Edited by Michael Fix
February 2007
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At a time when most of the growth in the US labor force will have to come from immigration, and more than one in five US children live in immigrant families, federal policymakers are giving little thought to the integration of these newcomers or to their community impacts.  Further, their arrival occurs as the influence of many of the most important institutions that have promoted immigrant integration in the past — urban schools, unions, and political parties — is declining.

Securing the Future seeks to define what policymakers and scholars mean by integration while attempting to sketch the contours of US integration policy.  The volume reviews evidence of immigrants’ integration by examining the progress of the second generation, as well as trends in education, health, the workforce, and citizenship. The book concludes by discussing key elements of a national integration policy, noting several issues raised by current debates over immigration reform.

The volume is a synthesis of research prepared for the Independent Task Force on Immigration and America’s Future, convened by MPI in cooperation with the Manhattan Institute and the Division of United States Studies and the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. 

The volume is also the first publication for MPI’s National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy. 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
Doris Meissner

Chapter 1
Immigrant Integration and Comprehensive Immigration Reform: An Overview
Michael Fix

Part I: Defining the Integration Vision

Chapter 2 
Immigrant Integration — The American Experience
Tamar Jacoby

Chapter 3 
From Immigrant to Citizen
Janet Murguía and Cecilia Muñoz

Chapter 4 
Today’s Second Generation: Getting Ahead or Falling Behind?
Roger Waldinger and Renee Reichl

Part II: The Current State of Rights and Services

Chapter 5 
Immigrant Rights, Integration, and the Common Good
Donald Kerwin

Chapter 6
Federal Spending on Immigrant Families’ Integration
Julia Gelatt and Michael Fix

Part III: Key Policy Issues

Chapter 7 
Access to Health Care and Health Insurance: Immigrants and Immigration
Reform Leighton Ku and Demetrios G. Papademetriou

Chapter 8 
Improving Immigrant Workers’ Economic Prospects: A Review of the Literature
Amy Beeler and Julie Murray

Chapter 9 
Educating the Children of Immigrants
Julie Murray, Jeanne Batalova, and Michael Fix

Chapter 10                 
Designing an Impact Aid Program for Immigrant Settlement
Deborah L. Garvey

Appendix I                 
Major Legislative Milestones in US Immigration History

Appendix II                
Access to Health Care after Immigration Reform: Lessons from New York
Adam Gurvitch

Appendix III              
New Americans: Selected Facts on Naturalization and Birthright Citizenship
Mary Helen Ybarra Johnson, Michael Fix, and Julie Murray

About the Editor and Contributors              

About the Migration Policy Institute

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ISBN: 0-974-281-9-9-9
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