Join us for Well-Being Among Recent Migrants: A Showcase of Research by Emerging Scholars, a mini-conference hosted by the Center for Poverty & Inequality Research and the Global Migration Center. Three Institute for Research on Poverty Visiting Scholars will share their current research and engage in discussions with experts in the field.

Conference Presenters

Vanessa Delgado, Washington State University
Aging With(out) Papers: How Legal Status Shapes the Retirement Plans of Working-Class Latino/a Immigrants
In recent years, social scientists have raised concerns about the aging Latino/a immigrant population because this group is disproportionally more likely to live in poverty, have lower educational levels, own fewer financial assets, possess less wealth, and have very limited savings and retirement income. On top of this, Latino/a immigrants are more likely to be undocumented than other immigrant populations. Undocumented Latino/a immigrants are less likely to be covered by employer retirement plans, cannot access the social safety net, most banking and retirement accounts, and healthcare coverage—all of which is likely to shape their retirement experiences. This presentation draws on over 100 interviews to uncover how legal status shapes the lives of older (un)documented Latino/a immigrants over the life course. 

Kimberly B. Higuera, California Polytechnic State University
The Uptake of WIC amongst Linguistically Isolated Hispanic/Latino Households
About 4% of US children live in “linguistically isolated” (LI) households, homes where no one over the age of 14 speaks English. This figure jumps to 13% for Hispanic/Latino children and nearly doubles for Hispanic/Latino children living in poverty. This project explores whether LI can impact social safety net access for young Hispanic families—impacting their ability to access even programs that are specifically aimed at supporting young families, like Women Infants and Children (WIC).

Mitra Naseh, Washington University St Louis
This presentation will introduce the development and initial validation of the “Refugee Multidimensional Economic Integration (RMEI)” questionnaire. RMEI is a U.S.-specific measurement tool designed to assess economic integration among refugees through a multidimensional lens. The questionnaire was developed over a five-year period (between 2019 and 2025) through a consultative, community-engaged process and data triangulation across three sources: 1) A scoping review of peer-reviewed studies that conceptualized or measured economic integration among refugees and immigrants in the U.S. 2) Semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions (FGDs) with 29 service providers and 34 Afghan refugees to identify meaningful domains of economic integration from both practitioner and refugee perspectives. And 3) A comparative analysis of established multidimensional economic indicators, including the Multidimensional Deprivation Index (MDI), the Immigration Policy Lab (IPL-24), Refugee Integration Survey and Evaluation (RISE), and the Self-Reliance Index (SRI), to ensure theoretical alignment and cross-study comparability. The draft instrument was reviewed by a community advisory board and subsequently pilot-tested among 300 resettled Afghan refugee households in St. Louis, MO, and Portland, OR.