Asian American Attitudes towards a US Citizenship Path for Illegal Immigrants: Immigration Reform as Racialised Politics

Abstract

Do Asian Americans view a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants in the USA as related to perceptions of shared interests with other ethnoracial groups? I utilise the National Asian American Survey to test this possibility. Ordinal logistic regressions reveal that higher levels of perceived political commonality with Latinos relate to increased support for the provision of a citizenship path. Similarly, higher perceived political commonality with blacks is positively related to support for a citizenship pathway, suggesting that a civil rights frame, rather than a group competition frame, links immigration reform and black political interests in the minds of Asian Americans. On the other hand, higher levels of perceived political commonality with whites relate to increased opposition to such a pathway. These results indicate that Asian Americans' racial attitudes, in particular their perceptions of political commonality with other racial groups, relate to their opinions on a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants in the USA.