BIMI Policy Briefs capture the latest research of BIMI affiliates and highlight the implications of their research for policymakers, service providers, activists, and concerned community members.
Learning to Play, Playing to Heal: An Evaluation of Early Childhood Education Access for Refugee Children in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh
The issue of refugee education has been an enduring crisis in Cox Bazar, Bangladesh, where over half of the Rohingya refugee population are children. Various solutions and initiatives have been posed to alleviate the issue of refugee education access in Cox Bazar. However, few have been analyzed for their effectiveness on psychosocial, socioemotional, and learning outcomes amongst Rohingya children. In this policy brief, Daniel Hiếu Thuận Bui examines the efficacy of early childhood education for refugee children and offers recommendations to strenghthen and expand programs
From Forced Relocation to Social Ascension: An Examination of Vietnamese Migratory Trends, Adjustment, and Social Advancement in America
This policy brief critically assesses the practices, policies, and implications surrounding the integration of Vietnamese immigrants in the United States. Daniel Hiếu Thuận Bui provides an overview of Vietnamese migration to the United States and offers actionable insights in areas including research, practice, and policy for better serving the Vietnamese-American community.
Addressing the Shift in Child Welfare Practices Serving Latinx Immigrant Population During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Policy Recommendations and Future Directions
Read BIMI's newest policy brief, Addressing the Shift in Child Welfare Practices Serving Latinx Immigrant Population During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Policy Recommendations and Future Directions, by Marisol Sanchez and Socorro Ramirez-Gamiño. Based on research conducted by Lovato, Finno-Velasquez, Sepp, et al. (2022) at the peak of the pandemic, this policy brief presents four policy recommendations for addressing the requirements of families who are either at risk of or currently engaged with the child welfare system. These recommendations are intended for policy makers, social service leaders, and child welfare personnel.
التراث اليمني العالمي: Examining the Rich Cultural Heritage of Yemen and its Diaspora
BIMI's policy brief, التراث اليمني العالمي: Examining the Rich Cultural Heritage of Yemen and its Diaspora, delves into the Yemeni Diaspora in the San Francisco Bay area and San Joaquin Valley. Batul Aledlah provides a rich introduction to Yemen's history, culture, and historical drivers of migration.
Zindagi: Lives of the Afghan Community in the Bay Area
BIMI's newest policy brief, "Zindagi: Lives of the Afghan Community in the Bay Area", by Nilufar Kayhani provides a close look into the history of Afghanistan, the migration history of Aghan people in the U.S., and the rich cultural influence they have had in the Bay Area. This policy brief characterizes Afghan people for their resilience and culture - Afghans have resettled globally and have continued their lives - beyond the tragedies they have endured.
Punjab: In the Bay and Beyond
BIMI's new policy brief, "Punjab: In the Bay and Beyond", by Mehnaz Kaur Grewal discusses the rich history of Punjab, the differing drivers in migration for Punjabis, and how San Francisco, Berkeley, and Stockton were critical sites of contemporary Punjabi Sikh migration. Mehnaz explains the "long journey of Punjabi Sikh migration to the United States, characterized by racial violence and discriminatory legislation, but also by courageous acts of community and togetherness".
Building Resilience: Strengthening Social Services for Latinx Immigrant Families following a Deportation Related Family Separation
“We tried to bring him to the medical clinic, but people told us Immigration [ICE] was there. We didn’t know if it was a rumor or not. I was scared to bring him there.”
BIMI's new policy brief, "Building Resilience: Strengthening Social Services for Latinx Immigrant Families following a Deportation Related Family Separation", explains Lovato & Abrams newest body of research that seeks to understand the most effective approaches for supporting Latinx immigrant families during times of heightened instability and uncertainty, particularly following the deportation of a parent—the brief list the number of negative impacts on children's well-being and where they could seek support. BIMI urges policymakers and practitioners to consider other policies to promote the welfare and adjustment of immigrant communities across America.
