Sunday, September 4, 2022

Naturalized Immigrants Pose Threat To GQP In Arizona

 

The Republicans' generational war against immigrants came to a head under the regime of the Malignant Loser, who tried to stem immigration at the southern border by building a 12th century technology wall. Despite those efforts, Arizona has seen a rise in naturalized citizens in the past four years -- some 64,000 -- who have observed the Republican / Seditionist Party's virulent opposition to their being here. The Arizona Mirror's Gloria Gomez reports:

"This influx of newly naturalized voters promises to throw a wrench into the plans of anti-immigrant politicians, advocates say. Studies indicate that newly anointed Americans from minority groups — which comprise the bulk of new citizens — have a higher rate of political participation than their native-born counterparts. Latino and Asian immigrants, especially, have higher rates of political participation than native-born Latinos and Asian Americans. And among Latinos, immigration is a top concern, with 82% of them in favor of pro-immigrant policies.  [snip]

In Arizona, the new voting bloc skews younger, female and Latino.

Approximately 56% of newly naturalized citizens are of voting age and under 45 years old, and 57% are women." (our emphasis)

This doesn't necessarily mean a slam-dunk for Dems, who have been under- performing among Latinos in recent elections. But it's certainly not welcome by Republicans, whose restrictive immigration policies reflect their fear that immigrants will vote overwhelmingly for Dems. Immigrant advocate groups and others trying to boost the Latino vote (e.g., Voto Latino) have to aggressively get these new citizens registered and out to the polls on November 8.