Welcoming, Trust, and Civic Engagement: Immigrant Integration in Metropolitan America

Abstract

Prior studies have sought to understand how immigrants integrate into U.S. society, focusing on the ways in which local contexts and institutions limit immigrant incorporation. In this study, we consider how interactions among immigrants and U.S.-born within receiving communities contribute to the process of immigrant integration. We emphasize the extent to which immigrants perceive that they are welcome in their social environments and the downstream effects of those perceptions. Drawing on new representative survey data and in-depth interviews with first-generation Mexican and Indian immigrants in the Atlanta and Philadelphia metropolitan areas, we examine what constitutes feeling welcomed and how these perceptions are associated with immigrants’ interest and trust in the U.S.-born and with their civic participation. Our focus on two metropolitan areas with long-standing racialized dynamics, coupled with new waves of immigration, provides insights about the role of welcoming contexts in immigrant integration in the twenty-first century.

Engagement in migrant organizations for immigrant integration: A mixed-method study with Peruvians in Chile

“…On the other hand, perceived sensitivity from administrative services was a significant predictor, meaning that immigrant needed to be treated in a culturally sensitive way by those services that are responsible for their legal documentation in order to feel integrated. Okamoto et al ( 2020 ) have recently highlighted the value of feeling welcome into the everyday life of immigrants. Administration may be one of the fields where welcoming experiences take place and feeling of integration are built.…”

Components of Context: Respecifying the Role of Context in Migration Research

“…Less discussed, but equally important, is evidence that ethno-racial relations vary at the sub-national level: geographic variation in attitudes toward immigrants has been amply documented, and there is evidence that behavior, including acts of discrimination, segregation, and hostility, clusters and varies across place as well (see Fussell 2014; Hopkins et al 2016 for reviews). The subcomponents of this contextual feature that are most frequently cited in the literature on relations with the local population are variation in levels of hostility against immigrants (Bilodeau and Fadol 2011; Carrigan and Webb 2013; Green, McFalls, and Smith 2001; Medina et al 2018; Olzak 1992; Rustenbach 2010), segregation and interpersonal contact (McAvay 2018; McAvay and Safi 2018; Okamoto et al 2020; Rugh and Massey 2014; Sharma 2018; Tran 2019; Vertovec 2007), and discrimination in various spheres of life (Ahmed and Hammarstedt 2008; Bosch, Carnero, and Farré 2010; Pager, Bonikowski, and Western 2009). Local Labor Markets: The labor market structures the type of employment opportunities available to immigrants (Alba and Nee 2003; Portes and Rumbaut 2014).…”

“…Olzak 1992;Rustenbach 2010), segregation and interpersonal contact(McAvay 2018;McAvay and Safi 2018;Okamoto et al 2020;Rugh and Massey 2014;Sharma 2018;Tran 2019;Vertovec 2007), and discrimination in various spheres of life(Ahmed and Hammarstedt 2008;Bosch, Carnero, and Farré 2010;Pager, Bonikowski, and Western 2009).• Local Labor Markets: The labor market structures the type of employment opportunities available to immigrants(Alba and Nee 2003;Portes and Rumbaut 2014). Given work's centrality in achieving economic self-sufficiency and social mobility over time, the labor market is a key component of context(Alba and Nee 2003;Bean et al 2012;Portes and Rumbaut 2014…”

COVID-19, Racial Discrimination and Civic Engagement Among Filipino American and Korean American Young Adults

“…Prior studies on civic engagement among Asian Americans have focused on the first generation of immigrants (Bui et al, 2023; Okamoto et al, 2020) and may not be applicable to Asian American young adults who are disproportionately second generation. The studies also often aggregate Asian American subgroups despite heterogeneity that may differently influence civic engagement.…”