Showing papers by "Alejandro Portes published in 1986"

Flight into despair: a profile of recent Haitian refugees in South Florida.

Abstract: Based on a 1983-1984 random sample survey of 499 Haitians who had recently arrived in the US plus participant observation and intensive interviewing this article examines the following areas: 1) individual background characteristics of Haitian immigrants; 2) their arrival and early resettlement experiences; 3) their education knowledge of English and information about the US; 4) current employment status and occupation; 5) income and use of public assistance; 6) predictors of employment occupation and income; and 7) beliefs and orientations. Few immigrant groups in recent history have suffered unemployment downward occupational mobility and poverty to the extent that Haitians have. In part this situation is a consequence of the modest education and occupational training brought by these refugees--above average in the country of origin but significantly below US standards. However even among the better educated and knowledgeable unemployment rates are unacceptably high and occupational status and income extremely low. The 2nd part of the explanation must be found in the reception accorded to this group. Haitians arrived into a social context unprepared to receive them either as economic immigrants or as political refugees. Their claims for political asylum have been repeatedly rejected by the US. The motivation of individuals who crossed 700 miles of open sea to Florida aboard barely seaworthy craft is high enough to succeed but the Haitians inability to gain more than a temporary entrant status weighs heavily against their eventual success.

Class structure and spatial polarization: an assessment of recent urban trends in latin america

Abstract: In this paper we review those major trends characteristic of peripheral urbanization as they are reflected in the recent Latin American experience. Such trends include: urban primacy and the relative absence of secondary city systems the character and dynamics of the informal sector housing deficiencies and state housing policy and the recent rise of popular organizations oriented toward self-sufficiency or militant demand-making. These trends are important because they represent the form in which continuity and change of peripheral class structures are reflected in space both at the national and local levels....[The authors conclude that] the political economy of Latin American cities is one where the resolution to the plight of underdevelopment promised by accelerated capitalist industrialization has not materialized. Instead the process has produced a more complex and more contradictory social fabric. (EXCERPT)

Three years later: the adaptation process of 1980 (Mariel) Cuban and Haitian refugees in South Florida

Abstract: In recent years, southern Florida has experienced rapid new inflows of immigrants from Central America and the Caribbean. Since the arrival in 1980 of Mariel (Cuban) and Haitian immigrants to this area, a great deal of speculation has emerged as to the adaptation of these two groups to south Florida and the impact which their presence has wielded on the social and economic arenas of that region. In this paper, we present selected background characteristics of representative samples of both groups and discuss our empirical findings with regard to the labor market experiences, social networks, and educational experiences of the immigrants included in our sample. While the two groups minimally differ from earlier cohorts of their compatriots entering south Florida, their experiences since arriving in Florida have been quite different. Both the Cuban and Haitian immigrants arriving in 1980 demonstrate higher levels of unemployment than their counterparts who arrived earlier; however, the existence of the Cuban economic enclave in Miami did facilitate the entry of a greater number of Cubans than Haitians into the formal labor market. Initial evidence indicates that significant numbers of individuals from both groups participate in the informal labor market, often receiving less than the minimum wage.