LERC announces the release of a new report: “A State of Immigrants”: A New Look at the Immigrant Experience in Oregon. The book was edited by LERC Director, Bob Bussel and produced by LERC Staff.
The politics of immigration in Oregon has continued to evolve in the direction of creating a more welcoming environment for immigrants and refugees. Written by scholars from Oregon’s three major research universities (University of Oregon, Oregon State University, and Portland State University, the report documents the many contributions (economic, social, civic, cultural, political) that immigrants and refugees are making in Oregon’s workplaces and communities, identifies the challenges immigrants and refugees face in adapting to their new environment, and highlights the efforts by immigrants and community-based institutions to help newcomers become acclimated and achieve a greater sense of acceptance and belonging.
With increasing public awareness about the critical role immigrants have played as essential workers during COVID-19 and growing concern about systemic inequality, this research is especially relevant and timely. It offers analysis of a state grappling with the legacy of its often exclusionary past and its attempts to embrace the possibilities of an inclusionary future.