A fierce debate rages over whether globalization reduces or increases poverty and inequality. The evidence doesn't always provide comfortable answers for either side. Read the full article in the Spring 2008 issue of Americas Quarterly.
100,000 Bolivians, many of them undocumented immigrants, live and work in São Paulo, re-creating a Bolivian community in the midst of Brazil's industrial capital. Read the full article in the Spring 2008 issue of Americas Quarterly.
Cristina Rodriguez, a law professor at New York University, analyzes state-level immigration legislation and cautions that lawmakers may reconsider reforms once costs of heightened enforcement set in. The challenge of integrating immigrants requires cooperation from all levels of the U.S. government.
During his first U.S. visit in office, Mexican President Felipe Calderón stopped in states with large Mexican populations. The leader urged investment in his country to boost job growth.
The Hispanic vote will play a progressively larger role in U.S. elections, says Deputy Director Susan Minushkin of the Pew Hispanic Center in an AS/COA Online interview. She also says Mexicans, who always take interest in U.S. elections, are “particularly intrigued” this year.
As U.S. voters hit the polls in 24 primaries on February 5, the Hispanic vote played a crucial role, particularly in delegate-heavy California. The Latino electorate helped make John McCain the Republican front runner. Democratic hopeful Hillary Clinton has relied on a Hispanic support base, but some see rival Barack Obama making inroads.
The number of immigrants—mostly from Latin America—jumped in southern U.S. states over the past decade and a half. As studies on acculturation rates indicate, southerners' practice of demonizing immigrants because they "refuse to assimilate" can contribute to delays in assimilation, explains Elaine C. Lacy of the University of South Carolina at Aiken.
