Immigrant Politics. Analyzing U.S. Presidential Elections through Immigration and Hispanics
| Autor | Jessica De Alba Ulloa - Rodolfo Reta Haddad |
| Páginas | 119-162 |
Revista Mexicana de Análisis Político y Administración Pública
Departamento de Gestión Pública y Departamento de Estudios Políticos y de Gobierno
Volumen V, número , enero-junio
Pp. -
Revista Mexicana de Análisis Político y Administración Pública. Universidad de Guanajuato.
119
Fecha de recepción: de ma rzo de .
Fecha de aceptación: de mayo de .
IMMIGRANT POLITICS. ANALYZING U.S. PRESIDENTIAL ELECTIONS
THROUGH IMMIGRATION AND HISPANICS
La política migratoria. Analizando las elecciones presidenciales
de Estados Unidos a través de la migración y los hispanos
Jessica De Alba Ulloa
Rodolfo Reta Haddad
Abstract
e United States is a democracy th at every
four years elects a Pre sident. During the presi-
dential campa igns, the issue of imm igration
has grown to become one of the most debated
in recent times. It has been u sed to attract
voters and to develop the political plat form of
every candid ate. By an empirical ana lysis of
the last four presidentia l campaigns a nd the
current one of , regarding imm igration
positions of the candidate s and politicians,
this art icle looks to nd the connection —if
any— with this i ssue and the Hispan ic vote.
us, candidates fo cus on these issues in order
to gain new constituencie s. e declarations
and policies about immig ration of the ,
, , a nd candidates wi ll be
analyz ed in order to validate this premise.
Keywords: Immigration Reform; Demo-
crats, Republicans , Hispanics, Presidentia l
campai gns.
Resumen
Estados Unidos es una democr acia que cada
cuatro años elige a su pre sidente. Durante las
campañas pre sidenciales, el tema de la mig ra-
ción ha crecido hasta converti rse en uno de los
más debatidos en los últimos t iempos. Se ha
utilizado par a atraer a los votantes y para de -
sarrollar la s plataformas polític as de todos los
candidatos. Media nte un aná lisis empírico de
las cuatro últi mas campañ as presidenciales y
la actual de , respec to a las posiciones so-
bre migración de los candidato s y los políticos,
este artícu lo busca encontrar la conexión —de
existir— c on este tema y los votos de la comu-
nidad hispana . Por lo tanto, los candidatos se
centran en esta s cuestiones con el n de ganar
nuevos apoyos. Se anali zarán las declara ciones
y las políticas sobre mig ración de los candida-
tos en , , , y , a n de
validar est a premisa.
Palabras clave: Reform a migratoria; Demó-
cratas; Republica nos; Hispanos; Campañ as
presidenciales.
Ever since President Richard Nixon called to the White House Henry R amirez and other
notable Mexican-Americans, charging them with helping him ll the void of partici-
pation of Mexican-Americans (Hispanics today) in being considered for important ap-
Revista Mexicana de Análisis Político y Administración Pública. Universid ad de Guanajuato. Volumen V, número 1, enero -junio 2016
120
pointments and for greater participation in elections, this segment of the A merican popu-
lation has grown in involvement as well as getting t he attention from political c andidates.
is action was followed by the creation of the Republican National Hispa nic As-
sembly, and a similar group by the democrats. Since, Hispanic participation spans from
voters, to elected ocials in local, state and nationa l oces. is group has been grow-
ing in involvement in the political system of the U.S ., being with appointed ocials or
through elections, by casting their votes.
e United States Presidential election takes place every four years. With a rather
complicated electoral process, American voters stay attentive to the dierent proposals
on the issues that are signic ant to them, as well as to the candidates’ rhetoric.
In the country is at the end of the two term administration of President Barack
Obama, the rst black Comma nder in Chief, who ran his campaign advocating
—among other issues— the need of an immigration reform. e lack of achievement
of a migratory solution is still heavily criticized.
In each campaign now, politicians tack le the immigration issue. Democrats in gen-
eral lean towards an immigration bill that leads to a path to citizenship for illegal
immigrants. Republicans in general favor a bill that combines border security, with
provisions for legalization and work permits.
e focus of this paper is to nd a connection —if any— in the preferences on can-
didates for the Hispanic community regarding the issue of immigration.
