RESIDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS HISPANIC IMMIGRATION IN A CENTRAL

ILLINOIS COMMUNITY

Caiti R. KoppDepartment of Anthropology at Illinois State University

Senior Thesis 382May 10, 2012

A special thank you to Gina Hunter and my peers in Senior Thesis: ANT 382 for reading the

many drafts of this thesis paper and helping me to create something I am genuinely proud of.

a

RESIDENTS’ ATTITUDES TOWARDS HISPANIC IMMIGRATION IN A CENTRAL

ILLINOIS COMMUNITY

Abstract

In this thesis, I examine the opinions and attitudes of native born Americans in

Bloomington-Normal, Illinois, toward recent immigration of people from Latin America. Data

came from interviews with six long-term residents who interact with Latin American immigrants

and from letters to the editor in the local Pantagraph newspaper. I looked at both sets of data

ethnographically, in that I paid attention to how people make sense of the world and how they

organize their perceptions and prioritize their interests. Overall I found that the different

definitions people had about what it means to be American effected their views on Hispanic

immigrants. In the letters and interviews that expressed pro-immigrant sentiments, people

believed hard work was the main characteristic of being American. In the anti-immigrant

sentiments letters, citizenship, hard work, speaking English and expressing loyalty to America

were requirements for being considered American and to have the privilege to be in the U.S.

There are no conclusive findings from the data collected but this study is able to represent the

impact a minority or immigrant group has on the majority culture.

Introduction

Immigration from Latin America currently provokes intense political, economic and

cultural debate in the United States. Anti-immigrant sentiments are often based on three

perceptions on the nature of Latin American immigration: first, that Latin Americans come to

America to take advantage of welfare programs; second, that Latino immigrants drain public

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resources such as education and government services; and lastly, that Latino immigrants take

jobs away from U.S. citizens (Gonzalez 2011:217-218). Those who defend Latin American

immigration argue that the percentage of Latin American immigrants working or actively

seeking a job is far higher than for native-born Americans; secondly, that many studies

demonstrate that immigrants in this country make enormous contributions to U.S. society in

taxes and Social Security. The problem is that these contributions are unevenly distributed

between federal and local governments (Gonzalez 2011:216-217). And lastly to contend with

the fear that Latin Americans take away jobs from Americans many studies have shown that

Latino immigrants, especially those here illegally, have improved local economies for whites

because they are willing to work for lower wages and this then has rejuvenated the profitability

of ailing industries and then prevented further job loss for white Americans (Gonzalez

2011:218). In regions of the United States where Latin American immigration is relatively new,

and where unemployment and poverty are comparatively low, how is this debate framed? Is the

debate localized and based on local realities or based on outside sources?

This study examines attitudes towards Latin American immigrants in Bloomington-

Normal, Illinois. Bloomington-Normal is a city of about 129 thousand people that overall enjoys

a low rate of unemployment of 5.1 percent in Bloomington-Normal compared to 6.7 percent

nation-wide in 2008 during an era of economic recovery. Bloomington-Normal also has many

programs to help those who are underprivileged. Mid-sized communities like Bloomington-

Normal, rather than large metropolitan areas, have recently become primary destinations for

immigrants (Chapa 2004:104). However the exact reason why or the factors that Latin

Americans are experiencing that has caused this new migration have not been sufficiently

researched (Lichter 2009:500). Do people in Bloomington-Normal have the many fears

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expressed by other Americans in regards to Latin immigrants taking away jobs or burdening the

welfare system? What influences perceptions on immigrants—is it the demographic

characteristic of the population in question? For example, the literature suggests that

communities with more middle and upper class, well educated people have less fear or animosity

towards Latin American immigration than less educated and lower or working class populations

would. Or, is it how much personal experience and contact a native resident has with the

newcomers? Immigrants to Bloomington-Normal are residentially dispersed and work in a

variety of areas outside the stereotypical gardener and maid. How does media coverage

influence residents’ perceptions? These are the questions I examine through interviews and

newspaper archives.

The social science literature presents two major theories that predict attitudes toward

immigrants, Group Threat Theory and Contact Theory. Which theory best describes the feelings

of those in Bloomington-Normal towards the new influx of Hispanic immigrants? How are these

feelings justified? What influences residents’ perceptions the most--media, personal experiences

and/or residents’ education, socioeconomic class, or racial background? To answer these

questions I interviewed six native-born non-Hispanic Bloomington-Normal residents who have

had community or work-relation interactions with Hispanic immigrants in Bloomington-Normal.

