Fractured Families and Communities: Effects of Immigration Reform in Texas, Mexico, and El Salvador

Abstract

The enactment of the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act (IIRIRA) in 1996 represented a major shift in post World War II immigration policies. IIRIRA facilitated a large-scale removal of legal resident immigrants, increased the income-requirements to sponsor an immigrant, reduced the discretionary power of immigration judges, and increased the resources for border enforcement. In this study, effects of IIRIRA on communities and immigrant families are examined through fieldwork and interviews of social service agencies, community organizations, and households in Texas, Mexico and El Salvador. The findings indicate that IIRIRA has had major effects on communities and families in all three settings. IIRIRA has produced fear and stress among families and the communities in which they live. The law also has mobilized governmental and non-governmental agency involvement both for and against immigrants. Finally, the exclusionary aspects of the law have raised issues of social identity among migrants in the United States and abroad.