The Effect of Cross-Border Contact on Migrant Political Involvement in the United States

• In Event: Colonialism, Citizenship and Political Incorporation: Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans in the United States

Abstract

This paper explores the impact that migrant cross-border linkages with the country of origin have on migrants’ political and civic engagement in the United States. The level and extent on cross-border contact with the country of origin among migrants in a receiving society allows for a typology of migrant, which may be used to ascertain the degree of migrant integration in the United States: will cross-border contacts inhibit, spur or have no impact on the migrant’s political and civic involvement in the United States based on whether those contacts are sustained, extensive and dense, whether they are occasional or episodic, or whether they do not exist at all. The findings show that cross-border contacts among migrants to the United States do not inhibit their political and civic engagement, but lack of such contacts may inhibit participation.

Author

• Carlos Vargas-Ramos, Hunter College/City University of New York