Slide 1:

The district’s demographics are somewhat complicated to analyze because of the 2012 redistricting in Texas. Current TX 27 currently covers most of the land from district TX 14 before the redistricting. Current TX 27 includes the city of Corpus Christi, a predominantly Latino city. This incorporation of the city into the new district explains the dramatic rise in the Latino population in 2012 with respect to 2007. It is safest to analyze the recent demographic changes from 2012 to 2017, considering they too provide important changes. While the small Asian and Black minorities barely changed, the Latino population actually grew by +2.5pp, just about as much as the White only population dropped (-2.6pp). Considering it is only a five year span, it is a significant enough demographic shift to apply the research from this semester.

Slide 2:

This assignment will analyze the research from three different areas: (1) The immigrant’s experience, (2) the influence of media on the perspective of immigrants, (3) an immigrant’s reception, or local sentiment towards immigrants and how they shape the immigrant’s experience.
1. Immigrant advocacy groups in a district provide most of the support for immigrant integration (de Graauw 2008).
2. The framing of immigrants on media does have an influence on the audience’s perspective (Abarajano, Marisa, and Singh 2009). Although immigrants are usually framed negatively, there is some evidence that media in Spanish tends to frame immigrants more favorably than their English counterparts. (Adida, Lo, and Platas 2018). Finally, proximity to the border makes the issue more salient to media (Branton, Regina P. and Johanna Dunaway. 2009).
3. A community with shifting demographics can have stronger anti-immigrant sentiments based on the saliency of the issue (Hopkins 2010). All these pieces of research will affect the general experience of immigrants in the community, especially of Latino immigrants.

Slide 3:

Although the research would seem to show clear paths, TX 27 is a contradicting district. It has a majority Latino population, while it also has a Republican majority. Regardless, there should be some sort of backlash due the decreasing white population, and the small size of foreign born residents should also play a roll.
1. Because of the small foreign born population, and the strong Republican support, it is likely that the government does not support foreign born residents enough to secure integration. This small immigrant population also suggests that pro-immigrant advocacy groups are not as powerful nor relevant. However, it is possible that pro-Latino groups work to achieve this integration.
2. Spanish media around the region should frame immigrants more positively, while English media will frame it more negatively than its Spanish counterpart.
3. There is likely to be an anti-immigrant sentiment because of the shifting Latino and White demographics. In general, it is likely that there will not be a strong pro-immigrant sentiment. The decreasing White community will probably oppose immigration. However, there is likely to be a strong pro-Latino sentiment, which helps integrate incoming Latino immigrants.

 

Slide 4:

This research proposal is to test the 1st prediction. As a control, we will compare the results to CA 14, Nancy Pelosi’s district. This district has strong pro-immigrant advocacy groups, which will help contrast possible outcomes. First, we would ask both Latinos and foreign born residents of TX 27 the following questions:
 Do you feel well integrated in your community?
 Have you received help from a pro-immigration organization?
Then, we would check progress from pro-immigrant advocacy (and pro-Latino groups) groups to affect change locally. This can take the shape of lobbying, community organizing, or successful legislation passed. To narrow down the scope, we would only look at Corpus Christi and San Francisco within the span of 2007-2017. With these methods, we can test whether Latinos and immigrants feel welcome in their communities, and whether pro-immigrant organizations have helped narrow down the gap between residents and immigrants.