In addition, I examined 17 years of articles in Bloomington-Normal’s The Pantagraph

newspaper regarding Hispanic Americans to examine how immigration issues and debates have

been framed in the local community.

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For the Many Become One

Immigration has always been a characteristic of the United States and recently

immigration has increased to the volume not seen since the late 19th and early 20th centuries

(Bretell 2002:277-289). This new immigration mainly consists of people from Latin America,

which includes Mexico, Central and South America. These immigrants usually come to the

United States and go to metropolitan areas such as Chicago, Miami and New York (Chapa

2004:23-24). However, Latin American immigrants have begun to migrate to new destination

areas in non-metropolitan cities (Chapa 2004:39-43) such as Bloomington-Normal. This new

wave of immigration has caused immigration policies and acceptance of immigrants in different

communities to be a major debate across the country. What also makes this wave of immigration

very different and cause such a big debate is that it includes in it a large sector of illegal

immigrants and Hispanics have become the largest minority group in the United States (Ennis

2011:2).

Anthropologists have only recently begun to be interested in immigration in the United

States (Foner 1999:1268). One of the reasons for this change of interest is due to globalization.

The world has become smaller and communities and cultures untouched by the outside world

have begun to be harder to find. Most anthropological research, on immigration, however,

focuses on the culture of the immigrants. One example is a research study done on Jamaican

immigrants and how they have succeeded in keeping their culture intact while being in the

United States (Foner 1999:1268). Anthropologists most often study the impact of migration on

those who migrate, the changes to the families and communities that those who migrate leave

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behind, and the phenomenon of transnationalism (Foner 1999:1268). My research examines the

other side to this situation, the receiving community. While understanding the cultures of those

who migrate across borders is important, I think anthropologists have ignored the other side of

this immigration topic; how the individuals, the community, and the culture that the immigrants

move into are affected. How do established residents, in non-metropolitan areas, perceive those

who immigrate? What influences perceptions towards immigration, specifically Hispanic

immigrants; residents’, demographic characteristics or their use of media sources?

This is an important study because the United States is experiencing a “Latinization

(Gonzalez 2011:xv).” The Census Bureau, for instance, estimates the country’s Hispanic

population will tripled by 2050 to 132 million and will comprise almost one third of the entire

U.S. population (Gonzalez 2011:xv). Therefore whites, of European descent, will cease to be the

majority, even though they will most likely hold most of the power positions in the U.S. And for

the first time, a majority of the United States will trace its ethnic heritage to Latin America, not

Europe (Gonzalez 2011:xvi). It is important for us as Americans then to find out and see how

we view these incoming Hispanic immigrants. How do we create these perceptions and how do

we justify them?

How we perceive and justify these sentiments toward Hispanic immigrants is important

because broader American attitudes toward immigrants have a major influence on which laws

are passed concerning national security, education, and employment (Berg 2010:278-279).

There are several implications of this research for those concerned with immigrants’ welfare.

First, if pro-immigrant groups are to succeed, they must realize the differences of opinions that

may exist among the people in the same region (Berg 2010:297). Second, these groups must

understand the fear and dislike of immigrants, or xenophobia, and work to change these attitudes

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if immigrants are to have a comfortable place to settle and gain trust in the community. This

trust will then ease tensions and break stereotypes between the host community and those

arriving (Yakushko 2009:50).

Literature Review

Anthropology and its perspective on Immigration

Immigration is nothing new for the United States yet the Hispanic immigration of the 20th

and 21st centuries has become one of the biggest issues of our time. Why is that? How can

anthropology help to answer or find out why this immigration has set off major feelings of both

pro- and anti-immigrant sentiments? According to a study by Caroline Bretell (2002)

immigration today has reached levels unmatched since the early nineteenth and twentieth

centuries. Another factor is that the immigration of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries

created ethnic enclaves and immigrants were staying together and staying in large metropolitan

cities. This new immigration, mainly constituted by Hispanic immigrants, has created a new

“immigrant geography” (Bretell 2002:285). Instead of ethnic enclaves and places like “little

Italy” immigrants are moving into middles-class suburban areas through powerful kinship

networks and ethnic entrepreneurship (Bretell 2002:285). An example that Bretell (2002) gives

is that Manhattan once had 57 percent of New York City’s immigrants and eight years later only

had 18 percent due to the phenomenon of suburban settlement by Latin Americans.

