Legal admission to the United States is primarily for the purpose of permanent residence or temporary stay. Whereas the number of permanent admissions is only now reaching the levels from the turn of the last century, the total number of temporary admissions today--about 25 million--is about 200 times greater than a century ago. The global economy sends tens of thousands of businessmen and intracompany transferees from Japan and other trading partners to our shores. It sends foreign students to American's preeminent institutions of higher learning. And it supplies specially skilled workers to high-tech employers and unskilled workers to labor in our fields.

The numbers of temporary migrants are unprecedented, yet to date there has been little systematic analysis of their impact. The research brought together in this volume suggests that the overall impact of temporary workers and foreign students is positive. Yet, there are points of friction such as in some institutions of higher learning where foreign postdoctoral students and instructors comprise large proportions of those teaching the sciences and engineering. In high technology research and computer programming, some foreign workers are found in job shops that exploit the foreign worker and underbid competitors on special contracts. The authors suggest policy changes that would combat undesirable outcomes and manage temporary labor in a more productive fashion. In doing so, Lowell and the contributors to this volume break new ground and provide readers with the first book-length study and analysis devoted exclusively to foreign temporary workers in the United States. Their book will be an important source of data and ideas for human resource executives, upper management, and policy decision makers thorougout the public sector.

A small but growing number of immigrants today are moving into new settlement areas, such as Winchester, Va., Greensboro, N.C., and Salt Lake City, Utah, that lack a tradition of accepting newcomers. Just as the process is difficult and distressing for the immigrants, it is likewise a significant cause of stress for the regions in which they settle. Long homogeneous communities experience overnight changes in their populations and in the demands placed on schools, housing, law enforcement, social services, and other aspects of infrastructure. Institutions have not been well prepared to cope. Local governments have not had any significant experience with newcomers and nongovernmental organizations have been overburdened or simply nonexistent. There has been a substantial amount of discussion about these new settlement areas during the past decade, but relatively little systematic examination of the effects of immigration or the policy and programmatic responses to it. Beyond the Gateway is the first effort to bridge the gaps in communication not only between the immigrants and the institutions with which they interact, but also among diverse communities across the United States dealing with the same stresses but ignorant of each others' responses, whether successes or failures.

The need to understand the migration between the United States and Mexico is greater today than at any time in its century long history. Its volume and complexity are greater than most observers might have imagined even a decade ago; and it operates in a context charged with serious human, political, and security challenges. Yet, there is often confusion over the most fundamental questions about the demography, economics, and political nature of the movement and its policy responses. The editors of this book bring together a team of top policy-oriented migration experts from Mexico and the United States to provide an up-to-date analysis leading to grounded policy recommendations for both governments. Their conclusions derive from new analyses as well as from detailed discussions with policy-makers. Contributors assess the main characteristics, trends, and factors influencing Mexico-U.S. migration and recommend actions that should improve migration management, substantially reduce undocumented flows, and refocus Mexican migration into legal channels. Also contained within this book are recommendations of development strategies in Mexico that should reduce mid- to long-term emigration pressures. The book shows that collaboration between the U.S. and Mexico is not only possible, but necessary, as unilateral reforms will continue to fail until both governments act together to regulate the flow, improve conditions for the migrants, and make sure that migration has positive social and economic impacts on both countries.