| Harriett Romo, Carlos Alberto Garrido de la Calleja y Olivia López (Eds.) | |
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Universidad Veracruzana/University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA)/IETEC-Arana Editores ♦ Xalapa ♦ pp. 231 ♦ ISBN 978-607-9091-16-3. |
| This collection of articles emerged from an Open Forum on Immigration hosted by The University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA) Mexico Center that brought together faculty and students from a wide range of academic institutions, immigration law practitioners, community support groups, government agencies, and religious organizations to discuss issues affecting immigrants and immigrantion policies. There were no official agendas and no featured speakers at the Forum. Issues of social incorporation and economic development in both Mexico and the United States dominated as key elements in the conversations. Participants discussed and analyzed, among other things, the role of immigrants in the workforce and how legal status affects the ability to work, the establishment of small businesses, wordkers’ visas and how quotas influence the immigration process, college access for immigrants, women immigrants in the labor force, items the business community would like to see in a comprehensive immigration reform, and the impact of immigration on economic development. As a follow-up to the initial meeting, the UTSA Mexico Center invited Mexican sholars to a small collaborative workshop to share acedemic research projects and establish collaborations. These relationships have flourished and promoted networks of scholars and citizens who can work together to address immigrant concerns, bilateral policies, and the promotion of immigrant rights. The pool of contributors to this edited volume includes Mexican and American scholars with academic backgrounds in law and public policy, history, bilingual-bicultural studies, sociology, health, and literacy along the border. The University of Texas at San Antonio Mexico Center and Universidad Veracruzana strive to stimulate dialogue based on research and analyses of data rather than propaganda. The role of scholars is crucial in the immigration debates to assure that the most accurate data are available to the public in both countries. Migration impacts the sending and receiving communities, and in a climate of increassingly hostile state politics on the U.S. side of the border, accurate and timely information is crucial for effective policy marking. |
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