Immigration, Poverty, and Socioeconomic Inequality

Chapter 4. Immigration, Segregation, and Poverty

98 / Chapter 4 Immigration, Segregation, and Poverty michael a. Stoll I mmigration, especially from Latin America and Asia, has changed and continues to change the demographic landscape in the United States. This chapter is concerned with factors that influence immigrant segregation as well as whether and how immigration affects a host of concerns including racial segregation, immigrant poverty, and English-language proficiency. Although immigrants continue to settle in established gateway areas, such as Los Angeles, New York City, and Chicago, many are dispersing to other geographic areas not previously characterized as immigrant destination centers (Park and Iceland 2011; Lichter et al. 2010; Singer 2004). The dominant view, consistent with spatial assimilation theory, is that immigrants tend to settle and concentrate in the oldest residential neighborhoods with the most dated housing. As they learn English and get better jobs, they eventually move to better housing and spatially assimilate to a greater degree with natives (Alba et al. 1999; Massey 1985). In this model, English-language proficiency and length of residence in the United States are expected to be the key determinants of immigrant residential concentration. This view, however, overlooks other important factors, such as the role of older black segregation that could influence their segregation beyond what we might. In areas where black segregation is persistent, immigrant segregation might be heightened as a result of spillover effects of such segregation. On the other hand, immigrants could also influence the levels and patterns of segregation of the native born, in particular African Americans. This could occur through either the polarization or diffusion (White et al. 2002; White and Glick 1999). Polarization argues that immigrants, particularly those from diverse origins , could heighten black-white segregation given whites’ discriminatory views or practices toward African Americans. Immigrants would serve as a buffer between them. This would increase such segregation. On the other hand, diffusion refers to the potential role of immigrants stirring the melting pot by helping dissolve the color line in the United States and thereby reduce such segregation. Immigration, Segregation, and Poverty / 99 There is some reason to believe that immigration might influence segregation levels of these groups despite earlier evidence that immigrant representation in metropolitan areas has little to no influence on black-white segregation levels (White et al. 2002; White and Glick 1999). Over the past two decades, segregation levels especially between native-born blacks and whites have declined. For example , in 1980, the black-white index of dissimilarity (a commonly used measure of segregation) was 73.8, dropping nearly 9 points to 65.0 in 2000 (Iceland, Weinberg , and Steinmetz 2002; Logan 2003). During this period, immigration in the United States increased so that between 1990 and 2000 the foreign-born population increased by 57 percent (compared with an increase of 13 percent for the total U.S. population) with most (about 52 percent) migrating from Latin America, especially Mexico. Many immigrant households live in communities that were formerly highly segregated African American neighborhoods, characterized by high poverty rates and the many attendant social ills. Many immigrants, however, in particular Latinos, locate in distant suburbs close to higher income households yet often segregated in small enclaves (Singer 2004).1 These temporal trends support the idea that increased immigration is influencing lower segregation levels, particularly among blacks. Even if immigration proves to have little collateral consequence on native-born segregation patterns, it may lead to other concerns. To the extent that immigration leads to immigrant residential concentration, one might worry about whether such segregation influences immigrant poverty or delays English-language acquisition . This could occur through isolation or ethnic enclave influences. The isolation effect would be consistent, in the case of African Americans, with William Wilson’s (1987) view of segregation, leading to heightened poverty as result of isolation from the middle class and limited presence or effectiveness of pro-social institutions. On the other hand, ethnic enclave effects could mitigate the effect of segregation on poverty through the formulation of social capital among immigrant groups. It could also serve as a mechanism for social incorporation, particularly for those who have difficulty speaking English well (Zhou 2004; Light and Bonacich 1991; Leiberson 1981). Little is known, however, about whether immigrant segregation influences poverty or English-language acquisition. This chapter is intended to fill these voids and focuses on immigration, segregation and poverty. It explores the extent of residential segregation of immigrants, whether and the extent to which immigration influences racial and ethnic segregation in the United States, and whether and to...