Erin Hamilton received her degree in Sociology from the
University of Texas, Austin in 2009. Her current research
investigates the social and demographic sources of international
migration from Mexico to the United States.
More specifically, she focuses issues related to socioeconomic
development and demographic change in Mexico, and, in particular,
when and why migration flows are domestically- or
internationally-bound. Additionally, her current work examines
the process of immigrant incorporation in the United States,
looking specifically at access to health care and health outcomes
within a framework of racial and ethnic inequality. This work
attempts to understand whether, how, and why immigrant health
changes over time in the United States, examining the roles of
socioeconomic inequality and access to social services.
2244 Social Sciences and Humanities Building
Davis, CA
Between 2000 and 2015, as the U.S. deported unprecedented numbers of Mexican immigrants, the population of U.S.-born children living in Mexico doubled in size. In a recent study, using data collected in 2014 and 2018 by the Mexican National Survey of Demographic Dynamics (ENADID), we estimated the number of de facto deported children. De facto deported children are U.S.-born children who emigrated to Mexico from the U.S. to accompany a deported parent.
The 2012 Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program granted work authorization and protection from deportation to more than 800,000 young undocumented immigrants who arrived to the United States as minors. In a recent study, we investigated the association between this expansion of legal rights and birth outcomes among 72,613 singleton births to high school-educated Mexican-immigrant women in the United States from June 2010 to May 2014 using birth records data from the National Center for Health Statistics.
The Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, implemented in 2012, granted a subset of undocumented youth temporary relief from deportation, as well as work authorization and other benefits. In a recent study, we analyzed both whether and how DACA impacted education and employment among undocumented immigrants in California. We found mixed effects. DACA enabled college for some, but discouraged it for others. DACA recipients perceived substantial occupational mobility, but for many, this was not reflected in movement out of the secondary labor market.
In a stinging blow to the Trump administration, Thursday’s
Supreme Court decision found the administration’s attempt to
terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program,
known as DACA, was “arbitrary and capricious.”
A pesar de esfuerzos significativos para impedir la inmigración
desautorizada, migración cíclica a los Estados Unidos después de
deportación es común. En un nuevo estudio,[1] mis coautores y yo
examinamos como el tener una familia en los Estados Unidos afecta
el intento a regresar entre migrantes deportados a El Salvador.
Concluimos que el separarse de la familia en los Estados Unidos
es el factor más importante que se relaciona con el intento de
regresar, aunque haya sanciones severas si son capturados.
In this presentation, UC Davis sociologist Erin Hamilton
discusses how being unauthorized or living in a mixed-status
family where at least one member is unauthorized affects the
wellbeing and incorporation of children of immigrants.
Despite significant efforts to deter unauthorized immigration,
repeat migration to the United States following deportation is
common. In a new study, my co-authors and I examined how having
family in the U.S. affects the intent to return among migrants
deported to El Salvador. We found that being separated from their
families in the U.S. is the most important factor in the intent
to return, even despite the severe penalties if caught.
Deported parents face no good solutions to the dilemma of forced
separation from their children: Either they remove their children
from their country of citizenship, or deportees return to rejoin
their children, facing harsh penalties if caught.
Many in Houston regularly face the terrible prospect.
One in five children in the United States is the child of
immigrants. These new Americans, most of whom are U.S. citizens,
are more than twice as likely as children of natives to have no
health insurance. Prior research has shown that differences in
income or employment between native and immigrant parents do not
account for the disparity in coverage.
Children of immigrants currently make up one in four of all
children in the United States, and this proportion is expected to
increase to one-third by 2050. On average, children of immigrants
are more likely than children of natives to live in poverty,
experience food insecurity, and live in crowded housing.
Additionally, they are less likely than children of natives to
receive public assistance or to have health insurance. In this
project, investigators provide a comprehensive picture of the
health of children of immigrants in comparison to children of
natives using recent, nationally representative data.
This project, funded through the Center for Poverty Research
Graduate Student Fellowship Program, examines whether differences
in state implementation of the Children’s Health Insurance
Program (CHIP) affects disparities in health care between
children of immigrants and children of natives.
