Thesis (Ph. D.)--UCLA, 2005. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 347-376).

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Brown University, 2005. / Vita. Thesis advisor: James Patterson. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 273-283). Also available online.

Pour pouvoir comprendre le virage entrepris dans les années 1990 en France et 2000 en Allemagne à travers l’introduction des catégories « immigrés » et « Personen mit Migrationshintergrund », il faut aller chercher dans l’histoire de la statistique ce qui avait tenu lieu de classification principale de la population, en lieu et place des nouvelles catégories inventées au tournant des XXe et XXIe siècles : la nationalité, donc, ainsi que la langue et la « race » dans certains contextes particuliers. Et puis il fallait tester une hypothèse : puisque ce n’était pas un changement d’ordre quantitatif (les mouvements migratoires ont sur la période qui nous intéresse toujours étaient importants quantitativement) qui était à l’origine de ce tournant, quel sort était réservé aux statistiques des migrations auparavant ? Comment est-on passé d’un système de classification de la population basé sur le principe de nationalité à un système de classification basé sur le principe migratoire ? Il fallait donc reconstruire l’évolution conjointe et parallèle de ces deux principes, pour identifier les moments où ceuxci sont entrés en collision, se sont croisés, pour de nouveau s’éloigner, et, aujourd’hui, être de nouveau réunis. Ces reconstructions historiques d’objets bien évidemment hétérogènes n’ont de sens qu’à la lumière de leur union actuelle, d’où est issue l’énigme à l’origine de cette recherche. Ainsi, il s’agissait pour moi de pouvoir, sur le temps long et sur des terrains différents, rechercher les différentes pratiques statistiques de construction de cet « Autre », terme « fourre-tout » qui n’a d’autre signification que celles que lui donnent les différents acteurs aux différentes périodes étudiées dans cette thèse. L’altérité est une démarche, une intuition – celle que ces pratiques, aussi diverses soient-elles, peuvent être analysées dans le cadre d’un même travail académique et être ainsi mises en contact. En tant que tertium comparationis, ce terme permet de rassembler des chantiers extrêmement divers qu’il ne serait pas possible de comparer autrement. Ce qui implique, dans le même temps, de ne pas être dupe du fait que ce terme recouvrait des réalités complètement opposées et diverses en fonction des périodes et des pays étudiées. La première partie analyse le changement qui a eu lieu dans les années 1990-2000 dans la manière de catégoriser statistiquement migration et nationalité en France et en Allemagne. Peut-on parler d’une déinstitutionnalisation du principe classificatoire de la nationalité ? La deuxième partie reconstruit sur la période 1880-1920 césures et continuités dans les catégories utilisées dans l’Empire français (incluant la France métropolitaine) et l’Empire allemand pour classer la population et mesurer les migrations. La troisième partie compare systématiquement les résultats empiriques de la première et la deuxième partie, pour les deux périodes et les deux pays, afin de tirer des conclusions générales et théoriques sur les mécanismes de catégorisations statistiques. / My PhD project consists in historicizing and deconstructing statistical categories on migration and integration in France and Germany, by focusing on the scientific controversies on these topics in both countries. In order to do so, the project is grounded in the principles of historical sociology and uses a comparative design over time and across two countries. My research questions migration as a public problem per se and integration as a “natural” political answer to this problem. Comparing both countries over time, the research explores the role of official statistics in the nation building process in the second part of the 19th century in France and Germany (1880-1930), as well as in the last decades of the 20th century (1990-2010). To what extent official statistics contributes to the construction of categories of otherness. In the first step, I try to explore the fields of migration and integration statistics in both countries for the second period, by focusing on the collective actors involved in these fields. Second, I focus on two national case studies: 1. the genesis of the category “persons with migration background”, introduced in 2006 into German official statistics as an analytical category; 2. the production of statistical knowledge on 'immigrants' in France (1990-2010). Third, I focus on the transformations of the patterns of interpretation of migration in a historical perspective. The empirical study is based on content analysis of documents (statistical reports) and semi-structured interviews.

<p>What is the total, summarized effect of immigration? Up to this date researchers have found both small positive effects and small negative effects for the same variable (e.g. wages or unemployment). As far as I know no one has yet focused on the total effect. With panel data on a bundle of variables for 22 OECD countries between 1970-2007, using multiple regression analysis I will estimate each variable individually and add together the signs of the effects to one combined sign (+/-/0). I find that the total, summarized effect of immigration tends to be slightly positive for OECD destination countries (under my assumptions).</p>

What is the total, summarized effect of immigration? Up to this date researchers have found both small positive effects and small negative effects for the same variable (e.g. wages or unemployment). As far as I know no one has yet focused on the total effect. With panel data on a bundle of variables for 22 OECD countries between 1970-2007, using multiple regression analysis I will estimate each variable individually and add together the signs of the effects to one combined sign (+/-/0). I find that the total, summarized effect of immigration tends to be slightly positive for OECD destination countries (under my assumptions).

