published_or_final_version / SPACE / Master / Master of Arts

Over the past decade, cities have passed an unprecedented number of laws seeking to drive undocumented immigrants from their jurisdictions. At the same time, however, large numbers of cities have passed policies seeking to incorporate recent immigrants into local civic and social life, regardless of immigration status. What explains why similar cities have responded so differently? Quantitative analysis tests the explanatory power of theories of political opportunity structure, labor market competition, demographic changes represented as threats, and the exclusionary tendencies of homeowners in predicting the passage of exclusionary and inclusionary ordinances in cities nationwide. The predictors of the passage of exclusionary ordinances are consistent with the salience of political opportunity structure, demographic changes represented as threats, and the exclusionary tendencies of homeowners. The predictors of the passage of inclusionary ordinances are most consistent with theories of political opportunity structure and the relative absence of the exclusionary tendencies of homeowners in cities with lower levels of owner-occupied housing. Case studies in two sets of paired cities that passed diverging ordinances examine the social and political processes on the ground. This qualitative research finds that residents in exclusionary cities expressed anxieties over the effects of demographic change on home values and neighborhood character. Diverging processes of framing and mobilization emerge as central to the development of local collective identities that include or exclude new immigrant residents. Network analysis of the connections between local civil society organizations in each of the four case study cities identifies the architecture of local civil society networks as a significant factor correlated with the divergent responses to demographic change. The networks in exclusionary cities score highly on measures of density, clustering, and closure, suggest that the network is broken into cliques and that local elites are isolated both from recent immigrants and from non-elite, native-born residents. The high levels of network closure facilitate the creation of rigid group boundaries, the high levels of clustering reinforce pre-existing beliefs within those groups, and the network density aids in the enforcement of sanctions against those who deviate from group norms. By contrast, the networks in inclusionary cities are characterized by multiple organizational bridges between immigrant and native-born communities that facilitate the creation of relationships necessary to craft inclusive policies and a sense that local resources can grow with the population. The research suggests that the local laws seeking to drive out undocumented immigrants are an example of a broader category of exclusionary property laws. The linked social and spatial processes involved in the enactment and enforcement of these laws are one way in which categorical inequalities, such as socio-economic disparities by race, ethnicity, immigration status, or gender become embedded in place.

This thesis reviews the underlying theoretical and normative paradigm in Canadian migration and asylum law and its effect on the refugee determination process with respect to the approximately 100 unaccompanied children who were among 599 migrants from Fujian Province, People's Republic of China who arrived in four boats off the coast of British Columbia, Canada in the Summer of 1999. Upon deconstructing Canadian migration legislation and jurisprudence, especially with respect to asylum, it is apparent that the dominant paradigm is one of liberal communitarianism/realism, rather than one based on individual, universal human rights. This communitarian/realist paradigm is reflected in and reinforced by normative distinctions between immigrants and illegal migrants, and between politically motivated, forced migrants (refugees) and economically motivated, voluntary migrants (illegal migrants). Illegal migrants, such as the Fujianese children, are de-legitimized and criminalized under Canadian migration law. Moreover, this paradigm had the effect of subsuming the children's human rights claims into an assessment of their motivations for, and the voluntariness of, their emigration, that is, into a refugee determination process based on an understanding of the children's migration that was both inherently incoherent and inconsistent with a nuanced comprehension of migration as a structural phenomenon. The author concludes with a proposal for the development of a more strongly human-rights based paradigm in Canadian migration and asylum law. / Law, Peter A. Allard School of / Graduate

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

The public focus on domestic violence has been one of the most successful campaigns of the modern women's movement. This success was achieved in part through the creation of strategic alliances among agencies and organizations responding to partner violence. One of the most contested of these alliances involved partnering with the criminal justice system. While representing an advance in holding police accountable in protecting all citizens (Coker, 2006), this alliance has had problematic consequences, particularly as it has extended state power into the lives of women of color (e.g. Richie, 2005). This problem is exacerbated by new collaborations between law enforcement and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Federal mandates like the Secure Communities program bring together local law enforcement and ICE throughout the United States, to increase deportation rates (Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 2009). As a result, many recommendations by domestic violence advocates to survivors now potentially include the presence of ICE in that referral. This dissertation explores how domestic violence advocates within the tri-county area of Portland, Oregon are responding to law enforcement-ICE partnerships. Advocates remain understudied in the domestic violence literature, in spite of the complexity of their roles. This dissertation fills this research gap in examining the processes advocates employ in responding to dilemmas faced by marginalized survivors. A total of twenty-five advocates from three separate agencies participated in the study, which centered on focus groups carried out in the agency settings. The dissertation pursues three research questions: 1) How do advocates work through a key dilemma that has emerged in their practice? 2) What are the discursive strategies enlisted by advocates in addressing a dilemma at the border of domestic violence and immigration politics? 3) What is the relationship between each group's proximity to working with undocumented survivors and their decision-making process? A case study methodology was used to evaluate proximity to work with undocumented survivors and the organizations' general orientation to domestic violence work. Transcripts of the focus groups were analyzed using a discursive method centered on identifying how the groups worked through a set of dilemmas presented in the focus groups, which involved a crisis call scenario involving an undocumented woman and an agency practice common to many domestic violence service providers. In the analysis of discursive strategies of the groups, a key finding centered on the groups' use of a decision-tree heuristic to work through dilemmas of practice presented in the two scenarios. This discursive strategy facilitated the process of group decision-making at points where the actions required were clear and concrete. However, as more complexity, ambiguity or ambivalence were introduced, the limitations of the decision-tree strategy become more apparent. Findings related to the agency's proximity to undocumented workers suggest that this affinity was less important than was the agency's working relationship to the Criminal Justice System (CJS). Closeness to the CJS was associated with reliance on a discourse that places the police at the center of services for all survivors of domestic violence, regardless of documentation status, and a heightened focus on the risk of lethality to rationalize the risks associated with referrals involving law enforcement-ICE collaborations.

This dissertation was carried out to try to understand the role of social capital in the migration of Zimbabwean migrants to Botswana. It describes elements and types of social capital Zimbabwean undocumented migrants used to come to Botswana. Questionnaires and in-depth interviews were used to obtain data from respondents. Though the influence of macro factors initially pushed migrants to migrate, there was evidence of the existence of social networks. Findings showed the use of social networks by Zimbabwean undocumented migrants. Though kinship networks were dominant in the initial migration stages there was a wane in the destination as migrants reverted to friendship networks for flexibility. Linking existed at both the place of origin and destination. Social control, channelling and negative social capital were discovered among migrants. Migrants developed mechanisms to counter the Botswana’s enforcement policy. / Sociology

This dissertation was carried out to try to understand the role of social capital in the migration of Zimbabwean migrants to Botswana. It describes elements and types of social capital Zimbabwean undocumented migrants used to come to Botswana. Questionnaires and in-depth interviews were used to obtain data from respondents. Though the influence of macro factors initially pushed migrants to migrate, there was evidence of the existence of social networks. Findings showed the use of social networks by Zimbabwean undocumented migrants. Though kinship networks were dominant in the initial migration stages there was a wane in the destination as migrants reverted to friendship networks for flexibility. Linking existed at both the place of origin and destination. Social control, channelling and negative social capital were discovered among migrants. Migrants developed mechanisms to counter the Botswana’s enforcement policy. / Sociology