Descended from Immigrants and Revolutionists’: How Family Immigration History Shapes Representation in Congress

Immigrant lineage influences the way in which legislators shape their decisions. “Descended from Immigrants and Revolutionists: How Family Immigration History Shapes Representation in Congress,” published by the Harvard Kennedy School, examines the ways that family histories of immigration impact lawmakers in comparison to other factors: the extent to which a legislator’s immigrant background affects their decisions on immigration policies and in what contexts their immigrant identity weigh more influence over their decision process. The authors construct a sample period from the 1900-1940 historical census data, identifying which lawmakers of the 64th to 91st Congress had migrant backgrounds and respectively analyze their policy decisions. The investigation also considers other variables that may interact with a legislator’s family and immigrant background such as political context, generational distance and the visibility of the representative’s identity. The authors significantly find legislators with recent immigration histories tend to vocalize support or vote more in favor of pro-immigration policies. Similar decision-making behavior is shared by representatives with a more visible immigrant identity, particularly those whose immigrant identities derive from nations that have been more restricted by immigration policy and those who represent constituencies with a considerable immigrant identity. By evaluating the nuanced relationship between a lawmaker’s immigrant history and their policy alignment, the authors argue how these studies can provide more insight into decision patterns and the legislative process. (Monica Leon for The ILC Public Education Institute)

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