No Changing the Conversation? Immigrant Integration Efforts in Metropolitan Phoenix

Abstract:     
We examine attempts by public officials and advocates in the Phoenix, Arizona, metropolitan area to help integrate and empower Latino immigrants – socially, economically, and politically – in the face of an anti-immigrant political climate. We find that despite the emergence of a growing number of increasingly sophisticated advocacy organizations, service-providing nonprofits, and Latino elected officials, the participation of immigrants is severely constrained and efforts at broader integration are hamstrung. Four factors appear to be at work: an overwhelming focus in the current political dialogue on undocumented immigration and enforcement; meager resources due in part to a racialized social construction of “immigrants” in Arizona; a generational divide among Latino advocates; and certain institutional features of governance in the Phoenix region. Our empirical evidence draws upon extensive semi-structured interviews with advocates, service providers, and public officials and a review of media coverage and government documents.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 45

working papers series