A book by Leo Chavez, Covering Immigration (2001), is one of the first studies in

anthropology to look at immigration from the perspective of the reception of immigrants in a

community. Chavez looked at magazine covers from 1970 to the mid 1990’s and categorized

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them as neutral, affirmative or alarmist based on their texts and images. He is able to link

representations of immigrants to periods of prosperity or recession and to the broad patterns and

flow of immigration overall. He found that alarmist covers increased in intensity in years

preceding the 1986 immigration reform law IRCA (Immigration Reform and Control Act) which

granted amnesty to many illegal immigrants in the U.S., and that during most of the year

magazines have more alarmist ideals except around the fourth of July. Most importantly what

Chavez found was that the attitude of the United States toward immigration is greatly conflicted.

Chavez shows that studies cannot provide the public with a uniform and monolithic view of

immigrants. The range of perceptions that the magazine covers had, from affirmative to alarmist

perceptions of Hispanic immigrants, greatly reflects how people in America are conflicted in

their perceptions of Hispanic immigrants as well.

This finding by Leo Chavez is extremely important. While many studies may look at

attitudes and sentiments of native born Americans toward Hispanics there is no way to develop a

generalized answer to what the people of the United States feel exactly about Hispanic

immigrants. However in my study I am concerned with local issues, how Hispanic immigrants

have affected the community and are perceived by the people of Bloomington-Normal. I want

to know and discover how the people of Bloomington-Normal define themselves within middle

or working class, how they use race or ethnicity throughout their daily lives by how do they

interact with Hispanic immigrants during a workday or at home in their neighborhoods? By

allowing people to define these categories themselves and delve into their attitudes toward

Hispanic immigration I will not get a generalized consensus but I will gather real experiences

and stories of people in this community dealing with the reality. The reality that I am looking at

is of people of European descent, or the white majority coming to an end, and the reality of the

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United States demographics not changing in large metropolitan areas but in the suburbs, in small

farming communities and in non-metropolitan cities, that until this recent immigration, did not

have much of a racial spectrum.

Opposing Theories

There is much debate about the immigration policies we have today. The United States

has been known historically as a nation of immigrants, but the United States also has a long

history of xenophobia and intolerance of immigrants (Yakushko 2009:40). There are those who

believe that the United States should close and protect our borders from immigrants while others

see these newcomers as enriching the American culture. These opposing viewpoints can be

described by two contradictory theories. One is the group threat theory which entails that

residents fear loss of economic, social and political resources due to perceived or actual

population increase of immigrants (Berg 2010:282). The other is the contact theory. The contact

theory presumes that when residents are confronted with immigrants and get to know the

immigrants, they will form friendships. Having more opportunities to interact with immigrants

causes them to develop warm or pro-immigration attitudes (Berg 2010:282). These theories see

the immigrant population increase in two very different lights and causing very opposite

situations.

A study done by Justin Berg (2010) was an intersectional approach, using race, gender,

social space and class, that uses data from the 2004 General Social Survey and the 2000 Census

to predict attitudes toward immigrants. In this study Berg not only finds support for the group

threat theory referenced above, but also for the contact theory. Berg found that overall; the

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residents of the U.S. have a pro-immigrant attitude (Berg 2009:286). Berg’s research shows that

41 percent of respondents believe that immigrants are good for the economy as well as 41

percent disagree with the idea that immigrants increase crime rate, 30 percent disagree with the

idea that immigrants take jobs away from native born citizens, and 35 percent of native born

residents believe immigration should even increase or stay the same (Berg 2009:286). Berg also

found that the contact theory is mostly in effect when persons have a higher level of education

and are therefore higher up in their socioeconomic class (Berg 2009:280). As stated by these

percentages, when non Hispanic whites move up in social class by gaining more levels of

education, they then experience a change of opinion toward immigrants due to their loss of

economic fears (Berg 2009:287). Since education and socioeconomic class, for the most part, go

hand in hand it was important when interviewing to allow my correspondents to classify

themselves as working or middle class. Based on their classification, it should correlate to a

more anti-immigrant status if they believe to be more part of the working class or have a more

pro-immigrant status is they believe to be a part of the middle class.

