Are Immigrants Disloyal? The Case of Mexicans in the U.S.*

Conceptualizing American Attitudes toward Immigrants’ Dual Loyalty

“…First, to the extent that immigrants' engagement of dual loyalty is informed by the context of the host environment, an understanding of the social climate of the host community is extremely imperative. More important, without a full understanding of the American people's perception of immigrants' dual loyalty, the controversy over whether immigrants' dual loyalty is either incompatible with or complementary to core American values is theoretically incomplete (Escobar 2004;Huntington 2004;Kozak 2009). What is clear from the findings is that immigrants' dual loyalty also influences nonimmigrant Americans' understanding of the increasing level of global interdependence.…”

“…The central concern in the current literature on immigrant loyalty is the extent to which dual loyalty is perceived to foster divided allegiance between home and host countries (Baron 2009;Faist 2008;Fonte 2005;Huntington 2004;Kozak 2009;Nagel and Staeheli 2004;Stanton et al 2007). The discussion surrounding the nature of immigrants' dual loyalty can be divided into the "incompatibility" and "compatibility" theses.…”

“…According to Stanton et al (2007), Latino immigrants who maintain dual loyalties are less likely to be connected to the American polity and less likely to participate in the American political process. The compatibility thesis instead suggests that dual loyalties and political ties to homeland communities do not necessarily retard political participation or assimilation in the host community and that, in fact, the two activities are complementary (Escobar 2004;Guarnizo, Portes, and Haller 2003;Kozak 2009). More important, the compatibility thesis suggests that understanding the intersection between transnational migration and political loyalties is more complicated than just the incompatibility versus compatibility theses and involves the social contexts of exit and reception as well as individual socioeconomic characteristics (Guarnizo et al 2003;Portes, Escobar, and Arana 2009).…”