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HV4011.U5D72 2004
362.8–dc22 2004009662
 About the Editors

Diane Drachman, PhD, is Associate Professor at the University of

Connecticut School of Social Work. The grants she received from the
National Institute of Mental Health and the Office of Refugee Resettlement
have enabled her to develop curriculum on social work practice with
immigrant and refugee populations; to work with and publish on varied
immigrant and refugee groups; and to develop a generic framework aimed
at understanding immigrant and refugee populations as well as
understanding the individual or family in the context of migration. Her
recent publications synthesize social work knowledge with immigration
law, immigration history and migration studies. She teaches courses on
direct practice with individuals and families and social work practice with
immigrants and refugees. As a practitioner, she has worked in many regions
of the United States in public welfare settings, family and children’s service
agencies, and community mental health organizations.

Ana Paulino, EdD, is Associate Professor at Hunter College School of

Social Work, City University of New York. She serves as a consulting
editor for the Journal of Teaching in Social Work and is a former consulting
editor for the Journal of Multicultural Social Work. Dr. Paulino is a
Consultant for private and governmental mental health agencies and has
extensive experience in child welfare, family services, health, and mental
health. She is a member of various community and professional Advisory
Boards. She is a former recipient of several training grants from the state
and city government for programs focusing on cultural competence, child
welfare, and mental health issues. Her research and writing have focused on
the areas of immigration, Dominican families in the United States, death
and dying, spirituality, and community mental health. She teaches in the
area of Social Casework, Social Work Practice with Families, Clinical
Casework Practice with Children, Social Work Practice in School Settings,
and Human Behavior & the Social Environment. She serves as chairperson
for Children, Youth, and Families Area of Specialization.
Immigrants and Social Work: Thinking
Beyond the Borders of the United States

Contents

Foreword
Jeanne M. Giovannoni

Introduction: Thinking Beyond United States’ Borders

Diane Drachman
Ana Paulino

Immigration in the Life Histories of Women Living in the United States-

Mexico Border Region
Raquel R. Marquez
Yolanda C. Padilla

Armenian Refugees and Displaced Persons and the Birth of Armenian

Social Work
Nancy A. Humphreys
Ludmila Haroutunian

Strengthening the Link: Social Work with Immigrants and Refugees and
International Social Work
Lynne M. Healy
Neither Here Nor There: Puerto Rican Circular Migration
Gregory Acevedo

On the Age Against the Poor: Dominican Migration to the United States
Ramona Hernández

Return Migration: An Overview

Charles Guzzetta

Mexican Immigrants: “Would You Sacrifice Your Life for a Job?”