The Impact of COVID-19 on Filipino Nurses: An Intersectional and Scientific Look at Public Health
Read BIMI's new policy brief, The Impact of COVID-19 on Filipino Nurses: An Intersectional and Scientific Look at Public Health, by Dewi Zarni. Fraser. This policy brief discusses how Filipino immigrant nurses are one group that appears to be especially vulnerable to COVID-19. It examines BIMI-affiliate and UC Berkeley Ethnic Studies Professor Catherine Ceniza Choy's work that explores the difference in work experiences and characteristics of Philippinestrained RNs compared to U.S.-trained, white RNs.
Addressing California Farmworkers’ Mental Health & Food Security During the Pandemic
How did economic instability and additional pandemic factors affect farmworkers' mental health? Read BIMI's new policy brief "Addressing California Farmworkers’Mental Health & Food Security During the Pandemic" by Graciela Chong. This policy brief discusses the article “Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on California Farmworkers’ Mental Health and Food Security’’ by Ana Mora, Joseph Lewnard, and co-authors. Farmworkers in Monterrey County reported struggling with their mental health and food insecurity but were afraid of seeking help due to many being undocumented. This brief also shares what can be done to provide more resources and safety to farmworkers moving forward.
Rights or Needs: Fundraising for Stigmatized Groups
Read BIMI's new policy brief, Rights or Needs: Fundraising for Stigmatized Groups, by Nicholas A.R. Fraser. This Policy Brief discusses how donations and fundraising are a core function of helping those in need but dives into the question of would people who donate money to those in need be as generous if they knew the funds would help a negatively stereotyped minority group? The brief examines a Real-World Fundraising Experiment and helps us understand the role in-group and out-group biases play in this.
How Non-Judgemental Engagement Could Reduce Prejudice
Does the type of non-judgemental conversation matter? Nicholas A.R. Fraser goes further in depth on how non-judgemental engagement could reduce prejudice. Read the original research article here.
How Competent Lawyers Help Make Asylum Procedures
Do deterrence policies actually meet their stated goals of reducing administrative burdens? Nicholas A.R. Fraser dives deeper into this topic, as he explores the concerns of enforcement versus the protection of human rights. Read the original article here.
Yellow Peril and COVID-19, Historically and Politically Contextualizing Anti- Asian Racism
Read BIMI's new policybrief by Dewi Zarni. This PolicyBrief examines BIMI-affiliate, and Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, Dr. Lok Siu, and UC Berkeley Ph.D. student Claire Chun, 2020 article, “Yellow Peril and Techno-orientalism in the Time of COVID-19: Racialized Contagion, Scientific Espionage, and Techno-Economic Warfare.” In addition to the pandemic, the authors argue that the escalating U.S.-China trade war, and the issue of cyber security, have also contributed to the rise in anti-Asian violence. In order to better understand today's climate, Siu and Chun trace the origins of the “Yellow Peril” ideology and its role in driving Sinophobic.
Gaps in Health Services for Immigrants in Arizona's Metro Areas
This Data Brief summarizes key findings from the BIMI project "Mapping Spatial Inequality," as it relates to health services in Arizona's metro areas. Federally-qualified health clinics are the only source of medical care for about 1 in 5 foreign-born residents in Arizona's metro areas. Yet these immigrant-serving health clinics appear to remain concentrated in Tucson, a city with a legacy of political activism, compared to other mid-size cities and suburbs that are also home to thousands of immigrants. With this research, BIMI combines location and service information with targeted demographic data in order to shine a light on service gaps for funders, policymakers and service providers.
Addressing Migrant Farmworker Injury in the United States
The agricultural food industry is upheld by the very vulnerable and underpaid work of farm workers. With this comes far too many injuries that have become a normalized experience for these farm workers. This policy brief by Graciela Chong highlights Dr. Seth Holmes's article on the need for visibility in farmwork injuries within statistics and society to create meaningful change in the agricultural fields. Farm industries should allow flexibility and variety in the type of work farmworkers can perform on duty to limit the continuous, repetitive nature of their work.
