Legislation, Linguistics, and Location: Exploring Attitudes on Unauthorized Immigration

Individual attitudes towards immigration are powerfully driven by ethnic context, that is, size of foreign-born population. We advance the literature by examining how the change (growth) in foreign-born population, in addition to its size (level), is related to two distinct outcomes: natives’ views on legal and unauthorized immigration. By analysing a probability US sample, we find that an increase in the state-level immigration population is positively related to Americans’ approval of a policy aimed at containing the flow of undocumented immigrants. The proportion of immigrants in a state, however, is not a significant predictor of support for such restrictive policy. With respect to legal immigration, neither the amount of recent change in, nor the size of, the immigration population matters. Our study provides strong evidence for contextual effects: net of compositional factors, a dynamic change in foreign-born population has an independent impact on how Americans view unauthorized, but not legal, immigration.

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Creating Cohesive, Coherent Immigration Policy

Journal on Migration and Human Security ◽

10.1177/233150241700500109 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 180-193 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Pia M. Orrenius ◽

Madeline Zavodny

Keyword(s):

Immigration Policy ◽

Economic Perspective ◽

Initial Design ◽

Unauthorized Immigration ◽

Key Features ◽

New Policies ◽

Key Aspects ◽

Over Time ◽

Us Immigration

US immigration policy has serious limitations, particularly when viewed from an economic perspective. Some shortcomings arise from faulty initial design, others from the inability of the system to adapt to changing circumstances. In either case, a reluctance to confront politically difficult decisions is often a contributing factor to the failure to craft laws that can stand the test of time. We argue that, as a result, some key aspects of US immigration policy are incoherent and mutually contradictory —new policies are often inconsistent with past policies and undermine their goals. Inconsistency makes policies less effective because participants in the immigration system realize that lawmakers face powerful incentives to revise policies at a later date. US policies regarding unauthorized immigration, temporary visas, and humanitarian migrants offer examples of incoherence and inconsistency. This article explores key features of an integrated, coherent immigration policy from an economic perspective and how policymakers could better attempt to achieve policy consistency across laws and over time.

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Immigration Policies and Group Identity: How Immigrant Laws Affect Linked Fate among U.S. Latino Populations

The Journal of Race Ethnicity and Politics ◽

10.1017/rep.2016.24 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

pp. 35-62 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Edward D. Vargas ◽

Gabriel R. Sanchez ◽

Juan A. Valdez

Keyword(s):

Group Identity ◽

State Level ◽

Immigration Policies ◽

Foreign Born ◽

State Laws ◽

Linked Fate ◽

Immigration Laws ◽

Unauthorized Immigration ◽

Collective Group ◽

Immigrant Policies

AbstractImmigrant sentiment, measured by the number of state laws enacted to curb the flow of undocumented immigration or expand rights to immigrants, have been on a steady incline since September 11, 2001. Despite the increased attention to unauthorized immigration, little research has examined how immigrant policies are affecting group identity (i.e., linked fate). Linked fate is a form of collective group identity that develops when a group of people experience discrimination and marginalization. Using a unique database that merges the 2012 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey (n= 934 Latinos) with the sum of state-level immigration policies enacted from 2005 to 2012, this study is the first to examine the direct relationship between immigrant climate and linked fate. Results from our multinomial logistic regressions indicate that the linked fate among Latinos increases as the number of punitive immigration laws in a state increases, controlling for a vector of control variables. Consistent with our theory regarding differential impact, our findings also suggest that immigration laws have a more pronounced influence on the linked fate of foreign-born Latinos.

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