Attitudes towards Immigration Reform in the United States: The Importance of Neighborhoods

Masthead Logo The Fordham Undergraduate Research Journal Volume 1 | Issue 1 Article 2 December 2013 Attitudes towards Immigration Reform in the United States: The Importance of Neighborhoods Noelle Makhoul FCRH '12 Fordham University, Follow this and additional works at: https://fordham.bepress.com/furj Part of the Public Affairs, Public Policy and Public Administration Commons, Sociology Commons, and the Urban Studies and Planning Commons Recommended Citation Makhoul, Noelle FCRH '12 (2013) "Attitudes towards Immigration Reform in the United States: The Importance of Neighborhoods," The Fordham Undergraduate Research Journal: Vol. 1 : Iss. 1 , Article 2. Available at: https://fordham.bepress.com/furj/vol1/iss1/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalResearch@Fordham. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Fordham Undergraduate Research Journal by an authorized editor of DigitalResearch@Fordham. For more information, please contact . Attitudes towards Immigration Reform in the United States: The Importance of Neighborhoods Cover Page Footnote Noelle Makhoul, FCRH 2012, is from Fort Lee, New Jersey. She is a psychology and political science major. After graduation, Noelle plans on attending Officer Candidate School for the United States Army and then later completing a graduate degree. This article is available in The Fordham Undergraduate Research Journal: https://fordham.bepress.com/furj/vol1/iss1/2 FURJ | Volume 1 | Spring 2011 Res earch Makhoul: Attitudes towards Immigration Reform in the United States www.fordham.edu/fcrh/furj Attitudes towards Immigration Reform in the United States: The Importance of Neighborhoods Noelle Makhoul, FCRH ’12 POLITICAL SCIENCE Americans are greatly divided over immigration reform. Public opinion literature provides multiple explanations for these attitudinal differences. One contention in the literature is that the amount of ethnic diversity in one’s neighborhood affects mass attitudes towards immigration reform. Within this literature, some scholars argue that ethnic diversity triggers more negative attitudes towards immigration. Others posit that ethnic diversity is associated with positive attitudes towards immigration. In this paper, I seek to contribute to this debate by exploring the role of ethnic diversity in one’s neighborhood in shaping public attitudes toward immigration reform. This study is based upon semi-structured interviews with thirteen human subjects conducted in November 2010. The results reveal that individuals residing in ethnically homogenous towns are more likely to support a more liberal immigration reform. These results advance our understanding of how exposure to ethnic diversity influences attitudes towards immigration. These findings provide policymakers with some insights into how to build public support for immigration reform in various neighborhoods. Introduction In 2010, Americans ranked immigration fourth among the most important problems facing the United States (Morales, 2010). Immigrants from around the world choose to settle down in the United States in pursuit of something that their home country could not offer. However, not all US-born Americans appreciate the influx of immigrants. Consequently, there is a constant debate in the policymaking community about the extent to which the United States should “open its doors” to foreigners. On one hand, some analysts fear that excessive immigration may have detrimental effects on the economy. According to the Center of Immigration Studies, the fiscal cost of unskilled immigrants is estimated to be anywhere from 11 to 22 billion dollars a year, which offsets any economic gains from access to immigrant labor (Camarota, 2003). On the other hand, others claim that the American work force cannot function without immigrants. The American Immigration Law Foundation (2002), for example, concluded that Mexican immigration is integral to economic growth. Public opinion plays a prominent role in this debate over immigration reform. Most US-born Americans are able to relate their family history to immigration. Yet, many of them are unwilling to embrace the idea of continuous immigration. Why are some individuals more likely to favor a less restrictive immigration reform than others? This paper seeks to answer this question by exploring the significance of neighborhoods in shaping attitudes toward immigration reform. The findings suggest that individuals residing in ethnically homogenous towns, compared to those in ethnically diverse towns, are more likely to support the implementation of an immigration policy aimed at increasing the number of legal immigrants. The data from semi-structured interviews indicate that individuals residing in ethnically diverse towns developed a sense of frustration with immigrants, while those without much firsthand contact with immigrants held more accepting views towards immigrants. This study seeks to contribute to existing literature by illuminating citizens’ reasoning behind their attitudes toward immigration reform. In this paper, the key terms are defined in the following manner. The term immigration is used to describe le- I would like to thank Dr. Nikolayenko for her supervision of my research and the participants in this study for their willingness to share their attitudes toward immigration. Direct all correspondence to Noelle Makhoul at . 135 Published by DigitalResearch@Fordham, 2011 1 This paper proceeds as follows: The first section discusses current debates in the literature on attitudes towards immigration reform. The second section describes the research methodology and socio-demographic background of the respondents. The third section presents the empirical findings. The paper concludes by specifying policymaking implications of these findings and pointing out limitations of this research. Theoretical Background Over the past four decades, scholars have analyzed the role of economic, political, and cultural factors in explaining support for immigration reform (Espenshade & Hempstead, 1995; Fenelley & Federico, 2007; Wilkes et al., 2008). Numerous attempts have been made to test the effects of education, income, ideology, party affiliation, and culture on attitudes toward immigration. In recent years, the impact of contact with minorities has attracted academic attention. Yet, this research has produced mixed results. In the 1970s and the 1980s, researchers devoted considerable attention to the impact of economic factors on support for immigration reform (e.g., LeVine & Campbell, 1972). Neorestrictionism emerged in the United States during that period because of concerns with the state of the economy. Proponents of the neorestrictionist view argued that the biggest problem caused by immigrants was economic in nature. A major concern was that immigrants would take jobs away from natives, contributing to a greater level of unemployment. In support of this view (...truncated)