Policy Brief: Gaps in Health Services in Coastal Southern California
This Data Brief summarizes key findings from the BIMI project "Mapping Spatial Inequality," as it relates to legal aid services in Southern California's coastal areas. This investigation merges Census data on the region’s immigrant population with a unique database of immigrant legal services. Our research found that, like California’s Bay Area and Central Valley, coastal southern California lacks insufficient access to legal services despite high immigrant demand for such services. Many of the suburbs of LA County have no legal aid clinics, and the city of Los Angeles itself only has 0.73 legal aid clinics per 10,000 low-income foreign-born
Balancing Open Science and Ethics in Migration Research
The movement for open science aims to promote transparent and ethical research, but its practices can have negative implications for migration scholars and their subjects. In their recent article, “Precarious Times, Professional Tensions: The Ethics of Migration Research and the Drive for Scientific Accountability,” Professors Irene Bloemraad and Cecilia Menjívar discuss the danger of transparency when working with vulnerable populations. This brief summarizes and contextualizes their argument and its particular relevance given the ongoing expansion of immigration enforcement technology and surveillance.
Indigenous Latinx Students: Visibility and Empowerment in the American School System
Despite representing over 30 countries and countless ethnicities and languages, the Latinx/Hispanic population in the United States is often viewed as a monolith. This misconception especially harms Indigenous immigrants from Latin America. Research by Dr. Patricia Baquedano-López, a BIMI affiliate and Associate Professor in the Graduate School of Education, provides recommendations for how schools can better serve their Indigenous Latin American students and combat the marginalization of Indigenous immigrants from Latin America (IILAs) more broadly. Read more about Dr. Baquedano-López's projects here.
Conservative Jurisprudence and Noncitizens’ Political Voice
A new presidential administration has moved into the White House, but the legacies of the previous administration continue through the court system. Over a quarter of active federal judges today were appointed during the Trump administration. What does this mean for immigrants' rights? Scholarship by BIMI-affiliated Professor of Law and Political Science Sarah Song crafts a convincing normative argument as to why our country should expand immigrants' civil and political rights. This BIMI Policy Brief explores a legal argument that may appeal to conservative judges by applying Dr. Song's theory to pressing Constitutional questions. Read Dr. Song's article here.
Policy Brief: Gaps in Legal Aid Services in Arizona’s Metro Areas
This Data Brief summarizes key findings from the BIMI project "Mapping Spatial Inequality," as it relates to legal aid services in Arizona's metro areas. This investigation merges Census data on the region’s immigrant population with a unique database of immigrant legal services. Our research found that, like California’s Bay Area and Central Valley, Arizona lacks insufficient access to legal services despite high immigrant demand for such services. On average, Arizona’s two most populous counties have 0.8 legal service providers per 10,000 low-income foreign-born residents.
Responding to COVID-19: Immigrants Face Major Barriers to Accessing Essential Services in the SF Bay Area
COVID-19 disproportionately impacts foreign-born communities due to the overlapping issues of poverty, lack of access to healthcare, and legal vulnerabilities among immigrants. Where can immigrants turn to for help during an emergency like the pandemic? What barriers do they face in accessing necessary services? This brief summarizes key issues around immigrant service provision in the San Francisco Bay Area in the context of an emergency such as COVID-19 or wildfires, from economic aid to food assistance. It shines a light on the structural inequities that immigrants face, especially those who are low-income. In particular, the brief highlights best practices to tackle seven key challenges: barriers to accessible healthcare, employment and housing vulnerabilities, obstacles to obtaining economic assistance, fear over using public benefits (even when eligible), going hungry, language barriers, and the digital divide.