Maria Zuniga

An East-West Approach to Serving Chinese Immigrants in a Mental

Health Setting
Irene Chung
Florence Samperi

Conclusion
Diane Drachman
Ana Paulino

Index
 Foreword
The American profession of social work developed largely around the
provision of services to immigrants. The writings of early pioneers in
various fields of practice tell us of the importance of immigrant status.
Charles Loring Brace, a founder of foster care headed the chapters in his
book, “The Dangerous Classes of New York City and Twenty Years Work
Among Them,” according to the national origins of the children whose
characteristics he described. Mary Richmond in her research reports to the
Russell Sage Foundation on Charity Organization Societies’ work among
families similarly identified the groups served by the country of origin. In
Jane Addams, Twenty Years at Hull House, she tells of the intense
concentration of settlement house work among immigrants and ethnic
enclaves. A consistent goal of these diverse social work efforts was the
achievement of acculturation of the immigrants and their eventual
assimilation into mainstream America. Given the enormous barriers of
distance and expense, most of these immigrants were unlikely to maintain
close and consistent ties to their home-lands.
Twentieth century social work, while following this traditional course,
was evolving at the same time that the patterns of immigration were
becoming increasingly diverse and complex. The evolving United States
immigration laws and policies added to this complexity with their
Byzantine array of multiple economic and political motivations. The
reasons for migration and the conditions of the countries of origin varied
greatly as did the accompanying experiences of the immigrants themselves.
In previous work, Drachman and her colleagues have given the profession
valuable directives for the adaptation of social work intervention to these
ever changing complexities. They have stressed the importance of
understanding not just the experience of immigrating but also the varying
pre-migration situations and experiences of these individuals. Beyond the
common subjective experiences of migration, i.e., the pain of separation
and the angst of newcomer adaptation–the pre-migratory experiences can
strongly influence subsequent adjustments.
 In this volume, Drachman and Paulino expand this perspective. The
importance of the continuing relationship of immigrants to their home-land
and their significant others there has now taken on new dimensions. For
many, perhaps most, the concept of a linear model of acculturation and
assimilation is no longer valid. This volume provides a rich resource, a new
conceptualization of the variables involved in the diversity and complexities
of the patterns of relationships to the country of origin which are the present
day reality. Personal relationships are interdependent within enlarged family
systems, transcending borders. Now, for many, travel and visitation are an
integral part of life. Beyond this complexity there are myriad variations,
both symbolic and instrumental, imposed by the political and economic
ecologies in which these relationships are enmeshed.
This volume offers extraordinarily useful conceptual tools for
understanding these complexities. Beyond the conceptual schemes which
tie the contributors’ works together, each of the individual pieces offers
intriguing applications to the real world of practice, both micro and macro,
and across several fields of practice as well as insightful suggestions for
future research.
The work is crucially timely. For any who have had doubts that
globalization is upon us, reading this volume will dispel any such doubts.
This volume should prove to be genuinely helpful to the profession in
adapting to this new and challenging environment, the environment that
constitutes the life space of a longstanding social work clientele.
Jeanne M. Giovannoni, PhD
Professor Emerita of Social Welfare
University of California, Los Angeles

[Haworth co-indexing entry note]: “Foreword.” Giovannoni, Jeanne M. Co-published

simultaneously in Journal of Immigrant & Refugee Services (The Haworth Social Work Practice
Press, an imprint of The Haworth Press) Vol. 2, No. 1/2, 2004, pp. xv-xvi; and: Immigrants and
Social Work: Thinking Beyond the Borders of the United States (ed: Diane Drachman, and Ana
Paulino) The Haworth Social Work Practice Press, an imprint of The Haworth Press, Inc., 2004, pp.
xi-xii. Single or multiple copies of this article are available for a fee from The Haworth Document
Delivery Service [1-800-HAWORTH, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (EST). E-mail address:
[email protected]].

http://www.haworthpress.com/web/JIRS
© 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
Digital Object Identifier: 10.1300/J191v02n01
 Introduction: Thinking Beyond United States’
Borders
Diane Drachman
Ana Paulino

SUMMARY. The United States social work literature on immigrants

and immigration emphasizes one part of the migration process–the
experiences of immigrants in this country. However, experiences in the
country of origin that lead to emigration receive limited attention.
Knowledge of the latter ultimately provides a context for
understanding the immigration experience. This introduction, Thinking
Beyond United States’ Borders, presents the underlying ideas that
provide the foundation for the discussions in this volume. It focuses on
the interconnectedness between immigrants’ country of origin and
destination. Thus, a two-country perspective is embedded in this
discussion and in the articles that follow. [Article copies available for
a fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service: 1-800-
HAWORTH. E-mail address: <[email protected]>
Website: <http://www.HaworthPress.com> © 2004 by The Haworth
Press, Inc. All rights reserved.]

