At the heart of the civil rights movement, shared racial identity generally implied a shared political viewpoint, as blacks overwhelmingly supported the Democratic Party. In the 1990s immigration-reform proposals unified Latinos and Asians in California as well. Yet recent elections indicate that both political parties see minority groups as increasingly up for grabs. Does ethnic and racial identity still have political consequences for contemporary democratic politics in the United States?
Most research on immigrant political life to date has focused on the relationship between an individual’s characteristics (educational attainment, language skills, etc.) and his/her political behavior. But this micro-level observation may obscure the impact of institutional structures and state policies on political participation. What role do organizations and institutions play in fostering political consciousness and involvement in new immigrant groups.
At the turn of the 21st century, Latinos in the United States have become a multi-generational immigrant population, with a majority of first-generation immigrant adults, increasing diversity of national origins, and growing geographic dispersion. A new Latino National Survey (LNS) is currently being developed to gain a better understanding of today’s Latino Americans. One of the realities of Latino immigration today is that it is no longer a phenomenon confined to a select few states in the Southwest.
The emergence of new immigrant groups into U.S. political life is reshaping the nature of political coalitions, which have been crucial in the rise of minority communities to political influence. The old black-white coalitions that marked the rise of African-American politics are beginning to wither in the face of increased immigrant political participation, but we do not yet know what new frameworks are replacing them. How often and in what ways do today’s immigrants forge political alliances? What influences their decision to form coalitions?
The history of immigrant groups in the United States suggests that it can take several decades before immigrants enter into American political life and exert significant influence on local or national politics. History also reveals substantial differences in the speed with which different immigrant groups mobilize politically and establish successful electoral coalitions. The latest wave of immigrants who began to arrive in the mid-1960s has now been in this country long enough to establish roots, but have they begun to establish themselves in the political sphere?
Many scholars of immigration and political science fear that, politically speaking, recent immigrants to the United States lag behind the pace set by early twentieth century immigrants. However, there are other ways in which immigrants gain access to the political system, besides holding electoral office. Today’s immigrants show strong involvement with neighborhood associations and labor unions. In so doing, they may develop the skills and leadership experiences that subsequently enable them to engage in other, more conventional forms of political participation.
Asians and Latinos represent the two fastest growing immigrant groups in the United States, but their participation in formal political processes lags behind their population numbers. While it is true that many are non-citizens, this does not tell the whole story. We know, for example, that Latinos tend to cast their ballots based more on candidates’ positions on specific issues as opposed to party affiliation. Asians are even less likely than blacks or Latinos to have strong party affiliations.
The United States is currently experiencing the largest immigrant and refugee resettlement since the early decades of the twentieth century. Foreign-born newcomers are increasingly heading to southern cities in search of jobs, more affordable housing, safer neighborhoods, and, in some cases, a friendlier welcome. Reactions to immigrants in these communities appear to be mixed, with business and cultural elites praising immigrants for enriching the community, while policy makers, school officials, and social service providers decry the immigrant presence as a strain on local infrastructure.
Mexico is the single most important source of both documented and undocumented migration to the United States. The now twenty-year long Mexican Migration Project (MMP) is a unique source of data that enables researchers to track patterns and processes of contemporary Mexican immigration to the United States. The project is a multi-disciplinary research effort that generates public use data on the characteristics and behavior of Mexican migrants. Every year, the project collects data from representative samples of households in four to six strategically selected Mexican communities.
Throughout American history, political involvement has been essential to immigrants’ full incorporation into public life. But in contrast to the experiences of earlier immigrants, urban political machines and labor unions no longer represent the typical route to political incorporation. What other pathways are open to newcomers? Sociologists Elaine Ecklund and Michael Emerson hypothesize that religious organizations provide immigrants with opportunities to shape their civic identity as Americans, and that civic identity is the prelude to formal political participation.