Legal Determinants of Foreign-Born Population Growth in the Metropolitan U.S.

Chris Galvan, University at Albany, State University of New York (SUNY)

Anti-immigrant sentiment and legislation within and outside of traditional immigrant settlement areas have become increasingly noticeable. The effects of such policies on foreign-born settlement patterns are largely unknown. As an initial response to this gap in the literature, my research aims to explore the associations between deportations, the enforcement of deportation policies, and foreign-born population growth in metropolitan areas from 1990 to 2009. Data comes from the Census Bureau, 2005-2009 American Community Survey 5-year estimates, the Statistical Yearbook of the Immigration and Naturalization Services/DHS Yearbook of Immigration Statistics, and the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. Bivariate thematic maps illustrating population change and enforcement trends are followed by multilevel models predicting foreign-born growth across metropolitan areas.