"Why we stay": immigrants' motivations for remaining in communities impacted by anti-immigration policy.

Abstract

Although restrictive immigration policy is intended to reduce incentives for unauthorized immigrants to remain in the United States, many immigrants remain in their U.S. community despite the anti-immigration climate surrounding them. This study explores motivations shaping immigrants' intentions to stay in Arizona after passage of Senate Bill 1070 in 2010, one of the most restrictive immigration policies in recent decades. We conducted three focus groups in a large metropolitan city in Arizona with Mexican immigrant parents (N = 25). Themes emerging from the focus groups described multiple and interlocking personal, family and community, and contemporary sociopolitical motivations to stay in their community, and suggest that some important motivating factors have evolved as a result of immigrants' changing environment. Implications for research and social policy reform are discussed.