Obama\u27s Immigration Reform: The Triumph of Executive Action

During the 2008 election, President Barack Obama promised Latino voters that, if elected, he would deliver comprehensive immigration reform including a legalization plan for many if not all of the millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States. However, this reform would require an act of Congress, and Obama failed to deliver during his first term. Yet Obama won an even larger share of the Latino vote in 2012 than he had in 2008. How was this possible? We argue that the Obama administration maintained and expanded its support from Latino voters by exploiting legal possibilities for executive action through four different initiatives, though the first two were unsuccessful and aimed at persuading immigration restrictionists to support comprehensive immigration reform. First, in an effort to build trust with some members of Congress, Obama sought to demonstrate his enforcement of immigration law by increasing deportations over those of his predecessor, George W. Bush. Second, the Obama administration sought to show to restrictionists an increase in the moral worthiness of the undocumented immigrants eligible for legalization by focusing deportations on undocumented persons who had committed crimes. Third, Obama turned his attention to Latino voters, and used executive action to counteract a statutory provision that kept undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens separated for months or years while attempting to adjust to legal status. Last, and most importantly, the administration created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allowed undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children (and met other criteria) to receive work permits and be temporarily exempted from deportation. We explain the legal authorization that allowed these actions, their political context, and their ultimate consequences—most notably the continued support Latino voters offered Obama despite his limited progress on statutory immigration reform and reliance on executive action

Obama\u27s Immigration Reform: The Triumph of Executive Action

During the 2008 election, President Barack Obama promised Latino voters that, if elected, he would deliver comprehensive immigration reform including a legalization plan for many if not all of the millions of undocumented immigrants in the United States. However, this reform would require an act of Congress, and Obama failed to deliver during his first term. Yet Obama won an even larger share of the Latino vote in 2012 than he had in 2008. How was this possible? We argue that the Obama administration maintained and expanded its support from Latino voters by exploiting legal possibilities for executive action through four different initiatives, though the first two were unsuccessful and aimed at persuading immigration restrictionists to support comprehensive immigration reform. First, in an effort to build trust with some members of Congress, Obama sought to demonstrate his enforcement of immigration law by increasing deportations over those of his predecessor, George W. Bush. Second, the Obama administration sought to show to restrictionists an increase in the moral worthiness of the undocumented immigrants eligible for legalization by focusing deportations on undocumented persons who had committed crimes. Third, Obama turned his attention to Latino voters, and used executive action to counteract a statutory provision that kept undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens separated for months or years while attempting to adjust to legal status. Last, and most importantly, the administration created the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which allowed undocumented immigrants who arrived in the United States as children (and met other criteria) to receive work permits and be temporarily exempted from deportation. We explain the legal authorization that allowed these actions, their political context, and their ultimate consequences—most notably the continued support Latino voters offered Obama despite his limited progress on statutory immigration reform and reliance on executive action

Long-term Outcomes of Childhood Family Income Supplements on Adult Functioning

ImportanceDuring an ongoing longitudinal cohort study, a casino opening created a natural cash transfer experiment. Some participating families received income supplements, and others did not. The children in this study are now adults.ObjectiveTo assess the long-term outcomes of family income supplements received in childhood.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsThis community-representative longitudinal cohort study set in western North Carolina assessed 1266 participants aged 9, 11, and 13 years at intake up to 11 times up to age 30 years from January 1993 to December 2015. Data were analyzed from January to December 2021.ExposuresIn 1996, a southeastern American Indian tribe implemented a cash transfer program of approximately $5000 annually per person for tribal members. Participants were compared on whether their family ever received the cash transfers (American Indian vs non–American Indian), the duration of the transfers, and annual amount based on the number of parents.Main Outcomes and MeasuresParticipants were followed up at ages 25 and 30 years to assess mental health symptoms, substance use symptoms, and functional outcomes (physical health, risky or illegal behaviors, and financial and social functioning).ResultsOf 1266 included participants, 320 (25.3%) were American Indian and 581 (49.7%) were female. Participants whose families received cash transfers during childhood reported fewer anxiety symptoms (relative risk [RR], 0.33; 95% CI, 0.25-0.44), depressive symptoms (RR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.42-0.62), and cannabis symptoms (RR, 0.47; 95% CI, 0.27-0.82). They also reported improved physical health (RR, 0.66; 95% CI, 0.55-0.80) and financial functioning (RR, 0.78; 95% CI, 0.67-0.89) and fewer risky or illegal behaviors (RR, 0.57; 95% CI, 0.46-0.72) compared with those who did not receive the cash transfer. This pattern was supported by a series of heterogeneity analyses in which children whose families received the transfers for the longest duration and whose families received the largest transfer (due to having multiple American Indian parents) had the lowest levels of symptoms and the highest levels of functioning.Conclusions and RelevanceIn this natural experiment, a family cash transfer in childhood was associated with positive adult functioning 20 years later. The findings support programs like the child tax credit or universal basic income that provide cash directly to families with children

Longitudinal Patterns of Anxiety From Childhood to Adulthood: The Great Smoky Mountains Study

The aims of this study were twofold: 1) to provide a brief introduction to the prospective, longitudinal Great Smoky Mountains Study and review recent findings; and 2) to use this sample to conduct an epidemiologic analysis of common childhood anxiety disorders

Adult Functional Outcomes of Common Childhood Psychiatric Problems: A Prospective, Longitudinal Study

Psychiatric problems are among the most common health problems of childhood

Are children and adolescents with food allergies at increased risk for psychopathology?

Living with food allergy is a unique and potentially life-threatening stressor that requires constant vigilance to food-related stimuli, but little is known about whether adolescents with food allergies are at increased risk for psychopathology—concurrently and over time

Adult Diagnostic and Functional Outcomes of DSM-5 Disruptive Mood Dysregulation Disorder

Disruptive mood dysregulation disorder is a new disorder for DSM-5 that is uncommon and frequently co-occurs with other psychiatric disorders. Here, we test whether meeting diagnostic criteria for this disorder in childhood predicts adult diagnostic and functional outcomes

Evolution of the Rate and Mode of Star Formation in Galaxies since z=0.7

We present the star formation rate (SFR) and starburst fraction (SBF) for a sample of field galaxies from the ICBS intermediate-redshift cluster survey. We use [O II] and Spitzer 24 micron fluxes to measure SFRs, and 24 micron fluxes and H-delta absorption to measure of SBFs, for both our sample and a present-epoch field sample from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and Spitzer Wide-area Infrared Extragalactic (SWIRE) survey. We find a precipitous decline in the SFR since z=1, in agreement with other studies, as well as a corresponding rapid decline in the fraction of galaxies undergoing long-duration moderate-amplitude starbursts. We suggest that the change in both the rate and mode of star formation could result from the strong decrease since z=1 of gas available for star formation.Comment: ApJ Letters in pres

C-reactive protein and substance use disorders in adolescence and early adulthood: A prospective analysis

Dysregulated immune function and elevated inflammation markers are seen in adults with chronic diseases, including some psychiatric disorders, but evidence on inflammation in the case of drug abuse is conflicting

Children with Both Asthma and Depression Are at Risk for Heightened Inflammation

To test whether children and adolescents with co-occurring asthma and depression are at risk for elevated inflammation—concurrently and at the next assessment