KEYWORDS. Social work, immigration, immigrants, return

migration, transnationalism

Since 1965, the foreign-born population in the United States has been
arriving from countries in Asia, Central America, the Caribbean, Africa,
Eastern Europe and the Middle East. Like immigrants who arrived in
previous waves, many have adapted well and made significant contributions
to their new land. The process of migration, however, includes multiple
stresses such as leaving one’s family, friends, community and homeland.
Upon arrival in the new country, immigrants need to obtain housing and
employment, secure education for their children, learn a new language and
ultimately become familiar with the ways of thinking and behaving of the
people in their new land. These circumstances can be debilitating and
render the population vulnerable and at risk for social, psychological,
health, economic, legal, housing and employment problems.
Immigrants and refugees have been seen by social workers in the varied
service settings in which they work such as community agencies, health and
mental health organizations, schools, institutions in the welfare and justice
systems, and in the work place. To understand their experiences,
consideration of both emigration and immigration is necessary. According
to the classical explanation of population movements, migration is the result
of push and pull forces of sending and receiving countries. This explanation
assumes that emigration and immigration are parts of a unitary process.
Push forces from the country of origin commonly include political
upheavals, severe economic circumstances, limited educational opportunity
and social problems, such as persecution or discriminatory practices against
an individual or group. Pull forces in the receiving country are generally
economic, social or educational as immigrants anticipate better
opportunities in these areas of life in their new country.
The United States’ (U.S.) social work literature on immigrants and
immigration, however, emphasizes one part of the migration process–the
experiences of immigrants in this country. It focuses on specific groups
such as immigrants from Asia, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and Latinos.
Cultural phenomena and family issues are also examined. Although these
issues are important for understanding immigrant populations and providing
services to them, this emphasis by-passes a significant dimension of the
migration process–i.e., experiences associated with emigration. Thus,
occurrences in the country of origin such as the departure experiences
which can be abrupt, violent, or involve a long wait prior to leaving,
decisions regarding who should leave and who would be left behind,
community and family supports for emigration (or lack thereof), economic,
social and political factors surrounding emigration, expectations for life in
the new land and the multiple stresses unique to this phase of migration
receive scant attention. Knowledge of the above would not only broaden
social work understanding of the migratory process, it would also provide a
context for understanding the immigration experience.
 Historical and sociological analyses have widened and modified our
understanding of the influences on migration beyond the macro push-pull
forces of the classical explanation (Yans-McLaughlin, 1990; Tilly, 1990).
These explanations of emigration and immigration incorporate notions of
support networks, communities, and families in both sending and receiving
countries. They discuss their influence on decisions to migrate, the point of
destination, and the degree of adaptation to the new country. They also
emphasize linkages between support networks in both sending and
receiving countries (Tilly, 1990). For example, support networks in the old
country that are connected to networks in the new country may enable
recent immigrants to secure housing, employment, or other needed services.
Network structures also facilitate an understanding of a recent
phenomenon in migration: transnationalism. Transnationalism refers to
migrating populations whose networks, activities, and patterns of life
encompass both home and host countries (Glick-Schiller, Basch, Blanc
Szanton, 1992; Charles, 1992; Wiltshire, 1992). Transnational immigrants
are therefore individuals whose lives and networks cut across national
boundaries and whose social fields exist in two countries.
Many recent arrivals from Mexico, Guatemala, India, Pakistan, Africa,
and the Caribbean are transnational immigrants. They often return to their
home country for visits. Some return for long periods. Many send
remittances to family members. Their contacts with families in the home
country may involve them in decision making on health care or the
education of children. While visiting, they may take part in political, social
or religious activities. Concurrently, these immigrants are involved with
their U.S. families. They are involved in the U.S. schools their children
attend. They are involved in their places of employment, religious
organizations, and ethnic communities in the U.S.
Networks of transnational immigrants benefit individuals and families in
both sending and receiving countries. For example, family members in the
home country often provide care for those children who do not migrate with
their parent(s). Remittances from immigrants supplement the incomes of
those who remain behind while networks in the new land commonly
provide concrete help and social support for recent arrivals. Knowledge of
the two-country experience, therefore, is necessary to adequately
understand and provide services to the transnational immigrant population.
