President Ronald Reagan signed the Immigration Reform and Control Act into law in 1986, providing a path to citizenship for around 3 million immigrants living undocumented in the U.S.
Cities across the U.S. were already being transformed by Latin American immigrants. They brought cities back from the brink of urban decline that began in the 1950s, according to historian A.K. Sandoval-Strausz.
In his book, “Barrio America: How Latino Immigrants Saved the American City,” Sandoval-Strausz explored how immigration and housing policies altered urban migration and how millions of Latin American immigrants actively invested in their communities.
“Immigration is incredibly important to the American economy,” Sandoval-Strausz explained. “But unfortunately, there are people who tell themselves and others false stories about immigration.”
Stereotypes about immigrant communities — increased crime rates, economic malaise, drug trafficking, — are challenged in “Barrio America,” and offers new context into the long lasting benefits of immigrant communities in American cities.
This is part two of a two-part conversation. Part one can be listened to here.
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