Hispanic Immigrant Identity: Political Allegiance vs. Cultural Preference (The New Americans)

When the news media broadcasts pictures of Hispanic immigrants waving the flags of their countries of origin, Americans ask: Are the immigrants affirming a political allegiance or expressing a cultural preference? Monsivais addresses this question by first developing minimum criteria of being "American" by examining historical and current literature and Supreme Court decisions; conducting a secondary analysis of "The National Latino Immigrant Survey" as reported in New Americans by Choice (Pachon and DeSipio, 1994); and reporting the results of focus group interviews conducted with legal Hispanic immigrants. The findings demonstrate that overall they are expressing ethnic/racial or cultural concepts and not political preferences.