Berg also did research and tested several hypotheses about different variables and their

effects on attitudes toward immigrants. One hypothesis in particular relates directly to my study.

Berg tests both sides of the hypothesis; areas with more foreign-born residents will weaken the

positive effects of education on developing a pro-immigrant attitude because of feelings of group

threat. And secondly he tests; areas with more foreign-born residents will strengthen the positive

effects of education on developing a pro-immigrant attitude because of intergroup interaction

(Berg 2010:283). Due to the data and results of Berg’s work he found that the hypothesis,

education will have a weaker effect on native-born citizens’ immigration attitudes in areas filled

with foreign-born residents to be the most prevalent (Berg 2010:293). This supports the idea that

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as more Hispanic immigrants come to an area, the fears of residents will grow. This analysis

may also show that the intergroup contact, between immigrants (Hispanics) and white residents,

may have a negative effect rather than a positive one (Berg 2010:293). This is because educated

individuals usually have higher status positions than immigrants (making these groups be seen as

unequal) which would cause interactions to be between different social statuses, such as

employer and worker, which can only strengthen negative stereotypes (Berg 2010:293).

This information then would support findings that both working class and middle class

share the same anti-immigrant status due to the economic competition or the fact that Hispanic

immigrants are replaceable and are just a work force for middle class citizens of Bloomington-

Normal. This idea of replaceability creates a feeling of ethnocentrism and superiority for native

born Americans and does not create an environment of beneficial relationships to change

attitudes and create pro-immigrant sentiments.

Besides Berg’s hypothesis, a study by Cardona (2009) with Illinois State and State Farm

Insurance, in Bloomington-Normal shows that the Hispanic population is growing more through

growing families rather than legal and illegal immigration (Cardona 2009:8). This could

represent that immigrants are climbing the social ladder as the next generation of Hispanics are

able to be secure in their status and build upon what their parents have endured. Meaning,

Hispanic immigrants and their descendents may not only be replaceable work for those in

Bloomington-Normal with higher education and are more middle class. Now these Hispanic

immigrants may also be competing for their middle class, white collar, jobs and causing there to

be truer group threat sentiments rather than a feeling of superiority over their Hispanic workers.

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Secondly, since the 1980’s there has been a concentration of white collar Hispanic

immigrants coming to the United States and also following this pattern of relocating. It is known

as the “brain drain” of Latin America because many Hispanics get their education and college

degrees in their home country and then come to America and spend their working years here in

the states and hold higher positions than previous Hispanic immigrants were used to (Özden

2005:2). This economic concern could be the main reason residents in Bloomington-Normal feel

threatened and therefore are against Hispanic immigration to this community.

Another article that sees nationalism over economics as the reason for anti-immigrant

sentiments is by Jens Hainmueller and Michael J. Hiscox (2010), “Attitudes toward Highly

Skilled and Low-skilled Immigration: Evidence from a Survey Experiment.” This article looks

specifically at two critical economic concerns that generate the most anti-immigrant sentiment

among native citizens. They are labor market competition and concerns about the fiscal burden

on public services. Hainmueller and Hiscox created an original survey to test their two

hypotheses. One, being that native born citizens will oppose immigrants who have skill levels

closer to their own and two, that middle class natives will oppose low skilled immigration more

than working class natives. They found that both middle and working class native born

Americans prefer highly skilled immigrants over low-skilled immigrants. For their second

hypothesis they found that both middle and working class natives are equally opposed to low-

skilled immigration in general. Overall this study finds that economic self interest does not

explain the high anti-immigrant sentiments that are referenced so frequently in the media.

Therefore Hainmueller and Hiscox believe there must be more noneconomic reasons that are

associated with anti-immigrant sentiments.

