The Contradictions of Liminal Legality: Economic Attainment and Civic Engagement of Central American Immigrants on Temporary Protected Status

This study examines how Temporary Protected Status (TPS) may shape immigrants’ integration trajectories. Building on core themes identified in the immigrant incorporation scholarship, it investigates whether associations of educational attainment with labor market outcomes and with civic participation, which are well established in the general population, hold for immigrants who live in the “liminal legality” of TPS. Conducted in 2016 in five U.S. metropolitan areas, the study is based on a unique survey of Salvadoran and Honduran TPS holders, the majority of immigrants on this status. The analyses find that TPS holders with higher levels of educational attainment do not derive commensurate significant occupational or earnings premiums from their education. In contrast, the analysis of the relationship between educational attainment and civic engagement detects a positive association: more educated TPS holders are more likely to be members of community organizations and to participate in voluntary community service, compared to their less educated counterparts. These findings illustrate the contradictions inherent to TPS as it may hinder certain aspects of immigrant integration but not others. This examination contributes to our understanding of the implications of immigrants’ legal statuses and of immigration law and policy for key aspects of immigrant integration trajectories.

“It’s Worse to Breathe It Than to Smoke It”: Secondhand Smoke Beliefs in a Group of Mexican and Central American Immigrants in the United States

This analysis describes beliefs about secondhand smoke and its health effects held by Mexican and Central American immigrants in North Carolina. Data from 60 semistructured, in-depth interviews were subjected to saliency analysis. Participant discussions of secondhand smoke centered on four domains: (1) familiarity and definition of secondhand smoke, (2) potency of secondhand smoke, (3) general health effects of secondhand smoke, and (4) child health effects of secondhand smoke. Secondhand smoke was generally believed to be more harmful than primary smoke. Mechanisms for the potency and health effects of secondhand smoke involved the smell of secondhand smoke, secondhand smoke being an infection and affecting the immune system, and personal strength being protective of secondhand smoke. Understanding these health beliefs informs a framework for further health education and intervention to reduce smoking and secondhand smoke exposure in this vulnerable population.

Migrantes centroamericanos en México: entre la violencia y los abusos de las políticas de control fronterizo en Estados Unidos/ Central American immigrants in Mexico: located among violences and the American abusive border control policies

La oleada migratoria centroamericana que pasa por México rumbo a Estados Unidos es involuntaria y compleja. Este fenómeno migratorio transnacional y cambiante resulta lucrativo para los más interesados en oprimir, victimizar y explotar a las personas que se encuentran en un contexto de movilidad. El desplazamiento forzado, como es el caso de la mayoría de los migrantes centroamericanos, es una condición que envuelve un riesgo inminente para sus vidas y les hacen estar en constante situación de vulnerabilidad, ya sea en su lugar de origen, por las masivas violaciones de los derechos humanos; en el país de tránsito a causa de la violencia o por la probable xenofobia, rechazo, discriminación y racismo, que van a experimentar en el país de destino. Migratory waves taking off in Central America and going through Mexico towards United States are involuntary and complex movements. This multifactorial phenomenon has become a lucrative business for those interested in oppressing, exploiting and abusing the people who move from one country to another. Unfortunately, immigrants’ vulnerable condition is evident both in their home countries and in their destination countries. This article aims at explaining the violence and State abuses Central American migrants suffer. With this purpose, it criticizes the policies taken by governors since they are inconsistent with the legal instruments and regulations that are in force and whose goal is to protect immigrants and refugees.

Desplazamientos discursivos y transformaciones institucionales en las prácticas de solidaridad hacia migrantes centroamericanos en México

This article reconstructs the case of Mrs. Concepción, a resident of a rural town in the state of Querétaro, who was arrested in 2005 for providing food and shelter to Central American immigrants in transit. Two years later, she was released. Her case summarizes in a series of modifications in solidarity practices towards immigrants and allows to explore some displacements in the social discourses on immigration and solidarity that have occurred in Mexico during the last fifteen years. This story shows the attacks of the government that oppress the Central American immigrants and break the social grammars that sustain solidarity practices. The solidarity practiced by this rural woman was based on a series of empathies with the immigrants as poor and deprived individuals, but also in a moral of the gift that emphasized the value of giving selflessly.

Latinos/as and Religious Identities in the Twentieth Century

This chapter explores the complex melding of traditions that make up contemporary religious identities among Latinos/as in the United States. Although Latinos/as are largely still Catholic, Protestantism is a growing presence. Examining various Latino/a groups by nationalities (such as Mexican Americans and Cuban Americans), geographic regions (such as Caribbean or Central American immigrants), and religious traditions (Catholics, Protestants, Jews, and Muslims), it becomes evident that transnational links have shaped, maintained, and propelled religious life for over a century. Transnationalism does not alter religious identities evenly. Some Latino/a groups maintain stronger ties for longer times; for others, the rates of acculturation mean that there are generational differences that affect one’s religious identity. The chapter concludes with a look at the impact of the “nones” among American Latinos/as.