 Recent attention is also paid to the phenomenon of return migration.
Return migrants are persons who emigrate, live in a new country for years,
and ultimately return to reside in their native land. In a recent description of
Jamaican return migrants, the “returnees” indicate their fellow Jamaicans
perceive them as nationals from the country to which they emigrated (John
Small personal communication, 1999). Thus, they are viewed as either
American, Canadian or English, etc., as they carry the behavior and ways of
thinking of people from those countries. Although the “returnees”
acknowledge they acquire some ways of thinking that are similar to the
natives of those countries, they also view themselves both culturally and
nationally as Jamaican. Ultimately they describe their experiences as
“foreigners” in the country to which they emigrated and as “foreigners” in
their homeland upon their return (John Small, personal communication,
1999). Similar to transnationals, it is necessary for social workers to
understand the two-country experiences of the returnees in order to
understand the phenomenon of return migration.
Changes in U.S. immigration law have a significant influence on the lives
of many immigrants in the U.S. The changes also impact the families of
immigrants who remain in the home countries. Furthermore, they create
social and economic difficulties in the sending countries. Specifically, the
1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act
(IIRIRA) establishes new provisions which result in the deportation of
many individuals. Prior to the IIRIRA, immigrants who were issued an
order of deportation had the right to appeal the order through judicial
review. The new provisions, however, remove this right for classes of
immigrants: persons convicted of an aggravated felony offense, persons
convicted of an offense involving drugs, convictions for domestic violence,
stalking, child abuse, child neglect, child abandonment, violations against
immigration law and misdemeanors such as shoplifting (Medina, 1997).
This feature of the law is also retroactive. Thus, an immigrant who
committed an offense years ago is subject to immediate deportation despite
the many years following the conviction when the individual raised a
family, was consistently employed and led a productive life.
The deportation of many of these individuals has catastrophic affects on
the families who remain in the U.S. Some families lose the income of the
primary wage earner. Children are separated from a parent. Wives and
husbands are separated from each other. Older adult parents are separated
from their adult children.
The countries of origin where the deportees have been sent also
experience difficulties due to the number of deportees they must absorb.
Jamaica and other Caribbean countries, for example, do not have
employment opportunities to accommodate the numbers that have arrived.
Finally, the families who remained in the country of origin are negatively
affected as they lose a significant source of their income since they no
longer receive the remittances that were previously sent.
After the September 11, 2001 attack on the World Trade Center and the
Pentagon, the U.S. responded legislatively with the passage of the Uniting
and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to
Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act (USA Patriot Act). This legislation has
a significant impact on immigrants living in the U.S. and their families
living in their home countries. The law cedes to the Justice Department
broad surveillance and detention powers over persons suspected of
terrorism. Under the Act, a non-citizen can be detained for 7 days without
being charged with either a criminal or immigration violation. If the non-
citizen is charged with an immigration violation, he/she is subject to
mandatory detention while removal proceedings are pending. The
individual has no right to the evidence that supports the charge. The
individual also has no right of counsel to contest the charge (Chang 2001;
Liptak, 2003; Shenon, 2003). On the basis of secret information immigrants
may therefore experience long detention stays without judicial review.
In the weeks and months after the September 11th attacks, 762 people
were arrested. Although most of these individuals violated an immigration
law such as visa overstay or illegal entry into the country, none were
charged with a terror related crime (Lichtblau, 2003). According to an
investigation of the Justice Department’s actions, it was reported there was
“little effort to distinguish legitimate terrorist suspects from others picked
up in roundups of illegal immigrants” (Shenon, 2003). Many individuals
were detained for a month or longer without being told why they were
being held. Furthermore, detention centers routinely blocked efforts by
detainees’ families and lawyers to locate them (Liptak, 2003). Thus,
families of the detainees living in the U.S. and those living in their home
countries could not find or contact their detained relatives. Ultimately the
lives of immigrants are influenced by the policies, circumstances and events
that exist in both the sending and receiving countries.
To broaden social work knowledge in the area of migration, this volume
focuses on the interconnectedness between immigrants’ country of origin
and destination. Thus, a two-country perspective is embedded in the
analysis of the migration experience discussed by the authors in the volume.
This focus facilitates thinking beyond a U.S. context when providing
services to individuals, families and groups, designing and developing
service programs, community organizing, policy analysis, political practice,
and research.
