Introduction

This chapter provides an understanding of the increasing diversification of the Latin American immigrant population in the United States. Due to the Central American political and economic crisis Los Angeles has the largest concentration of Central Americans outside Central America. The chapter aims to compare selected case studies of Guatemalan immigrant women who decided to immigrate with cases where the women did not make their own decision to immigrate to the United States. It also provides an understanding of the conditions in Guatemala that prompted their migration. Feminist immigration theory proposes three components for the analysis of female migration: socioeconomic reasons, familial reasons and gender role constraints. The chapter focuses on a range of conditions that perpetuate Guatemalan women's immigration to the United States such as their personal, marital and familial relationships; gender-role constraints; the socioeconomic and political situations in Guatemala. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.