Michael Watson – Immigration Politics, Policymaking in the U.S.

Author: Michael Watson

NY-25: Interviews

May 14, 2019 / Michael Watson / 0 Comments

Joseph Morelle represents New York’s 25th congressional district. Since 2013, the district has been exclusively comprised of Monroe County (which is centered on Rochester, New York).

My primary prediction is that Hispanic immigrants will not experience successful social integration. In this context, I associate success with a prevailing sense of belonging among LatinX residents in addition to having diverse social networks. On this matter, Viruell-Fuentes et al. (121) conducted a study to measure whether there were significant differences in social bonds and community support within Chicago-based LatinX immigrants. The researchers discovered that neighborhood Latino/immigrant concentration significantly forecasted an immigrant’s network size and community integration. Respondents who lived in areas with more Latinos and immigrants experienced greater social success. To apply this to NY-25, it is necessary to draw on the district’s demographic data. Approximately 9.1% of the population is represented by Hispanics. Furthermore, an identical 9.1% of people in Monroe County are classified as foreign-born. With respect to Viruell-Fuentes’ findings, this low immigrant representation signals that LatinX newcomers will be relatively isolated and have limited social networks.

To test whether immigrants experience social integration or not, I conducted qualitative interviews with key questions about respondents’ friends groups, their perception of local media coverage on immigration issues, and their awareness of stereotypes/potential barriers to social integration. These questions were designed to tease out trends in perceived social integration between a native and an immigrant. It was important to have both native and migrant perspectives in order to compare responses about immigrant perceptions versus their real world experiences. In keeping with this, the first respondent is a student at this university who hails from NY-25 and the second respondent is an immigrant from El Salvador.

The results were fairly consistent across the two interviews: a common trend of self-segregation emerged within the LatinX immigrant population, in addition to a lack of visibility for immigration issues. Although not displayed on Slide 3, there were a few more interesting developments. When asked about impediments to social integration for immigrants, the native interviewee pointed to an occasional language barrier. She made sure to stress, however, that the oldest migrants (baby boomer generation) were the most likely to have limited language proficiency, despite long term residence in the district. In regards to whether migrants have mastered English, she went on to say that parents “usually do” and that children “definitely do.” Her observations were highly consistent with the linguistic situation in Ronald’s family. His grandparents knew very little English, his parents are relatively comfortable, and he demonstrated mastery of the language.

All in all, the interviews validated my predictions about social integration with LatinX immigrants. Despite the varying perspectives featured in the study, it was clear that immigrants were relatively isolated and occupied their own social spaces. To improve this study, it would be necessary to increase the sample size. This would include interviewing non-Hispanic immigrants in order to flesh out trends in NY-25 that populations more broadly. Furthermore, the interviews were confined to asking about social integration when, in reality, there are many more avenues for such assimilation (economic, political, etc.) Gathering data on employment opportunities and voting participation would have been worthwhile, for instance.

Tom Brokaw apologizes after saying ‘Hispanics should work harder at assimilation’

April 24, 2019 / Michael Watson / 0 Comments

Link to article: https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2019/01/28/tom-brokaw-apologizes-after-saying-hispanics-should-work-harder-assimilation/?utm_term=.aa5f358a6468

This week’s readings explore the patterns of assimilation displayed by Hispanic immigrants. In his controversial piece “The Hispanic Challenge,” Samuel Huntington contends that the entrance of Hispanics into the United States compromises the dominance of the English language and threatens our foundational Anglo-Protestant values (rule of law, work ethic, individualism, etc.). This stance does not go unchallenged, however. Citrin et. al test whether Hispanics are truly as unwilling to assimilate as Huntington suggests. Supported by data from national surveys, the researchers report typical rates of acculturation in Hispanic migrant populations.

The article from The Washington Post discusses the claim that immigrants should adopt American culture more readily (Tom Brokaw). His tirade includes expressions of fear towards “racial mixing and a majority-minority nation.”Although Brokaw issued an apology, the comment nevertheless reflects racist and xenophobic sentiments held by a sizable portion of American citizens. This is deeply troubling because studies are consistently demonstrating Hispanic immigrants’ normal acculturation. Furthermore, the article provides anecdotal cases of immigrants’ willingness to adapt. Barbara Rodriguez and Carolina Moreno (political reporters), for instance, tweeted that their mothers fiercely advocated for mastery of English as a means of social assimilation.

Discussion questions:
Can empirical/anecdotal evidence dispel persistent narratives about Hispanic assimilation? Is the eradication of such narratives a fair way to assess whether related studies are worthwhile?

Joseph D. Morelle (NY-25)

March 8, 2019 / Michael Watson / 0 Comments

Slide 1: Joseph D. Morelle (Democrat) serves as the U.S. Representative for New York’s 25th congressional district. This region is highly interesting in that it underwent a turnover from being consistently Republican within the past two decades. Morelle is the latest Democratic representative and his 17.2 point victory demonstrates the decreasing popularity of the Republican party with constituents. That aside, elections are typically close in NY-25 given the strong presence of both parties.

Slide 2: The literature provides insights into predicting voting behavior on the issue of immigration. Wong (2017) discusses median voter theorem, which posits that small foreign-born populations are correlated with increased support for restrictive policies on immigration. Furthermore, Wong (2014) contends that support for strict interior enforcement decreases as the Latino population rises. Casella & Leals (2013) support the notion that Republicans are more likely to support restriction. It is important to note that the aforementioned principle is widely held and not unique to Casella & Leals.

Slide 3: Based on these research findings, it is predicted that Joseph Morelle (D.) will support permissive immigration policies. Although the foreign-born and Hispanic populations are low, partisanship is expected to be the most influential factor. As a Democrat, it is likely that Morelle will take a pro-immigration posture. Given the conflict in the predicted outcome between these factors of demographics and party, will Morelle’s political expressions on immigration seem suppressed?

Slide 4: After investigating Morelle’s online platforms, it is clear that his positions on immigration are not particularly important to his political agenda. Tweet analysis yielded no results with the specified keywords (“immigration, ” “immigrant,” etc.) and his official congressional website did not include immigration on the list of relevant issues. The campaign website was found to be the exception to this: Morelle claims to be committed to “support[ing] the Dream Act… [and] fight[ing] to protect Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals.” Despite this, Morelle only has a single key vote on immigration bills (votesmart.org): to co-sponsor the New York DREAM Fund commission.