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Immigration and Mexican Culture: Annotated Bibliography

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

Instructor

Course

Date
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Immigration and Mexican Culture: Annotated Bibliography

García, A. S. (2021). Undocumented, not Unengaged: Local Immigration Laws and the Shaping

of Undocumented Mexicans' Political Engagement. Social Forces, 99(4), 1658-1681.

This Journal article covers a specific aspect of immigrant lives and how the immigration

laws shape them. Specifically, it explores the political socialization, engagement, and

participation of immigrants in the U.S. and how the immigrants due to immigration laws do not

fully explore these factors. The article uses real-life cases to indicate the restriction of

undocumented immigrants by the immigration law. It explains how undocumented immigrants

from Mexico are confined to a certain standard which prevents them from fully exploring their

political lives. This information is particularly important for y research paper since it shines a

light on the perceived culture of Mexicans in the U.S. It explains that Mexican culture is more

than what the Americans perceive of them while in the U.S. Most of their culture is curtailed by

their inability to act independently due to restrictive laws limiting how Mexican American

immigrants move, do business, socialize and engage in political affairs.

Maggio, C. (2021). State‐level immigration legislation and social life: The impact of the "show

me your papers" laws. Social Science Quarterly.

In the article, Christopher Maggio explores the effects of immigration laws on the social

life of Mexican Americans and undocumented immigrants in the U.S. The paper sheds light on

the changes that the state laws against undocumented immigration impose on the Mexican

nationals living in the U.S. undocumented. According to the article, the anti-immigration laws

lead to discrimination, social isolation, and a retreat from public life for Mexican Americans and

undocumented immigrants. Most important in this article is the focus on the "crimmigration"
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concept, which according to Maggio, is the intimate association of immigrants with a crime or

the direct criminalization of immigrants and immigrant-origin groups. This way, the immigrants

and immigrant-origin groups behave in a way to isolate themselves from the public attention,

thus affecting their expression of culture. This article is particularly essential to my research

paper as it uncovers why Americans could have the wrong idea about Mexican culture.

Becerra, D., Hernandez, G., Porchas, F., Castillo, J., Nguyen, V., & Perez González, R. (2020).

Immigration policies and mental health: Examining the relationship between immigration

enforcement and depression, anxiety, and stress among Latino immigrants. Journal of

Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 29(1-3), 43-59

This article uncovers the mental suffering associated with immigrating to the U.S. and

how it affects the mental health of the immigrants. The article is mainly concerned with the state

laws of Arizona and their effects on the Mexican Americans living in the state. According to the

article, the process of migrating from Mexico to the state of Arizona is a traumatic event for most

immigrants. The state laws mandate the state employees to turn in persons suspected to be

undocumented immigrants, mainly of Latino origin. This causes an environment of fear and

suspicion and discourages socialization between Mexican Americans and state employees. This

source is particularly of interest in this research due to the examination of the legal violence

factor. It will help me highlight how the state laws against immigration justify the physical,

emotional, and mental suffering of the immigrants, especially those of Latino Origin.

Catalno, J., & Stotsky, S. (1996). A Celebration of Community. Mexican Americans (0-7910-

3381-3), 68.
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This source explores different aspects of the Mexican culture, especially among those

living in the U.S., either legally or illegally. The source examines the lives of both newly arrived

Latino immigrants and those who have resided in the United States for generations, noting a

significant difference in their culture and socialization behavior. According to Catalano &

Stotsky (1996), the largest and fastest-growing racial/ethnic experiences racial differentiation

with each generation. For generations, those who have lived in the U.S. have been assimilated

into society and are more likely to behave like Americans than the new arrivals. The book

acknowledges the effect of the immigration laws and justification of social injustices against the

immigrants by the law on the attainment of educational goals and job security. I am particularly

interested in the source for its acknowledgment of the Mexican Americans' connection to their

heritage despite the rapid assimilation in American culture.

George Mwangi, C. A., Latafat, S., Thampikutty, C., & Van, J. (2019). Examining University

Responses to the DACA Rescission: a Critical Discourse Analysis. Innovative Higher

Education, 44(4), 249–265. https://doi-org.proxygsu-

scol.galileo.usg.edu/10.1007/s10755-019-9463-5

The article examines the state of formal education for undocumented students living in

the U.S. Most importantly, it relates the status of these students to the Deferred Action for

Childhood Arrivals which is supposedly supposed to guarantee children immigrants quality

education, temporary working permit, and protection from deportation. George et al. (2019)

examine the responses of university and college students protected by the DACA policy. This

research paper is essential to my research due to the answers given by the students, which shine a

light on the natural advantages and pressures placed on them by DACA. It will help me describe

the state of immigrant education in the U.S. and the efforts put by both the state and national
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government in protecting immigrants who enter the United States as minors. I will mainly use it

to demonstrate the mental pressures students have in school due to the guilt of hiding their status

as undocumented immigrants.