-
Chapter Four: The Political Consequences of Latino Immigrant Transnational Ties
- University of Notre Dame Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
f o u r The Political Consequences of Latino Immigrant Transnational Ties A d r i a n D . P a n t o j a , R a f a e l A . J i m e n o , a n d J a v i e r M . R o d r i g u e z The manner by which immigrants incorporate themselves into the American political system has generated much scholarly attention in recent years (Rogers 2006; Wong 2006; Ramakrishnan 2005; Barreto and Muñoz 2003). Although research on immigrant political incorporation is not new (Grebler 1966; Glazer and Moynihan 1963; Dahl 1961), recent scholarship has turned to examining how transnational ties shape the incorporation process (Staton, Jackson, and Canache forthcoming; DeSipio 2006; Cain and Doherty 2006; Pantoja 2005; Jones-Correa 1998). An ambiguous concept, immigrant transnational ties are typically defined as “the process by which transmigrants, through their daily activities , forge and sustain multi-stranded social, economic, and political relations that link together their societies of origin and settlement, and through which they create transnational social fields that cross national borders” (Basch et al. 1994, 6). While the ability of some immigrants to maintain a foothold in two countries is not a new phenomenon 130 Consequences of Latino Immigrant Transnational Ties ■ 131 (Morawska 2001; Foner 2000), it is argued that advances in technology facilitating communication and travel, increased economic and political ties between the United States and immigrant-sending countries, and intense outreach efforts by ancestral homelands have enabled immigrants to forge and sustain transnational links to a greater degree than immigrants from earlier waves (Foner 2001; Guarnizo 2001). There is little controversy surrounding the existence of immigrant transnational ties, as they have become an intrinsic feature of the migration process (Itzigsohn 2000; Levitt 2001; Glick Schiller et al. 1992). Yet there is much debate over their political consequences. In particular, the field is divided into three competing camps: some argue transnational ties are an impediment to immigrant political incorporation (Huntington 2004; Stanton, Jackson, and Canache forthcoming; Cain and Doherty 2006); others argue they spur political incorporation (Ramakrishnan 2005; Jones-Correa 2001, 1998); still others take a middle position, suggesting its impact is negligible or can be both positive and negative, depending on the nature of the transnational activity (DeSipio 2006; Pantoja 2005; Barreto and Muñoz 2003). This study seeks to enter this debate by examining Latino immigrants , the largest immigrant group in the United States; they constitute 53 percent of the 33.5 million foreign-born persons in the country (Larsen 2004). We draw on the 2002 “National Survey of Latinos” conducted by the Pew Hispanic Center and Kaiser Family Foundation. The survey is one of the largest on the Latino population with a representative sample of 2,929 adult Latinos, 1,852 of whom are foreign-born. The 2002 survey is used for several reasons. First, the survey includes a plethora of questions tapping immigrant transnational ties beyond dual citizenship, a widely used measure of transnational networks. Second, as one of the more recent national surveys on Latinos, the data offers a more contemporary portrait of this population beyond that offered by the Latino National Political Survey (LNPS) or the National Latino Immigrant Survey (NLIS), which were carried out over fifteen years ago. Third, unlike the LNPS or NLIS, the 2002 survey includes representative samples of Latin American ancestry groups beyond Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans. Finally, as a national survey, the 2002 Latino survey is preferable to more parochial surveys since its conclusions 132 ■ Pantoja, Jimeno, and Rodriguez are far-reaching rather than regional in scope (Barreto and Muñoz 2003). Before analyzing the data, we provide a brief overview of the literature examining the political consequences of immigrant transnational ties. Literature Review The meaning and significance of transnational ties is an emerging field across various disciplines (Itzigsohn 2000; Jones-Correa 1998; Basch et al. 1994). This research has transformed our understanding of the immigrant experience by challenging the assumption that migration is a unidirectional process whereby uprooted immigrants travel to a new country and begin a process of severing ties with the old country while developing ties with the new homeland. Although much of the existent literature on immigrant transnational ties analyzes them along an economic (Menjivar 2000; Portes, Haller, and Guarnizo 2002; Grasmuck and Pessar 1991) or sociocultural dimension (Menjivar 2000; Levitt 1998; 2001), political scientists have started to analyze their effects on immigrant political participation (Pantoja 2005; Jones-Correa...