Policy Brief: Gaps in Legal Services in Coastal Southern California
This Data Brief summarizes key findings from the BIMI project "Mapping Spatial Inequality," as it relates to legal aid services in Southern California's coastal areas. This investigation merges Census data on the region’s immigrant population with a unique database of immigrant legal services. Our research found that, like California’s Bay Area and Central Valley, coastal southern California lacks insufficient access to legal services despite high immigrant demand for such services. Many of the suburbs of LA County have no legal aid clinics, and the city of Los Angeles itself only has 0.73 legal aid clinics per 10,000 low-income foreign-born
Between Home and Homeland: Redefining Cambodian American Identity Through Transnational Youth Activism
California is home to approximately one-third of the Cambodian American population, many of whom came to the United States as refugees. In a chapter from her book, Southeast Asian Migration: People on the Move in Search of Work, Refuge and Belonging, BIMI-affiliate and Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies Khatharya Um, explores how Cambodian American youth participate in artistic expression and political engagement to navigate the burdens of transgenerational trauma and forced migration. Drawing on Prof. Um’s research, this policy brief makes recommendations for activists, educators, policymakers, and service providers to support the empowerment of young Cambodian Americans and other refugee communities.
Reconsidering Immigration Enforcement During COVID-19: an Opportunity to Set Our Priorities Straight
As communities, public institutions, and all levels of government respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, immigration authorities have continued to conduct immigration raids, detentions, and deportations. In a recent article "Raids on Immigrant Communities During the Pandemic Threaten the Country’s Public Health", BIMI affiliate Seth Holmes and Miriam Magaña Lopez present findings on how immigration enforcement is undermining public health for immigrants, as well as society as a whole. Holmes and Magaña Lopez also discuss how COVID-19 offers a historic opportunity to consider how we can transform our immigration system to better support the health of all communities.
Essential Workers or Exports: Filipino Nurses in the Era of COVID-19
As countries around the globe grapple with COVID-19, they are presented with policy decisions regarding the movement of migrant healthcare workers into and out of their borders. In her recent essay, "Why are there so many Filipino nurses in California?", historian and BIMI-affiliate Prof. Catherine Ceniza Choy describes the historical precedent and contemporary impact of one particular group of migrant healthcare workers: Filipino nurses in California. This policy brief describes Dr. Choy's research and contextualizes her findings in the present moment, in light of policy responses to COVID-19 that threaten the mobility of Filipino nurses and other healthcare workers.
Gaps in Health Services for Immigrants in the Central Valley
This Data Brief summarizes key findings from the Mapping Spatial Inequality Project, as it relates to health services. Many immigrants in the Central Valley live in the region’s suburbs, bedroom communities, and mid-size cities. Yet immigrant-focused health clinics remain concentrated in the historic ‘immigrant gateway’ cities. With research and data briefs like this, BIMI aims to make the service landscape more equitable by combining location and service information with targeted demographic data, such as language needs, to shine a light on service gaps for funders, policymakers, and service providers.
Gaps in Legal Services for Immigrants in the Central Valley
This Data Brief breaks down key findings from BIMI's investigation of spatial mismatch in legal services in the Central Valley. This investigation merges Census data on the region’s immigrant population with a unique database of immigrant legal services. This database is available to the public and researchers through an innovative service-locator app, helping hundreds of thousands of people connect to services. BIMI also aims to make the service landscape more equitable by combining location and service information with targeted demographic data, such as language needs, to shine a light on service gaps for funders, policymakers and service providers.
Links between Anti-Immigrant Bias and Racial Prejudice in California
California is known for its progressive politics and diverse constituency, but a statewide survey shows that bias against immigrants still exists. BIMI-affiliate Dr. G. Cristina Mora's and Dr. Tianna Paschel's analysis of the survey data reveals a complicated relationship between race, racism, and xenophobia. Applying this new information about the intertwined nature of anti-immigrant and anti-Black attitudes, this Policy Brief makes recommendations for activists and educators interested in reducing the prevalence of prejudice.
Gaps in Legal Services for Immigrants in the Bay Area
This Data Brief breaks down key findings from BIMI's investigation of spatial mismatch in legal services. This investigation merges Census data on the region’s immigrant population with a unique database of immigrant legal services. This database is available to the public and researchers through an innovative service-locator app, helping hundreds of thousands of people connect to services. BIMI also aims to make the service landscape more equitable by combining location and service information with targeted demographic data, such as language needs, to shine a light on service gaps for funders, policymakers and service providers.
