Crossing the Border: Latino Attitudes Toward Immigration Policy

Abstract

In the midst of the ongoing and highly polarized immigration debate, it seems that little attention has been paid to how Latinos view efforts to address the issues of undocumented immigrants residing in the United States and enhanced enforcement efforts along the U.S.-Mexico border. Consequently, questions arise as to the degree of support for or rejection of such measures within the Latino community and among the various segments of that community. Do U.S.-born Latinos, foreignborn naturalized citizens, and undocumented immigrants from various parts of Latin America have similar or divergent views on these issues? It is generally assumed that ethnicity is an important factor in influencing attitudes toward immigrants and immigration policies. Some studies have found that foreign-born Latinos have more positive attitudes toward immigration than native-born Latinos due in part to their shared immigration experience. There are, however, other studies demonstrating that Latino immigrants have often expressed support for more restrictive immigration policies. It may hold true, in fact, that many Latinos have ambiguous and conflicting attitudes about these issues. This article will try to shed some light on Latinos' attitudes regarding specific policy measures by analyzing data from the Pew Hispanic Center National Survey of Latinos, which allows for considerable differentiation among various sectors of the Latino population.

A Comparative Analysis of the Attitudes toward the U.S.-Mexico Border Policy: Evaluating Perspectives on Border Security and Building a Wall in the Rio Grande Valley, National Hispanic and General U.S. Populations

“…Also, utilizing survey data on the Czech-German border areas, Mirwaldt (2010) shows that the bordering areas where people from both countries interact to a higher degree tend to produce more favorable attitudes than elsewhere in Germany toward the country beyond the border. The argument that the border regions would nurture more lenient immigration attitudes is also aligned well with the existing studies which show that Hispanic public opinion is different from that of Anglos (Greene & Kim, 2019; Huo et al, 2018; Rocha et al, 2011, 2015) and various factors contribute to variation of immigration attitudes among Hispanic population (Binder et al, 1997; Rocha et al, 2015; Schildkraut et al, 2019; Stringer, 2018).…”

“…Of course, those who are born outside the U.S. could be citizens. However, following the existing literature, we expect that there will be a significant difference between foreign-born and native-born Latinos in their attitudes toward immigration (Rocha et al, 2011, 2015; Rouse et al, 2010; Sanchez, 2006; Stringer, 2016, 2018). Foreign-born Latinos are expected to have more lenient immigration attitudes than their native-born counterparts.…”

“…Residential contexts, such as growth of immigration, immigration population size, and frequency of intergroup contact, are known to be some of the most influential factors that shape immigration preferences (Collingwood & O'Brien Gonzalez, 2019;Enos, 2014;Hopkins, 2010;Newman, 2013;Pearson-Merkowitz et al, 2016;Rocha et al, 2011). In this most porous section Furthermore, the existing research suggests that Hispanic public opinion tends to be divergent from that of Anglos (Greene & Kim, 2019;Huo et al, 2018;Rocha et al, 2011Rocha et al, , 2015 and various factors contribute to variation of immigration attitudes among Hispanic population (Binder et al, 1997;Rocha et al, 2015;Schildkraut et al, 2019;Stringer, 2018). Based on this, we expect that the RGV public opinion should not be only distinctive from white Caucasian opinions, but also from the national Hispanic population.…”

“…Furthermore, the existing research suggests that Hispanic public opinion tends to be divergent from that of Anglos (Greene & Kim, 2019; Huo et al, 2018; Rocha et al, 2011, 2015) and various factors contribute to variation of immigration attitudes among Hispanic population (Binder et al, 1997; Rocha et al, 2015; Schildkraut et al, 2019; Stringer, 2018). Based on this, we expect that the RGV public opinion should not be only distinctive from white Caucasian opinions, but also from the national Hispanic population.…”

The Gendered Effects of Local Immigration Enforcement: Latinas’ Social Isolation in Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, and Phoenix

“…In addition, Security Communities undermined the crucial U-Visa program established specifically to protect immigrant victims of domestic violence and other abuses by making it less likely that immigrant women would report domestic violence to the authorities (Gill 2013). Not surprisingly, immigration enforcement efforts such as these have generated fear and uncertainty among Latinas/os (Pew Center 2010), leading many to worry that they, their family, or their friends will be deported (Lopez, Taylor, Funk, and Gonzalez-Barrera 2013;Stringer 2018).…”