About

Amada Armenta is an associate professor of urban planning at UCLA Luskin. She is involved in research related to Latino policy and politics, with a focus on issues such as wage disparities among Latinas in the U.S. workforce. Armenta has contributed to a nationwide data analysis by the UCLA Latino Policy and Politics Institute, highlighting the systemic undervaluation of Latinas and the disparities in their median hourly wages compared to other groups. She emphasizes the importance of fair pay for Latinas and women in strengthening families and communities, and she has been quoted discussing the broader implications of these disparities for the future of the nation.

Research topics

• Political Science
• Computer Science
• Sociology
• Medicine
• Psychology
• Family medicine
• Nursing

Selected publications

• Work and identity in direct selling: meaning from work and exploitation in an undocumented immigrant network

  Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies · 2023-06-06 · 2 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  This article examines the work identities of undocumented Mexican immigrants in the direct selling industry, an alternative work arrangement in which they selling branded products and recruit others to join them as sales consultants. Drawing on qualitative research with undocumented direct sellers in Philadelphia, this research shows that direct selling pays in meaningful work and new identities, rather than in wages. While existing research documents the importance of hard worker identities for undocumented immigrants coping with structural marginality, undocumented direct sellers believe their work offers autonomy, education, and geographic mobility. Ultimately, multi-level marketing companies profit from undocumented workers’ precarity by promising freedom from work and from the struggles of enduring illegality.

  PublisherDOI

• The Sanctuary City: Immigrant, Refugee, and Receiving Communities in Postindustrial Philadelphia <b> <i>The Sanctuary City: Immigrant, Refugee, and Receiving Communities in Postindustrial Philadelphia</i> </b> Domenic Vitiello (2022). Cornell University Press, 292 pages. $26.95 (paperback) or open-access (e-book)

  Journal of the American Planning Association · 2023-05-09

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  "The Sanctuary City: Immigrant, Refugee, and Receiving Communities in Postindustrial Philadelphia." Journal of the American Planning Association, ahead-of-print(ahead-of-print), pp. 1–3

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Immigration and Job Quality

  Oxford University Press eBooks · 2022-08-18 · 1 citations

  book-chapter1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract Immigrant workers are amongst the most vulnerable labourers in the workforce. Although immigrants comprise a significant portion of various employment sectors, immigrant workers often endure uneven access to workplace protections, challenges related to language ability and human capital, and discrimination at work and in the communities in which they live. Understanding immigrants’ labour market experiences is key to understanding the experiences of other marginal workers who either lack key protections or struggle to access them due to their structural positions. This chapter reviews the interdisciplinary literature on job quality for immigrant workers and presents data from a case study of Latino immigrant workers in Philadelphia. We consider how legal status and gender jointly impact immigrant workers. More specifically, we examine the challenges that immigrant women face in obtaining formal and informal job opportunities, negotiating power at work, and contesting workplace protections when violations occur. Lastly, we discuss the defining factors shaping their precarious work lives, as well as the moments of agency they exert at work and beyond.

  PublisherDOI

• <i>Stagnant dreamers: How the inner city shapes the integration of second-generation Latinos</i>, by María G. Rendón

  Journal of Urban Affairs · 2021-10-06

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• 4. Seeing and Not Seeing Immigration: Immigrant Outreach in an Era of Proactive Policing

  2020-12-31

  book-chapterOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• References

  2020-12-31

  book-chapterOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• 2. Setting Up the Local Deportation Regime

  2020-12-31

  book-chapterOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  When I got here it's like, at that time we had access to a driver's license without a social security number and there were more services available.It was less difficult than now.There was a radical change.You could feel the change, there were more laws affecting us, they took away programs that benefited the undocumented community, and since then we have felt anti-immigrant sentiment more.Jesús, a Mexican immigrant who owned a popular Mexican restaurant, attributed the backlash to immigrants' expanded visibility in the city.On March 29, 2006, thousands of Latino immigrants and their supporters marched for immigrants' rights in downtown Nashville.The Nashville march occurred in response to a proposed federal immigration law that would have criminalized undocumented immigrants by making living in the United States without authorization a felony.Immigrant advocacy networks across the United States organized against the bill, and marches for immigrant justice occurred in more than 140 cities across thirty-nine states.Building on the momentum of the marches, organizers called for a national day of boycott on May 1, 2006, and urged immigrants and their supporters to demonstrate their importance to

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• 6. Punishing Illegality

  2020-12-31

  book-chapterOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• 4. Seeing and Not Seeing Immigration: Immigrant Outreach in an Era of Proactive Policing

  2020-12-31

  book-chapterOpen access1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Perinatal outcomes among Venezuelan immigrants in Colombia: A cross-sectional study

  European Journal of Public Health · 2020-09-01

  articleOpen access

  Abstract Introduction In the last decade, Venezuela suffers a humanitarian crisis, leading to massive emigration to border countries, including Colombia. One of the most vulnerable migrant groups is pregnant women. They face social and economic challenges, in addition to the barriers to access public health care services. These circumstances might increase adverse perinatal outcomes. This study aims to analyse the perinatal outcomes of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia and determine if the migration factor impacts on the perinatal results. Methods Data were obtained from the 2017 Colombian national birth register (n = 1,085 births in Venezuelan migrants and n = 654,829 in Colombian women). The premature birth (PB), low birth weight (LBW), 1-minute, and 5-minute Apgar score were compared to identify any association with the demographic, obstetric and neonatal characteristics, considering motheŕs origin as the primary exposure variable. Logistic regression models were used for the binary outcomes and linear regression models for continuous outcomes. Results The main difference was found in the low prevalence in health insurance coverage among Venezuelan women in comparison to natives (2.5% vs. 86.4%), and antenatal care visits (Mean 3.35±2.60 vs. 6.37±2.56). Venezuelan women were more likely to have newborns with LBW (OR 1.27; 95%CI 1.01, 1.58), lower Apgar scores at 1-minute (ß -0.09; 95%CI -0.14, -0.025) and 5-minute (ß -0.13; 95%CI -0.17, -0.08) in comparison to Colombians. Conclusions Our findings support that some neonatal outcomes among the Venezuelan migrants differed significantly from those of the Colombian women. The disadvantages found in health insurance coverage and antenatal care among migrants group were considered influencing factors. More effort among public health policies is needed to allow the migrant population having effective access to health care services, in order to improve the conditions of these women and their offspring. Key messages Pregnant migrant women are a vulnerable group in Colombia, facing health access barriers with neonatal consequences. The action is required by the application and reinforces of inclusive health policies among migrant population in Colombia.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Shannon Gleeson

  Cornell University

  2 shared

• Katharine M. Donato

  Georgetown University

  2 shared

• Irene I. Vega

  1 shared

• Heidy Sarabia

  1 shared

• Héctor Lamadrid‐Figueroa

  Instituto Nacional de Salud Pública

  1 shared

• Chizuko Wakabayashi

  1 shared

• Roger Waldinger

  University of California, Los Angeles

  1 shared

• Melissa Osborne

  Kennesaw State University

  1 shared

Awards & honors

• Honored by Los Angeles City Council