Naturalization and Mexican American Empowerment Mexican Americans and Politics Lecture 15 February 28, 2006

Exam – Thursday Two essays of which you will need to answer one You may bring one 3x5 card with notes – no more You will have the entire period, so use a few minutes to outline your answer Strong answers will find evidence from both the readings and class No need to bring a blue book We prefer answers in pen

From Last Time Mexican American Influence in State and Local Politics

Recall and Mexican American Influence Review – Mexican American/Latino influence occurs when Mexican Americans/Latinos are unified Other electorates are divided 2003 California recall election Latinos divided (on recall) Electorate as a whole more unified (on recall and replacement)

Recall, By Race/Ethnicity LatinosWhitesBlacksAsian Americans Recall46%60%27%No data No Recall54%40%73%No data Source: Los Angeles Times, exit poll

Governor, by Race/Ethnicity LatinosWhitesBlacks Schwarzenegger31%52%17% Bustamante52%28%64% McClintock9%13%6% Source: Los Angeles Times, exit poll

Urban Politics: Los Angeles Case Study Minority exclusion ( ) White-led coalition denied political opportunities to Blacks and other minorities The Bradley Coalition ( ) Blacks, Latinos, liberal whites (particularly Jews) Coalition declined as each group sought leadership Riordan and Hahn ( ) Business-led coalitions Minority communities divided, internally and from each other

The 2005 Mayoral Race(s) Primary – Group/region/ideology all represented to varying degrees Race/Ethnicity Valley vs. Non-Valley Moderate vs. Liberal Democrats With so many candidates (5), little incentive to build coalitions at first In runoff, winner had to reach beyond his own race/ethnic group

Race/Ethnic Voting Los Angeles Mayoral Primary AlarconHahnHertzbergParksVilla- raigosa Whites3%23%36%5%27% Blacks2%23%5%54%15% Latinos9%17%7%3%64% Asians-59%12%8%19% Source: Los Angeles Times, Exit Poll

Race/Ethnic Voting Los Angeles Mayoral Runoff HahnVillaraigosa Whites50% Blacks52%48% Latinos16%84% Asian American 56%44% Source: Los Angeles Times, exit poll

Was This an Example of Raw Latino Power? Not really – Latinos had supported Villaraigosa strongly in 2001 What changed was division in non-Latino electorates Whites split their votes evenly Young Blacks and Black leaders supported Villaraigosa (and, so, the Black vote split) Asian American electorate is the outlier

Will the Los Angeles Experience Reappear in Other U.S. Cities? No, at least in the short term Multiracial political coalitions are hard to form And, harder to sustain When multiracial coalitions have formed, blacks have generally led Latino and Asian Americans most underrepresented in electorate 2001, 2003, 2005—New York and Houston Latino candidates defeated despite Latino majorities/pluralities in city population Latino candidates defeated by undermining their White support

Today’s Lecture Naturalization and Mexican American Political Empowerment

Trends in Mexican American Naturalization Historically, few Mexican immigrants naturalized Today, many more do But, they still naturalize at lower rates than most other immigrants Why SES Proximity Lack of obvious benefits Complexity of application process Absence of community-based assistance

Naturalizations

Do Mexican Immigrants Want to Naturalize? Best evidence – answer is yes Approximately 15 percent of all Mexican immigrant adults report no interest in naturalizing Behavioral evidence Approximately, 2/3 of eligible have done something concrete to naturalize Yet, only half of those who try, succeed

Why the Gap? Confusion Fear of consequences of failure Concern about loss of home-country citizenship Bureaucracy Form complex INS impenetrable Cost Absence of community-level assistance Naturalization often a collective experience Resources available are no longer

Why The Change in the Late 1990s? Changes in the law 1996 Welfare and Immigration Reform bills IRCA beneficiaries become eligible for citizenship Changes in the attitude toward immigrants Proposition 187 Rhetoric of Pat Buchanan and the nativist right Changes in administration Requirement to replace aging green cards Government promotion of naturalization But, Mexican American naturalization has slowed since 1999, or so

Naturalization and Mexican American Participation Do the naturalized vote at higher rates than the native born? No, but possible exception in California among registered voters (see Barreto article assigned for today) Why? Participation requires political socialization and adult migrants have had less Political institutions don’t mobilize new citizens When immigrant issues top the agenda, this dynamic can change

Themes to Consider for Midterm 1. Importance of historical exclusion/discrimination on the current shape of Mexican American politics 2. Immigration/tension over immigration as an ongoing dynamic of change in Mexican American politics 3. The shape and possible trajectories of Mexican American (and by extension Latino) electoral politics 4. Opportunities for Mexican American political influence/comparison of the various races we read about and discussed