This study examines decisions of immigration judges from the Miami and Los Angeles immigration courts, analyzing the asylum grant rates of judges in the courts from 2000-2016. In five-year time frames, the study looks at each immigration court and the decisions yielded, amounting up to nearly 86,000 decisions. Examining judges on an individual level, the study also analyzes the outputs of each court collectively. The analysis reveals very distinct disparities in grant rates, showing up to a 70% disparity between judges within the same immigration court. Based on biographies provided by Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), this paper explores possible correlations between various extralegal factors of individual immigration judges and their respective asylum grant rates. The results of the analysis showed correlation between gender, political party appointed under and the asylum grant rate, as well as strong correlation between judges’ previous work experience prior to appointment (DHS/INS experience, NGO experience) and the asylum grant rate. Additionally, the analysis reviews case law of the Ninth and Eleventh Circuit Courts, looking at distinct differences in the precedents of asylum law. The paper explores the tension between these judicial entities, the legislative branch, and the executive agencies enforcing the asylum adjudication process in the context of the Los Angeles and Miami immigration courts. The conclusion discusses the implications of the findings, especially in regards to the rapidly changing directives of the current executive administration.

This thesis investigates the often neglected Mexican perspective on US immigration policy, contending that effective immigration policy can only be reached through a bilateral, multidimensional approach that incorporates the Mexican perspective. To delineate this perspective, I examine the historical, economic and socio-cultural views of immigration to the US in Mexico. I then evaluate the immigration policies pursued by both the US and Mexican governments through the lens of these Mexican perspectives. I show that current immigration policies and approaches are seriously flawed from the Mexican point of view, and stress that both governments must work to incorporate the Mexican perspective into the current debate over immigration reform in the United States.

This thesis investigates the often neglected Mexican perspective on US immigration policy, contending that effective immigration policy can only be reached through a bilateral, multidimensional approach that incorporates the Mexican perspective. To delineate this perspective, I examine the historical, economic and socio-cultural views of immigration to the US in Mexico. I then evaluate the immigration policies pursued by both the US and Mexican governments through the lens of these Mexican perspectives. I show that current immigration policies and approaches are seriously flawed from the Mexican point of view, and stress that both governments must work to incorporate the Mexican perspective into the current debate over immigration reform in the United States.

Thesis (doctoral)--Universität Greifswald.

After Empress Katherine II of Russia issued a Manifesto in 1763, inviting European settlers to Russia, a substantial number of Germans immigrated and settled, with special privileges, on the left and right hand banks of the lower Volga River. The Napoleonic wars temporarily stopped this first influx of Germans into Russia. With the beginning of the 19th century, a second immigration of Germans started to Russia, which resulted in the foundation of numerous German settlements in the Black Sea region. The high birth rate amongst the German settlers soon made a land shortage apparent with the result that sister colonies were founded in Siberia and Central Asia. Although the German settlers were on a low level culturally, they progressed economically and when compared to their Russian neighbors, the Germans were a prosperous group. The Revolution of 1917 in Russia brought about tremendous changes in the German colonies, nevertheless the colonists remained residing in their original settlements until World War II. With the outbreak of the Second World War, the Volga Germans were termed "unreliables" and were resettled to Siberia. The Black Sea Germans, since that area was occupied by-German forces, were repatriated to Germany. As early as 1#74, when the German colonists' privileges were curtailed in Russia, an immigration to overseas countries had started. The period from 1874 to World War I, marked their first immigration to Canada. As the Russian-Germans were a rural people, they settled exclusively in the three prairie provinces of Canada. They settled according to their religious faith although their settlements in Canada were sporadic when compared to the close, dense settlements in Russia. The period between World War I and World War II marked the second immigration of Russian-Germans to Canada. Very few of these immigrants became farmers, the majority of them settled in the cities. After World War II the third immigration period started. These Russian-German immigrants were of the group who were resettled to Germany during the Second World War. The economic success in Canada culturally elevated the entire Russian-German group. They were leaderless and lacked a national feeling. These two factors caused the rapid adoption of Canadian culture by the Russian-Germans. While the adult immigrants have only reached a level of adjustment, their children, who are Canadian born and educated, no longer differ from any of their fellow Canadians. / Arts, Faculty of / Central Eastern Northern European Studies, Department of / Graduate