Latino Politics Lisa Garcia Bedolla Summary

1. Latino Politics by Lisa Garcia Bedolla

Latino Politics is a book grounded on Dr. Lisa Garcia Bedolla’s research of the experiences of the Latino population living in the United States, specifically using the Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, Dominican, and Central American experiences as the core of her research. She explores the historical, social, economic, and political factors in conjunction with US foreign policy that have contributed to the mass migration of these Latino groups to the United States. Garcia Bedolla also explores the United States racial hierarchy and where Latinos are placed within this system using the black and white binary that is pre-established in the US questioning where exactly Latinos fit in it or if they even
The analysis gives an account of the migratory reasons of immigrants to the United States. These individuals left for economic reasons that were also promoted not only by family members on the US side of the border but also because of popular culture. Many came to the United States in hopes of the American dream but as we see in Leo Chavez’s book, although this population integrates itself economically, culturally, and socially into the United States society, much of the time their legal status becomes a determining factor of how much or how fully they will incorporate themselves. We see that it is very hard for them to incorporate themselves and assimilate as their citizenship status hinders their ability to attain necessary resources. The issue then becomes generational as the opportunities of immigrants will be different then those of their children and their future generations in the United States. We see that initiatives like The Bracero Program had previously allowed immigration for labor purposes during World War II but as economic insecurity began to grow, the upward movement became an outlet for possible upward economic mobility. This transnational movement created a phenomenon that established networks for the immigrant community. This networks also made it harder for this community to consider re-establishment in their native countries as
Latinos are constituted as the largest minority group in the United States due to high immigration and birth rates. Roberto Suro’s book discusses the changing social and economic policies in this country in accordance to the emergence of the Latino population. Latinos in the US, especially the younger generations and the children of immigrants, are closely tied to teenage pregnancies, gangs, and drug dealing. It is very clear that the Latino migrant experience is very different according to each respective community. As we see, the Cuban community in Miami is in some ways an exception to the stereotypes associated with Latinos that go hand in hand with the downward social and economic mobility of this population. The Guatemalan migrant experience in Suro’s book is closely linked to this idea of Latinos creating transnational networks, as there was a huge influx of Guatemalans into the Huston area. Suro outlines possible forms of stopping the flow of illegal immigration into the US. On of the main arguments in this research is the idea of short-term gains vs. long terms costs which is what Suro says is what Latino bring to the United States. His views on potential tactics that could be taken by the United States government to punish illegal immigration would somewhat be too costly but in the long run this country