The third alternative: Latino immigration from the United States to Canada, 1980 to 2009

Abstract

Using a 30-year time series of national-level data, this study examines the determinants of immigration from the United States to Canada among those whose mother tongue is Spanish. Our results reveal that over the last three decades, Spanish mother-tongue immigrants to Canada increasingly originate from the United States. The trend exhibits two basic patterns. Over the long term, there is a rise in Spanish mother-tongue immigrants coming to Canada from the US, which, in a multivariate context, appears to be linked to the rise in the proportion of Latinos in the US population, as well as to the rise in anti-immigration sentiment in the United States. In the short term, such immigration appears to rise in response to economic recessions and to antiimmigration legislation in the United States. Implications of these findings are discussed.