The ideas described in the above section are illustrated in the qualitative
research of Drs. Marquez and Padilla who describe and analyze the
immigration stories of low income Mexican women living on both sides of
the U.S./Mexico border. The study is framed within the view of migration
as a process versus migration as an event. As the authors state, the life
stories of the women provide a “snapshot along a continuum of processes
that are involved in migration.” Embedded in the work is the
interrelationship between issues and events that occur in the country/region
of origin with those that occur in the country or region of resettlement.
Drs. Humphreys and Haroutunian discuss the Armenian diaspora and the
return of Armenian refugees (or children of refugees) from the diaspora to
the new republic of Armenia. These individuals, who are citizens of other
countries, returned to Armenia to assist displaced persons who survived a
massive earthquake in the newly formed country. The development of
voluntary social services and a school of social work in Armenia is in part
the result of their contributions. The discussion ultimately illustrates the
interconnection between peoples’ native land and “new” land, and the
interaction among institutions in the homeland and “new” land that emerge
out of migration.
The historic and current connection between international social work
and practice with immigrants and refugees presented by Dr. Healy assumes
knowledge that extends beyond U.S. borders. The experiences of the
transnational family whose members live in separate countries some times
living apart for years and who often re-unify are examined within a dual
lens of home and “host” countries. The remittances which immigrants send
to families in the home country are also examined in the context of the
sending and receiving countries.
 The back and forth movement of individuals from the island of Puerto
Rico to the U.S. mainland is examined by Dr. Acevedo under the concept of
circular migration. Highlighted are the macro forces in the two lands that
generate circular migration. The influence of this type of migration on
family life and structure has implications for practice with this population
as well as policy considerations.
The discussion of migration from the Dominican Republic presented by
Dr. Hernández is examined within an historical context. Attention is paid to
the historical interconnectedness of changing political, economic and social
forces in both the sending country of the Dominican Republic and the
receiving country of the United States. Thus a longitudinal view of the
interconnectedness of two countries’ policies regarding migration is
presented.
Dr. Guzzetta explores the phenomenon of return migration, i.e., persons
who return to their homeland after having lived in the country of destination
for a significant period of time. Important questions regarding the definition
of return migrants are raised. For example, are trans-national and circular
immigrants also return migrants? These definitional issues are relevant for
social workers as it is likely that individuals and families’ experiences
associated with transnational and circular migration are different from each
other and different from persons who return to their homeland as retirees.
The challenging experiences of undocumented Mexican immigrants
when departing from their native country and the challenges they encounter
in the receiving country of the U.S. are presented by Dr. Zuniga. The
description of the two-country experiences, which are life threatening for
some people, provides social workers with useful background information
for assessment of individuals’ mental health and social functioning. The
economic factors of business cycles and labor needs and their influence on
the lives of undocumented immigrants and their families in the sending
country and in the receiving country of the U.S. are also examined. Useful
practice approaches are discussed in the context of the above issues and in
the context of U.S. policies that affect the undocumented immigrant
population.
Dr. Chung and Ms. Samperi’s discussion of the philosophy, design, and
helping approach of a program that serves a Chinese immigrant population
suffering from chronic mental illness illustrates the integration of an “East-
West” mode of service delivery. The unique meaning and experience of
emigration and the meaning of mental illness held by the Chinese
immigrant clients and their families are incorporated in the helping milieu.
Similarly, United States’ views and ways of approaching mental “illness”
are introduced. Thus, service delivery is rooted in the views of people from
both the country of origin and destination.
Finally, the discussions in this volume with their focus on sending and
receiving countries are presented within different domains of social work.
Policy analysis explains forces embedded in Puerto Rican and Dominican
migration. Mental health issues that derive from the traumatic events
experienced by undocumented Mexican immigrants are identified. The
description of a cross national collaboration between educators in the U.S.
and Armenia provide information on social work curriculum development.
The discussion of return migration facilitates teaching and learning about a
phase in the migration process. The migration experiences of women living
in U.S./Mexico border towns obtained from qualitative research provide
insights into the unique and individual stories of women in migration. In a
discussion of international social work, we learn about the transnational
family. Finally, a culturally consonant mode of service delivery is portrayed
in the description of a program designed for Chinese immigrants.

