Fall 2018 Immigration in Europe and US

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Instructions for Posting Research

Posting format

• Follow this pattern to post research results and links to this page:

• Brief description of resource.

• Link. "[" url space title "]"
• Your real name

Example:

• This article corrects some misinformation about immigration to Italy. (Pick some of the important facts/claims out of the article and include in this description to save us time.)

• Italy's Post Fact Immigration Debate -- Politico
• Alfino

Page Organization

• I will recruit 3-5 "organizers from each class to help manage the arrangements of posts, but you can help them by thinking about the best place to put your post. We will have alot of material on the page and we need to organize it so that your reading and learning time is efficiently used. So here is some advice about how to promote good page organization:

• Don't post random things. Think about what we need to know to understand the issues. Look at the page and see what people are posting and try to think of information, opinion pieces, and scholarly articles that will help us.
• Pull important information out of the article or resource to include in your brief description. Keep that description to about 3-7 lines of text.
• Don't just do Google searches. Use some of the databases through the Foley Library to access authoritative and scholarly work as well.
• Think about what heading to put your finding under. You can create headings by using pairs of "=" signs.

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Main Research Headings for Immigration Research

Italy and the EU on immigration

• What rules govern the handling of immigration into Italy? How do Italians view the support from the EU? What are the positions of major Italian political parties on immigration?

• This article discusses the impact of Bangladeshi immigrants in Italy, especially Rome. In Bangladesh, people are struggling to find work to support their families. In Italy, Bangladeshi migrants and their families are able to find many more opportunities. Italy has attracted many Bangladeshis because of its job opportunities, as well as its less strict entry controls compared to other European countries. Italy also has initiatives to legalize immigrants. Bangladeshi migrants have successfully found a place in Italy’s economy primarily by owning and running mini-marts. The article also mentions that working in the service industry and construction is another common form of employment for Bangladeshis. However, since so many Bangladeshis have migrated to Italy, the community has become competitive. Many Bangladeshis also do not hope for a future in Italy, rather they would like to return home after they have made enough money.

• Italy’s Second Economy: The Impact of Bangladeshi Migration
• Chloe LeComp

• The Five Star Movement (M5S) is a political party in Italy that won over 30% of votes in the election last March. The party has radical ideals, among which are anti-immigration. The following article details the party’s plans for deporting immigrants now that they hold control of the administration. These plans include opening more detainment centers, shutting down refugee camps, renegotiating treaties, requiring mosques and their attendees to be registered with the government, and more. The group plans to form an alliance with Lega, another Italian political party that falls far right on the spectrum, to submit these documents to the President. Based on this article, it’s easy to see why Italian immigrants are beginning to fear their future.

• Italy's Immigrants Fear Tough Times as Populist Coalition Heads for Power
• Shelby Dollemore

• This article dives into Italian citizens' divided opinions on the topic of immigration immediately after Matteo Salvini’s inauguration as the Deputy Prime Minister of Italy. It describes research about which demographics of Italians are in support of the heavy flow of immigrants. The research conducted by More In Common identified seven different opinion segments along a spectrum that runs from open to closed values. The research found that one-quarter of people to fit in the “open” category, one-quarter in the “closed” group, and one-half of the subjects in the “middle”group. It breaks down the difference on Italian citizens’ opinions on immigration against immigrants showing that Italians in all seven categories have different perspectives when the debate is broken down even further.

• [1]
• Julia Hurley

Major Events and Controversies

• Report on major events and crises Italians have faced intercepting and receiving immigrants, especially by boat. What is the role of NGO's in these crises? How are contemporary Italian politic parties responding?

• Italy’s interior minister, Matteo Salvini, is cracking down on illegal immigration, similar to the efforts made by Donald Trump in the United States. A decree was passed on Monday in favor of furthering Salvini's efforts. The decree will lengthen the time an immigrant can be detained, grant fewer people asylum, and will expand the definition of criminal offenses that permit deportation.

• New Regulations To Curb Illegal Immigration In Italy

• Abby Tarantino

• Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s cabinet approved a set of laws that puts more restrictions on migration. It allows refugee applications to be suspended if the applicant is deemed "socially dangerous" and abolishes humanitarian protection, which protects asylum seekers who do not meet the qualifications to become a refugee. 25% of asylum seekers have humanitarian protection, which lasts for two years, so the removal of this protection may increase the number of immigrants who are in the country illegally. The new laws will also make it easier for the government to deport migrants.

• Italian government approves Salvini bill targeting migrants
• Kaiya Collins

Social and Economic Impact of Immigrants to Italy / US

• What do economist and social scientist say about the impact of immigrants on the economy and social life in Italy / US? Are there differences of opinion and differences between impacts on Italy vs. US?

• • This article address and debunks some myths about migrant workers and how migrant workers impact Italy's economy and pension system. It is a common myth that migrants steal jobs from Italians; instead the fields that migrants tend to work in and the fields that Italians tend to work in are drastically different. One of the reasons that migrants and Italians work in different fields has to do with the differing graduation rates of secondary education for migrants and Italians. In addition, since Italy is an aging country, immigrant workers provide a positive balance for INPS funds. Immigrant workers, just like in the United States, perform unqualified manual work. As of 2016 there are 5 million immigrants living in Italy and these immigrants add 130 billion euros to the Italian economy. So the argument that immigrants are taking Italians jobs and taking money from the government is false.

• -- Migrant Workers Add Billions of Euros to Italy's Economy
• Laurel Cinti

• This article examines the history of immigrant cultural assimilation in America, how long it took and what conditions helped or hampered assimilation during the first waves of mass immigration to America. The author measures assimilation through the adaption of more American sounding names, as this is a way of showing an individuals effort to conform to the dominant society. Immigrants in this time, 1930's, entered the same job market as native born Americans, and therefore there was a larger pressure to assimilate to a culture they had more contact with. The study shows that it, on average, took three generations for an immigrant family to begin naming their children more American sounding names and marrying outside of their culture group. There is some variation to this time frame as more culturally dissimilar peoples, for example Finns and Russians, took longer to assimilate. The article ends by stating that immigrants to the US today enter into a different job market than that of Americans, therefore likely less forced contact with dominant culture, but that on average immigrant populations have ended up assimilating. There has always been anger and fear directed towards un-assimilated immigrants by the host population.

• What History Tells us about Assimilation Immigrants -- Stanford
• Eliot Roberts