Conservative Mobilizations among Immigrants of Color

• In Event: Immigrant Perspectives on Policies, Participation, and Bureaucrats

Abstract

In July of 2023, the Washington Post reported that “Muslim and Ethiopian Orthodox families called on a local school district in Maryland to allow their children to “opt-out” of reading books featuring LGBTQ+ characters. In October of that same year, according to local reports, Spanish- and Chinese-speaking immigrants protested a proposal to house migrants, mostly from Venezuela, at a tent camp in a predominantly immigrant neighborhood in Chicago. These clear examples of conservative mobilizations among immigrants of color disrupt simple assumptions about how growing numbers of immigrants in the U.S. will affect traditional political coalitions. This paper examines how local political issues, particularly those having to do with schools and neighborhoods, prime conservative views among immigrants of color and the effects of these local issues on party identification and vote choice.

Authors

• Janelle Wong

• Charlotte Juengel, University of Maryland