Race, immigration, and Black intergroup politics

Abstract

ABSTRACT While the literature has established that immigration opinions among African Americans are frequently driven by economic anxieties, less is known about how this co-exists with other factors. I argue that race and distribution of foreign-born immigrants at the local level may be important additional factors in determining African American immigration restrictionist sentiment. OLS regressions were run with robustness checks. Results suggest that African Americans living in counties with high proportions of Black or Asian immigrants may lead to more positive immigration sentiments. I find the opposite for those in high Latino foreign-born counties. Additional results with interactions show the limitations of group competition as a mechanism for this relationship. These findings have implications for the future of intergroup relations and suggest further examining the diverse identities of immigrants and their effects on Black political opinion. As the demographics profile of immigrant groups in the US continues to diversify, it is imperative that we continue to investigate how the increasing ethnic diversity of Black America may be disrupting scholarly knowledge and expectations for the future of intergroup relations in America.