Latinx vs. Asian American Views of Immigration Policy

• In Event: Governing AAPI People Through Immigration

Abstract

Classic straight-line assimilation theorists posit that immigrants will shed their ethnic distinctiveness and increasingly resemble their native-born white counterparts over time. In this paper, we test the assimilation theory for Latinx and Asian American immigrants in the realm of immigrations policy. At what point in time (if at all) do Latinx and Asian American immigrants begin to resemble their native-born white American counterparts on various immigration policy stances? And what explains results that counter straight-line assimilation theorists in the immigration policy realm? Using the 2016 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we examine whether or not Latinx and Asian American groups grow increasingly liberal or conservative across subsequent immigrant generations. Our findings demonstrate that the generational status of immigrants plays a key role for Latinxs and Asian Americans, but in unexpected ways. We suspect that perceptions and experiences of discrimination and the media's targeting of specific groups of immigrants help explain diverging ideological paths of Latinx and Asian Americans for immigrants in the third generation and beyond.

Author

• Christopher T. Stout, Oregon State University