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When Government Aid Fails

When Government Aid Fails. Undocumented Immigrants and Informal Access to Welfare Assistance through Social Networking. If the U.S. Government does not help provide for welfare of undocumented immigrants, how do they fulfill these needs?. Social Services to be analyzed in the research project:

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When Government Aid Fails

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  1. When Government Aid Fails Undocumented Immigrants and Informal Access to Welfare Assistance through Social Networking

  2. If the U.S. Government does not help provide for welfare of undocumented immigrants, how do they fulfill these needs? Social Services to be analyzed in the research project: • Child Care • Health Care • Food Assistance • Education • Housing • Employment • Psychological Support • Abuse Assistance • Job Training • Transportation 

  3. The Immigrant Presence According to the 2010 U.S. Census, • 50.5 Million Hispanics in the United States • 16% of the total population • 43% growth rate (compared to 5% among non-Hispanics This largely excludes undocumented immigrants, which do not appear in official government accounts.             Primary age group- 18-34 years old (working years) What does this tell us? Latinos are not only a significant but also growing sector of American society. Yet, the U.S. Government fails to address the needs of undocumented immigrants and state governments are implementing discriminatory legislation against Latinos.

  4. Environment of Hostility: New Nativism • Contrary to past use of Latino labor in such guest worker programs as the Bracero Program ('42-'64), today Latinos are categorized as "illegal aliens" or potential "terrorists" • '96 Immigration Reform Acts- uncompromising, harsh deportation policy, often only results in multiple border crossings • Proposition 187 in CA- failed attempt to exclude undocumented children from K-12 education • SB 1070 in AZ- opens police responsibilities to include racial profiling of any party "appearing" to be undocumented            -meaning of Hispanic origin • Failure of DREAM Act- attempt to open higher education to all residents of the United States

  5. Institutionalized Racism in Welfare Program 1930's Social Security Act • disqualified farm and domestic workers • traditionally jobs held by Latinos and Blacks 1996 Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) Welfare Reform • Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) replaced by Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) • 5 year limit • Excludes legal and illegal immigrants, teen mothers, convicted felons "Success" of '96 Welfare Reform • over 50% decrease in caseloads- often not voluntary • 44% budget saving from excluding immigrants 2000 Food Stamp Program (FSP) Revision • disqualified immigrants

  6. Ramifications of '96 Welfare Reform • Pressures those disqualified as well as recipients to accept low wage, low skill jobs with poor working conditions in "welfare to work" policy- drives down wages • Promotes compliance among workers for fear of losing their jobs • Reduces responsibility of government to its people • Opens opportunity for private investment to provide services previously guaranteed by the government • In 2000, over 30% of Latino families were below the poverty line in L.A. • In 1999,  • over 1/4 immigrant families experienced difficulty paying rent and utilities in N.Y. • About 1/3 of immigrants in L.A. and N.Y. were food insecure

  7. Why should the United States Government be held liable for the needs of immigrants? • This is a human rights issue. • Latino immigrants are here to stay and increasingly represent a significant portion of the American population. • Despite the common ideology that Mexican people are dependent on the United States, the American economic system depends upon the cheap labor provided by the Mexican worker, either within the United States or across the border in maquiladoras. • Immigrants today continue the American legacy as a nation of immigrants.

  8. Methodology • Contact employment agencies, advocacy centers, labor unions, local factories, and nearby farms of a community with a known Hispanic population • Conduct survey of clients/employees • Use as background statistics about the composition of the workplace • Screen for Hispanic immigrants representing different household composition (4 of each) • Live-in Work • Cohabitation with multiple singles • Single parent family • 2 parent family • Cohabitation with several single parent families • Extended relatives • Cohabitation with multiple families

  9. Methodology • First round interviews in private homes • General experience in the United States • Assessment of welfare needs • Child care, health care, food assistance, education, housing, employment, job training, psychological support, abuse assistance, transportation • Assessment of methods to meet these needs • Assessment of unmet welfare needs • Potential solutions • Focusing on lines of communication involved in finding ways to meet these needs • Use format of genealogical maps to create visual representation of social networks of the research community • Follow-up interviews

  10. Issues Related to the Research  • Dealing with sensitive information • Immigration and welfare reform • Discrimination in the United States • Negative portrayal of government • Dealing with a vulnerable population • Hispanic minority • Undocumented immigrants

  11. Attempts at Resolution of Potential Issues • Graduated interviews where sensitive information is slowly introduced • Reliance on field notes to alleviate feelings of suspicion • Emphasis on establishing rapport with the informants • Assurances that all information will be held in confidentiality, including the identity of the informants • Interviews held in private homes to further protect the identities of the informants • Use of pseudonyms in any and all published works related to the research • Contact information included in primary survey so that specific informants are not identified through the organization from which they were contacted • Clear consent forms given in Spanish (either written or orally) with ability to discontinue participation at any time

  12. Relation to Anthropological Methodology • Interview process • Structured interviewing with interview guide (rather than set questions) • Genealogical information related to social networks • Sensitive information • Disproportionate sampling • Quota sampling to begin  • Snowball sampling to follow lines of communication • Applied anthropology • Using results to attempt to facilitate dissemination of availability of immigrant-friendly social services

  13. Works Cited Chavez, Leo R. 1998. Shadowed Lives: Undocumented Immigrants in American Society.         New York: Harcourt Brace College Publishers. Hondagneu-Sotelo, Pierrette. 2001. Doméstica: Immigrant Workers Cleaning and                Caring in the Shadows of Affluence. Berkeley: University of California. Kilty, Keith M. and Elizabeth A. Segal ed. 2006. The Promise of Welfare Reform:         Political Rhetoric and the Reality of Poverty in the Twenty-First Century. New          York: The Haworth Press. Marchevsky, Alejandra and Jeanne Theoharis. 2006. Not Working: Latina Immigrants,         Low- Wage Jobs, and the Failure of Welfare Reform. New York: New York         University Press.

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