Puerto Ricans: citizens and migrants – a cautionary tale

Abstract

This article addresses the transformations in migrant political behaviour as people move between countries and how citizenship is exercised in the process. It highlights the limits of formal citizenship in the exercise of membership rights in given political communities. Using survey data from a probability sample drawn from a municipality in Puerto Rico, evidence shows how political activity decreases when circular migrants sojourn in the United States, a country in which they are citizens, but it is indistinguishable from non-migrants when in Puerto Rico. While these US citizens remain at the margin of the political system in the US, they are fully engaged in Puerto Rico’s. Citizenship may be a necessary condition to exercise rights of political membership, but it is not enough. A laissez-faire disposition from state and political institutions and an emphasis on individual-based efforts sidelines newcomers to migrant-receiving polities.

Keywords:

• citizenship
• Puerto Ricans
• Latinos
• circular migrants
• political participation

Notes

1. Sample selection followed a three-stage strategy for a target size of 500 respondents. Ninety-eight census blocks were selected systematically with selection probability proportional to population size. All housing units in these selected blocks were enumerated, selecting randomly five households per block. One adult respondent, born in Puerto Rico, was selected randomly per household. Of 492 possible interviews, 322 were successfully completed; a response rate of 65%. The effective response rate for eligible households was 77%; 8.5% of households or potential respondents refused to participate; 10% of households were found to be vacant, uninhabitable or demolished; in another 10% of potential cases, no informant or respondent was contacted after three visits; 4% of households were ineligible for inclusion, as no resident was born in Puerto Rico; 2% of potential respondents were unable to participate due to some incapacitating condition that prevented effective communication.

2. Other politically relevant variables included in the regression analyses are gender, age, education and income, political attitudes and orientations, membership in voluntary associations and a measure of government employment.

3. Recall bias poses a reliability challenge for responses that gauge participation while sojourning in the US and even more prior to migration. This reliability concern notwithstanding, the findings these data provide appear consistent enough to assuage some of the concern regarding recall bias.

4. Chronbach’s alpha = 0.63.

5. Chronbach’s alpha = 0.63.

6. Chronbach’s alpha = 0.73; t-test = 6.64, p = 0.000 (n = 108).

7. Chronbach’s alpha = 0.65.

8. Regression analyses including years of residence in the US and years of residence in Puerto Rico since return yielded the same insignificant results for these migration variables.

9. A logistic regression model for protest activity in Puerto Rico also showed that settlement location in the US had no statistically significant impact.

10. Another model that included gender as additional control yielded similar results.

11. Regression analyses show settlement site, whether settling in New York or elsewhere, or residing in an old settlement state relative to new settlement state, has no statistically significant bearing on overall political participation in the US, when controlling for the number of years residing in the US (and age).

12. Differential results on contacting are only obtained for the dichotomous migration variable. Separate correlation and logistic regression analyses of the number of years lived in the US as well as the number of years residing in Puerto Rico since return show no statistically significant relation.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Carlos Vargas-Ramos

CARLOS VARGAS-RAMOS is Research Associate at the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Hunter College (CUNY).