Immigrant Inclusion: Reframing Local Politics in Immigration Debates

Through a three-paper dissertation, I explore the causes and consequences of local immigrant integration policies, such as the adoption of sanctuary practices, municipal IDs, the establishment of local immigrant affairs offices, and more. While these policies have gained traction in recent years, we know little about why they emerge and what happens when they do emerge. Through my dissertation, I offer one of the first accounts of the causes and consequences of local immigrant inclusion policy environments. In my first paper, I ask whether descriptive representation leads to substantive representation, that is, whether mayors from racial and ethnic minority groups are more likely to pass inclusive policy. I find that Asian, and to some extent, Latino mayors are more likely to pass these types of policies. In my second paper, I ask whether the adoption of local inclusion policies, through policy feedback, increases the political participation of naturalized immigrants. I find that over time, immigrants have a higher likelihood of voting in cities with more inclusive policy environments. In my third paper, I ask whether the adoption of a specific policy, sanctuary policies—policies that attempt to protect immigrants from deportation—can change civic behavior among immigrant groups. While I find that the individual likelihood to volunteer remains unchanged, both naturalized and non-naturalized immigrants join more civic associations on average after the adoption of a sanctuary policy. To determine why policies are passed at the local level and to understand how these policies change urban political landscapes, I collect novel data across the 100 largest cities by population size across the U.S. from 2009 to 2020 across 14 individual policy variables. I blend this data with data on corresponding mayoral racial identity, data on voting from the Cooperative Election Study (CES), and civic engagement data from the Current Population Survey. I use a combination of OLS, logistic regression, and multilevel logistic regression models to arrive at my findings.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Political Science

Grantor

University of Houston

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Chapa, Samantha 1994-

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Zhu, Ling
• Tiede, Lydia B.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Cortina, Jeronimo
• Perez, Efren

• Political science

Language dc:language.iso

English

Handle dc:identifier.uri

https://hdl.handle.net/10657/19904

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:uh-ir.tdl.org:10657/19904