Gaps in Health Services for Immigrants in the Bay Area
This Data Brief summarizes key findings from the BIMI project "Mapping Spatial Inequality," as it relates to health services. There are over one million noncitizens and close to 2.4 million foreign-born residents living in the 9-county Bay Area. Many of these immigrants live in the region’s suburbs, bedroom communities, and mid-size cities. Yet immigrant-focused health clinics remain concentrated in the historic ‘immigrant gateway’ cities, such as San Francisco and Oakland. With research and data briefs like this, BIMI aims to make the service landscape more equitable by combining location and service information with targeted demographic data, such as language needs, to shine a light on service gaps for funders, policymakers and service providers.
Changing Partisan Opinions on Immigration
The debate on immigration in the U.S. has become a highly partisan one, with little room for compromise between competing visions of America's national identity and immigration policy. In light of such deep divisions, the prospects for bipartisan immigration reform look bleak. So what does it take to change people's opinions on immigration policy? Political scientist and BIMI-affiliate Dr. Cecilia H. Mo and co-author Dr. Tabitha Bonilla tackle this question in an experimental study that offers promising findings for the future of bipartisan immigration reform. This policy brief relays their findings and how the persuasive tactic of "frame-bridging" is being applied today. Read Dr. Bonilla and Dr. Mo's original research article here.
High-Skilled Immigrant Workers Benefit American Industry, But U.S. Policies Threaten Them
Many of America's most globally-competitive industries, like the tech industry, recruit a significant portion of their high-skilled workforce from outside the U.S. How do policies governing employment-based migration—like the 2017 "Executive Order on Buy American and Hire American"—affect American businesses? And how do these policies impact states like California that receive thousands of new workers on H-1B visas each year? This policy brief addresses these questions with help from Dr. AnnaLee Saxenian, a BIMI affiliate and UC Berkeley Professor who has spent over twenty years studying high-skilled labor migration and its effects on international trade relations.
Sentiments Towards Migrants Visualized
How are images used to reveal different perceptions of migrant deservingness and undeservingness? Through an analysis of a California traffic sign and its multiple adaptations, Berkeley law professor Leti Volpp discusses how migrant categories have been constructed. Through this Research Brief, we explore Dr. Volpp's work on the representations of migrants and what these perceptions mean for our understanding of rights and membership. Read the original research article here.
Responding to the Public Charge Rule: Immigrant Well-being and Access to Services
This report examines the implications of recent changes to the federal public charge rule and immigrants’ ability to access human and social services in the urban and suburban communities of the Bay Area. It considers the unique barriers faced by legally precarious immigrants as well as gendered pathways to accessing services. We offer recommendations for responding to the change in the public charge rule and for ensuring immigrant well-being in the region.
Welcoming Communities? Immigrant Access to Services in the Bay Area's Mid-Sized Cities
How well are mid-sized cities in the Bay area serving their immigrant-origin residents? What are the barriers that immigrants face in accessing services? This report examines 12 Bay Area cities. The research draws on Census Bureau data, interviews with community stakeholders, and data from the Berkeley Interdisciplinary Migration Initiative’s Mapping Spatial Inequality interactive map. We identify and examine three key obstacles to accessing services faced by immigrants, a confluence of geographic distance, language barriers, and lack of trust leaves many immigrants unable to access essential services, especially outside of the region’s biggest cities. The report provides recommendations to improve access to immigrant services.
A Public Health Crisis in the Shadows
There are an estimated 117,000 Latino migrant day laborers in the U.S., with about a third residing in California. Migrant day laborers typically perform physically demanding and dangerous work, with little-to-no access to health care or workers' protections. BIMI-affiliate Dr. Kurt Organista (UC Berkeley) and his co-authors Samantha Ngo, Dr. Torsten Neilands (UC San Francisco), and Dr. Alex H. Kral (UC San Francisco) explore how the living conditions experienced by Latino migrant day laborers in the San Francisco Bay Area affect their physical health, their mental health, and their chances of contracting infectious diseases. Their research exposes a public health crisis afflicting a large yet underserved population, and provides evidence-backed recommendations for therapeutic treatments and policy-based cures that could alleviate this public health concern. Read the original research article here.
