Woodrow Wilson Center and UCSC Report: ‘Invisible No More: Mexican Migrant Civic Participation in the United States’

“Over 11 million people in the United States were born in Mexico — roughly three percent of the U.S. population and nine percent of Mexico’s total population. Mexican migrants have become important political and civic actors as they are increasingly participating in existing U.S. civic organizations, and have created hundreds of new migrant-led organizations as well. Mexicans formed a majority of participants in many of the cities where immigrants protested for comprehensive immigration reform, moving from being subjects of policy reform to having a voice of their own in the debate. Never before had Mexican migrants taken such a visible role in a national policy discussion.

On Aug. 17, the Mexico Institute of the Woodrow Wilson Center will release the report Invisible No More: Mexican Migrant Civic Participation in the United States with a press conference via telephone with the authors. This publication is the result of a two-day conference held on Nov. 4 to 5, 2005, in which migrant and civic leaders and researchers gathered from around the United States and Mexico to discuss the role of Mexican migrants in civic and political life in the United States. The report, co- published with the Department of Latin American and Latino Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, analyzes the consolidation of migrant-led organizations and their relationships with traditional Latino organizations; the insertion of Mexican immigrants in traditional U.S. civic organizations, including churches and unions; and the role of Spanish-language media in migrant communities. The report also addresses naturalization and voting patterns among those born in Mexico.

The press conference will take place at 1 p.m. ETD (10 a.m. PST) in Spanish, and then again at 2 p.m. ETD (11 a.m. PST) in English. Report authors will briefly introduce the report and take questions: Jonathan Fox of the University of California, Santa Cruz; Xochitl Bada of Notre Dame University; Gaspar Rivera- Salgado of the New Americans Immigration Museum and Learning Center; and David Ayon of Loyola Marymount University. Andrew Selee of the Wilson Center’s Mexico Institute will moderate.

Those interested should RSVP to Kate Brick at kate.brick@wilsoncenter.org or 202-691-4050. To participate in the conference call at 1 p.m. in Spanish, call 888-398-1687 in the United States or 210-234-0009 if you are outside the U.S. To participate in the 2 p.m. call in English, call 888-809-8965 in the United States or 210-234-0000 from outside the U.S. The password for all calls is MEXICO.

The report will be available on the Mexico Institute webpage on the morning of Aug. 17 at http://www.wilsoncenter.org/mexico and copies will be sent to all press conference participants.”

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