No Changing the Conversation? Immigrant Integration Efforts in Metropolitan Phoenix

Abstract

We examine attempts by public officials and advocates in the Phoenix, Arizona, metropolitan area to help integrate and empower Latino immigrants – socially, economically, and politically – in the face of an anti-immigrant political climate. We find that despite the emergence of a growing number of increasingly sophisticated advocacy organizations, service-providing nonprofits, and Latino elected officials, the participation of immigrants is severely constrained and efforts at broader integration are hamstrung. Four factors appear to be at work: an overwhelming focus in the current political dialogue on undocumented immigration and enforcement; meager resources due in part to a racialized social construction of “immigrants” in Arizona; a generational divide among Latino advocates; and certain institutional features of governance in the Phoenix region. Our empirical evidence draws upon extensive semi-structured interviews with advocates, service providers, and public officials and a review of media coverage and government documents.