Title

Family Sponsorship and Late-Age Migration in Aging America: Revised and Expanded Estimates of Chained Migration

Author(s)

Stacie Carr Stacie Carr (Princeton University)

Marta Tienda Marta Tienda (Princeton University)

Abstract

We use the Immigrants Admitted to the United States (micro-data) supplemented with special tabulations from the Department of Homeland Security to examine how family reunification impacts the age composition of new immigrant cohorts since 1980. We develop a family migration multiplier measure for the period 1981 to 2009 that improves on prior studies by including IRCA immigrants and relaxing unrealistic assumptions required by synthetic cohort measures. Results show that every 100 initiating immigrants admitted between 1981-85 sponsored an average of 260 family members; the comparable figure for initiating immigrants for the 1996-2000 cohort is 345 family members. Furthermore, the number of family migrants ages 50 and over rose from 44 to 74 per 100 initiating migrants. The discussion considers the health and welfare implications of late-age migration in a climate of growing fiscal restraint and an aging native population.

Creation Date

2012-04

Section URL ID

CHWB

Paper Number

April2012

URL

https://drive.google.com/a/princeton.edu/file/d/0BwjFN4HbBrDBMnNnY0pVZll2N1E/view

File Function

Jel

D120, D630, I000, I320, J150

Keyword(s)

immigration, family reunification, security, age, health

Suppress

false

Series

9