Cities : Municipal Leadership on Immigrant Integration

<div>Our main report, Good Ideas from Successful Cities: Municipal Leadership in Immigrant Integration, explores these themes through a selection of nearly 40 profiles of municipal practice and policies from cities across Canada, the US, Europe and Australasia. In this companion report, New Zealand: Good Ideas from Successful Cities, we present an additional snapshot of municipal leadership and excellence in immigrant integration from cities in New Zealand. Each of these five city profiles in the snapshot report also includes a selection of related international city practices.</div>

United Kingdom : Good Ideas from Successful Cities : Municipal Leadership on Immigrant Integration

Our main report, Good Ideas from Successful Cities: Municipal Leadership in Immigrant Integration, explores these themes through a selection of nearly 40 profiles of municipal practice and policies from cities across Canada, the US, Europe and Australasia. In this companion report, United Kingdom: Good Ideas from Successful Cities, we present an additional snapshot of municipal leadership and excellence in immigrant integration from cities in the United Kingdom. Each of these five city profiles includes a selection of related international city practices to encourage comparative perspective and enriched learning

Good Ideas from Successful Cities : Municipal Leadership on Immigrant Integration

<div>In Good Ideas from Successful Cities: Municipal Leadership in Immigrant Integration, we share nearly 40 international good practices from cities across Canada, the US, Europe and Australasia. These are stories about local governments that are responding to community needs across a wide field of action and investing in immigration’s new social, economic, cultural and political capital to build open, inclusive cities and shared urban prosperity.</div>

Good Ideas from Successful Cities : Municipal Leadership on Immigrant Integration

<div>In Good Ideas from Successful Cities: Municipal Leadership in Immigrant Integration, we share nearly 40 international good practices from cities across Canada, the US, Europe and Australasia. These are stories about local governments that are responding to community needs across a wide field of action and investing in immigration’s new social, economic, cultural and political capital to build open, inclusive cities and shared urban prosperity.</div>