“He begins by targeting Mexicans and he will end with Puerto Ricans”: unpacking Florida Puerto Ricans’ politics of immigration

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines how Puerto Ricans in Florida make sense of the immigration debate, how they formulate their position on the debate, and how their immigration attitudes impact their political choices. I draw on 75 in-depth interviews I conducted in Orlando, Florida during the 2016 presidential election. I find most respondents express supportive attitudes toward undocumented immigration, yet, how they articulate their position is telling. Specifically, respondents deploy mainstream narratives of immigrant deservingness/undeservingness; and a coalescing of Latino group consciousness, and in some instances a sense of connected political futures, influence their views. I also find Puerto Ricans’ immigration views provide insight into their 2016 vote for president. This study contributes to immigration, race, and Latino scholarship by uncovering nuance and complexity of Latinos’ contemporary politics. In doing so, it captures the emergence of a different strand of Latinidad and Latino politics in the largest swing state of the U.S.