References
Chang, N. (2001). The U.S.A. Patriot Act. Center for Constitutional Rights. Retrieved September 18,
2002, from http://ccr-ny.org/what’snew/usa patriot act.
Charles, C.(1992). Transnationalism in the construct of Haitian migrants’ racial categories of identity
in New York City. In N. Glick-Schiller, L. Basch, & C. Blanc-Szanton (Eds.) Towards a
transnational perspective on migration: Race, class, ethnicity and nationalism reconsidered (pp.
101-123). New York: New York Academy of Sciences.
Glick-Schiller, N., Basch, L., & Blanc-Szanton, C. (1992). Transnationalism: A new analytic
framework for understanding migration. In N. Glick-Schiller, L. Basch, & C. Blanc-Szanton
(Eds.) Towards a transnational perspective on migration: Race, class, ethnicity and nationalism
reconsidered (pp. 1-24). New York: New York Academy of Sciences.
Lichtblau, E. (2003). U.S. report faults the roundup of illegal immigrants after 9/11. New York Times,
June 3, PA1.
Liptak, A. (2003). For jailed immigrants a presumption of guilt. New York Times, June 3, PA18.
Medina, I. (1997). Judicial review–A nice thing? Article III, Separation of Powers and the Illegal
Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996. Connecticut Law Review, 29(4),
1525-1563. University of Connecticut School of Law.
Shenon, P. (2003). Report on U.S. antiterrorism law alleges violations of civil rights. New York
Times, July 21, PA1.
Small, J. (1999). Personal communication.
Tilly, C. (1990). Transplanted networks. In V. Yans-McLaughlin (Ed.). Immigration reconsidered:
History, sociology and politics (pp. 79-95). New York, New York: Oxford University Press.
Wiltshire, R. (1992). Implications of transnational migration for nationalism: The Caribbean
example. In N. Glick-Schiller, L. Basch, & C. Blanc-Szanton (Eds.) Towards a transnational
perspective on migration: Race, class, ethnicity and national ism reconsidered (pp. 175-188).
New York: New York Academy of Science.
Yans-McLaughlin, V. (1990). Introduction. In V. Yans-McLaughlin (Ed.). Immigration reconsidered:
History, sociology and politics (pp. 3-18). New York: Oxford University Press.

Diane Drachman, PhD, is Associate Professor, University of Connecticut

School of Social Work.
Ana Paulino, EdD, is Associate Professor and Chair, Children, Youth, and
Families Field of Practice/Specialization, Hunter College School of Social
Work.
[Haworth co-indexing entry note]: “Introduction: Thinking Beyond United States’ Borders.”
Drachman, Diane, and Ana Paulino. Co-published simultaneously in Journal of Immigrant &
Refugee Services (The Haworth Social Work Practice Press, an imprint of The Haworth Press) Vol. 2,
No. 1/2, 2004, pp. 1-9; and: Immigrants and Social Work: Thinking Beyond the Borders of the United
States (ed: Diane Drachman, and Ana Paulino) The Haworth Social Work Practice Press, an imprint
of The Haworth Press, Inc., 2004, pp. 1-9. Single or multiple copies of this article are available for a
fee from The Haworth Document Delivery Service [1-800-HAWORTH, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. (EST).
E-mail address: [email protected]].

http://www.haworthpress.com/web/JIRS
© 2004 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.
Digital Object Identifier: 10.1300/J191v02n01_01