Essays on the Spatial Clustering of Immigrants and Internal Migration within the United States

This dissertation presents a series of essays that examine the spatial clustering of immigrants and internal migration patterns with the United States. The essays are presented in three chapters. The first chapter presents the results of a study that explored immigrant concentration and homicide mortality rates at the neighborhood level in Los Angeles County. The study found that immigrant concentration created a protective effect against homicide mortality at the neighborhood level, even after adjusting for the neighborhood structural factors commonly associated with homicide. The second chapter explored how foreign born population concentrations impacted homicide rates at the county level. Analysis of the data found that an increase in the foreign born population concentration was associated with decreases in the homicide rates at the county level. This finding was most pronounced in the South region of the United States. The third chapter of this dissertation explored the internal migration patterns of Puerto Ricans in the United States and compared the migration patterns of those born in the United States to those born in Puerto Rico. The analysis found that immigrants born in Puerto Rico were less mobile than the Puerto Ricans born in this country who were second and higher generations. In addition, Puerto Ricans born in this country were less likely to be influenced by the presence of Puerto Rican communities when making migration decisions, compared to their first generation counterparts. Tables, figures, maps, and references