An empirical ana lysis will be developed rst, by understa nding the issue about poli-
tics and immigration. en, the last four presidential campaigns, as well as the one of
until the beginning of May, are analyz ed in order to dene if there is a connect ion
of immigration and politics in the U. S. with the Hispanic vote. e rhetoric of candi-
dates and politicians will provide for most of the analysis, but just as useful will be the
data on the economy and demographics for each period.
It is believed that in every presidential election, a segment of the population will al-
ways vote democrat, and similarly, there are those who will always vote republican; but
the balance on Election Day are centrist s from both parties plus the large block of “inde-
pendents”, who mostly will vote with their wallets. is is why it is important to under-
stand the state of the economy and in the expectat ions set by each presidential candidate.
e relevance of demographics and proportional representation relies in the fact t hat
the U.S. is a representative democracy, structured on the basis of the ft y states with
equal rights as to their representation in Washington. A s such, based on the Constitution
were the states granted the central government certain functions and kept the rest for
themselves, each state has t he obligation, under their own system, to send two senators
and a number of representatives to the lower house. ese representatives are in propor-
tion to the population of each state, ensuring that no state ha s a minimum, one represen-
tative. e proportional representation to the House of Representatives is set every ten
years on the basis of the census. e sa me proportionalit y goes to the number of electoral
votes that each state has in the presidential election. Since the census is conducted at the
end of every decade and the information is released after the following year, a census a f-
Revista Mexicana de Análisis Político y Administración Pública. Universid ad de Guanajuato. Volumen V, número 1, enero -junio 2016
121
fects distribution of electoral votes for three periods of elections. For the ca se of the
election, the distribution was set with the census of ; for the case of the and
elections, the census of dened the distribution, the same way the census of
drew the landscape for the and the elections. us, the information will
be presented for each census. is information wil l shed light into the Hispanic vote,
however it has to be noted that it may not be directly connected to the vote and immigra-
tion issues, but gives an idea of Hispanic participation in the electoral process.
Immigration has been present in the politics of the United States (U.S .) ever since its
colonial origins and its birth a s a Democratic nation. Minds like those of the Found-
ing Fathers, such as omas Jeerson and George Washington —rst president of the
U.S. —, had faith in the exceptionality of those who came from foreign lands to change
their fortunes and settle down in a nation built on immigrants.
In today’s political discourse on immigration, old thoughts such as “[b]orn in other
countries, yet believing you could be happy in th is, our laws acknowledge, as they
should do, your right to join us in society, conforming, as I doubt not you will do, to
our established rules. at t hese rules shall be as equal as prudentia l considerations will
admit will certa inly be the aim of our legislatures, general and part icular” (Jeerson,
), would be met with approval for being inclusive; if it weren’t because now, those
thoughts have insignica nt impact, and in extreme cases, may be reason enough to
generate popular dis content.
It is the politicians’ task to discuss t he concerns of their citizens; immigration has
long been one of them. No U.S. politician ca n deny that immigration has been one of
the most important topics to ever be discussed in Capitol Hill; yet, this phenomenon is
not exclusive to the country of the Stars and Stripes. On the contrary, every country in
the world has experienced immigration in one of its varying forms. So why is immigra-
tion so crucial and important to the people of the U.S .? e answer is quite simple and
has everyt hing to do with the ideal of the “American Dream”, the ability to arrive from
other parts of the world and settle down in a countr y with political stability, full of op-
portunities and an inclusive economy that welcomes almost e veryone, as long as they
are willing to work hard and e arn their pay while operating as a law abiding non-citizen.
As former President Lyndon B. Johnson stated, “[f ]or that is what America is all about.
It is the uncrossed desert and the unclimbed ridge. It is the star that is not reached and
the harvest that is sleeping in the unplowed ground” (Address by Lyndon…, ). e
American Dream lies in the abundance of opportunities that nationa ls and foreigners
can pursue when settling down in the U.S.
As more immigrants arrived to the U.S., more regu lations had to be designed to help
maintain the integrity of t he justice sys tem while managing to preserve the allure of the
American Dream. A s diverse as the nationalities of those who go to the U.S. to pursue
their dream, so are the ra nge of opinions within t he country’s legislators and politicians.
Para continuar leyendo
Solicita tu prueba