Attempts to Cancel DACA Produce Negative Affects on Health
Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) has granted 800,000 young undocumented immigrants work authorization and protection from deportation, but its impact extends to their overall health and well-being. A recent study by Marie Mallet (Sorbonne) and Lisa García Bedolla (UC Berkeley) demonstrates that the Trump administration's announcement to repeal DACA has had negative health outcomes on DACA recipients. They find that "transitory legality," going in and out of a protected status, can have detrimental mental and psychological health effects. Read the original research article here.
Immigrant Rights Are American Values
Immigrant rights activists have been trying new strategies to advocate for refugees and undocumented people, including invoking human rights, civil rights, and American values. Berkeley Professors of Sociology Kim Voss and Irene Bloemraad surveyed California voters to find out which framing strategy works best. Contrary to popular logic, they found that the most effective framing strategy is the American values frame, showing a new path forward for pro-immigrant activism. Read the original research article here.
Immigrants Lack Access to Legal Representation
Public Interest Law Organizations (PILOs) have been a major driver of social change and legal reform in the United States in the last century. However, research by University of California-Berkeley Professor of Law and Sociology Catherine Albiston shows that PILOs are not accessible to all those who may need their services, including immigrants and residents of poor counties. This policy brief recommends that the Legal Services Corporation be reformed and that large, privately-funded PILOs partner with PILOs in rural areas to expand affordable legal services to new communities. Read the original research article here.
Looking Ahead Post-Midterms: Asian American Engagement in Politics
The 2018 midterm elections represented a significant turning point for Asian Americans. Studies have revealed that Asians are the fastest-growing racial group in the U.S., but Asian Americans have rarely been the focus in academic or public discourse on political participation. However, this group is a critical untapped voter base. Research by Christian Dyogi Phillips and Taeku Lee shows how the Asian American voting population looks different from the Black, Latino, and White populations, particularly with regards to gender differences in political participation. Looking to the role of the Asian American voting population in future elections, this policy brief highlights various policy recommendations on how to unlock this critical untapped voter base. Read the original research article here.
Mapping Spatial Inequality: The New Geography of Poverty and Immigration
There is a new geography of poverty and immigration, with more immigrants and poor people living in the suburbs. Els de Graauw, Shannon Gleeson and Irene Bloemraad show that local officials haven't caught up to this new reality and that there is a spatial mismatch between the neighborhoods where immigrants live and the location of community-based organizations that serve low-income and immigrant populations. BIMI is building the 'Mapping Spatial Inequality' web app. This interactive app enables users to visualize the service mismatch across place, time and types of needs. Read the original research article here.
Unauthorized Welfare: The Origins of Immigrant Status Restrictions in American Social Policy
What were the unintended consequences of restricting access to Social Welfare of undocumented immigrants? Cybelle Fox shows how a restrictive policy shift in the 70's resulted in more discriminatory practices, obstacles to social welfare for American-born children, avoidance of care and a disproportionate burden on local governments. Read Dr. Fox original research article here.
Rumors and Refugees: How Government-Created Information Vacuums Undermine Effective Crisis Management
How can governments prevent refugees from relying on smugglers and what can we learn from the Greek refugee crisis? Carlson, Jakli and Linos show how governments may prevent information vacuums and contribute to effective crisis management. Read about the policy takeaways of their study and why these findings are relevant for the case of Trump's proposed Muslim travel ban. Read the original research article here.
Addressing Racial Bias in the Immigration System
What is the effect of criminal and immigration policing being connected? Michelle Rivera Lopez, Nadia Almasalkhi, and Alexandra Gessesse explore the effects of when criminal and immigration policing are merged and its compounded consequences for communities.