A Policy Approach to Overcome Pre-Immigration Barriers to Participation in the Latinx Immigrant Community

Abstract

Policies to encourage socio-political participation of Latinx immigrants in the United States heavily rely on the primacy of assimilation processes resulting from immigrants’ exposure to the American political system alone. However, this approach overlooks the potential layers of complexity fostered by pre-immigration factors and how these interact with immigrants’ experiences in the U.S. We conduct a multinomial logit analysis using data from the 2006 Latino National Survey and emergent research on the impact of pre-immigration experiences to determine what factors can both activate participation and be influenced by institutions and policy makers in the U.S. Though we find that low levels of socio-political participation among Latinx immigrants strongly correlate with low levels of pre-immigration participation, for the outlier cases we analyze what factors contribute to increase participation once in the U.S. Results demonstrate the need for political parties and organizations to increase the long-term investment in young Latinx immigrants.

Latinx Pre-Immigration Ideological Preferences and Party Identification in the United States

“…Similar connections to home country preferences by immigrants in a new context have been observed for American arrivals to Australia (Finifter & Finifter, 1989), different immigrant populations in Canada (Black, 1987), as well as Mexican immigrants to the United States (M. Jones-Correa, 2016;Rodriguez et al, 2020;Wals, 2011). Our results are strongly validated by the findings in these studies.…”

“…Scholars have underscored that immigrants whose world views are learned from and supported by their experiences in their countries of origin, will carry them over into the United States (Rodriguez et al, 2020;Wals, 2011Wals, , 2013. For example, immigrants' trust in their country of origin's government increases the prospects of trusting the American government (M. Jones-Correa, 2016;Wals, 2011).…”

“…Most interesting is the emergence of a new criterion for liberals to choose a party in the United States: concern for all social groups. This manifests a new condition for many Latinx individuals, whereby, upon migrating to the United States, they experience a disadvantaged status (M. Jones-Correa, 1998;Rodriguez et al, 2020;Echeverria-Estrada et al 2020;Dipasquale et al 2021;Ye & Rodriguez, 2021) that they share with other racial or ethnic communities that may not have necessarily existed, or been directly acknowledged, in their countries of origin. Thus, Latinx individuals look for a party that responds to this condition.…”

“…Most adult immigrants will need to focus on entering the workforce, for example, and not on continuing their education. Indeed, Rodriguez et al (2020) show that immigrants bring with them country-of-origin factors that may impede or foster their socio-political incorporation once in the United States.…”

“…Immigrants bring resources with them, not just material resources but also political experiences, views, and knowledge (McCann et al, 2009; Portes et al, 2009; Rodriguez et al, 2020). One such experience is their relationship to political parties.…”