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This article analyzes and concludes that since economic self interest is not supported as

causing anti-immigrant sentiments then deep-seated cultural and ideological factors, including

ethnocentrism, racism and nationalism are the causes behind these feeling and ideals. They also

found that support for all immigration increased with education because education is associated

with higher levels of racial tolerance, stronger preferences for cultural diversity, and improves

knowledge of foreign cultures. Another possibility may be that attitudes toward immigration are

caused by people’s perceptions of the collective impact of policy on the nation as a whole. This

means personal experience matters less than collective-level information. This is supported

because the common perception of both working and middle class individuals is that highly

skilled immigrants contribute more to the government and economy of the whole nation. This

information would mean that personal experiences for native born residents of Bloomington-

Normalare secondary to information they gather from the local and national media and those in

their social circles.

Another article “Xenophobia: Understanding the Roots and Consequences of Negative

Attitudes toward Immigrants” by Oksana Yakushko (2009) finds the reasons for Xenophobia in

our society and the consequences that it causes. Xenophobia according to this article is when

anti-immigrant prejudice is connected to fear, dislike, or hatred of foreigners (Yakushko

2009:37). Recently xenophobia has been more closely related to ethnocentrism and nationalism

or when one has an attitude that one’s own group or culture is superior to others (Yakushko

2009:44).

Yakushko also does a great job to highlight important parts of immigration history in the

U.S. and the attitudes of Americans toward immigrants. It was not until 1952 that non-white

immigrants could become naturalized citizens while white immigrants had been granted this

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right since 1790 (Yakushko 2009:40). After September 11, 2001 the U.S. started viewing

immigrants as exceptionally dangerous and as a potential threat to the public and economic

security (Yakushko 2009:40). The most interesting part of this article is that it states “the

popular myth of the United States as a melting pot of assimilated immigrants is neither supported

by historical data nor by evaluation of the treatment of immigrants in the United States”

(Yakushko 2009:43). The article makes a great point in showing that immigration is nothing

new to this country and neither is this countries fear, or xenophobia, of those immigrants.

Yakushko also states that the media is a major factor in making immigration a focal point

of heated national debate and causing xenophobia. The media emphasizes the strong anti-

immigrant sentiments of the U.S. legislature and the public, as well as, portrays immigrants as

criminals, poor, violent and uneducated and causing a declining economy, overpopulation,

pollution, increased violence, depleted social resources, terrorism and eroding cultural values

(Yakushko 2009:37). This association causes many Americans to have irrational fears of

immigrants and foreigners. With the media perpetuating these beliefs, anti-immigrant ideals are

accepted because these feelings are seen as based on the realistic concern of putting the host

community first (Yakushko 2009:46). This article then backs up the hypothesis proposed by the

Berg article that states middle class citizens may have anti-immigrant sentiments as they come

into contact with more Hispanic workers. This creates a worker-boss relationship that then

causes inequality in the business world that transfers over culturally and socially due to

ethnocentrism and nationalism.

The more complex approach of Yakushko (2009), who explored anti-immigrant

sentiments by host communities, does makes the point that many people do support immigrants

and their presence in the U.S. because they are willing to work difficult and low-wage jobs

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(Yakushko 2009:43). This pro-immigrant sentiment is also studied by Jeannie Haubert and

Elizabeth Fussel (2006) in their article, “Explaining Pro-Immigrant Sentiment in the U.S.: Social

Class, Cosmopolitanism and Perceptions of Immigrants.” They have researched attitudes of

American residents and found that even though many studies focus on anti-immigrant

sentiments, half of the population in America believes that immigrants favorably impact both the

American economy and culture (Haubert 2006:489). Beyond the use of a survey, they analyze

both pro- and anti-immigrant theories and while there are some support for a theory of intergroup

competition (group contact theory) most findings show that Americans have positive perceptions

of immigrants. However the article does state that this immigrant acceptance is more so by

people who are highly educated, have white-collar occupations, have lived abroad and who reject

ethnocentrism (Haubert 2006:489). While this article does show a lot of support for the contact

theory and increasing pro-immigrant sentiments among the American people it does bring up the

question on who is become more pro-immigrant.

What is most evident from this literature review of articles about pro-and anti-immigrant

attitudes is that all the articles cover both sides of the spectrum. Some people have anti-

immigrant feelings while others have pro-immigrant feelings and there are also many people

who do not fit any category as to why they have these perceptions of Hispanic immigrants.

These articles show the many dimensions of attitudes toward immigrants. It is a very

multifaceted concept and does not have one clear answer and can be due to personal experiences,

ideas, and/or media. Based on the current literature, I expect to find multifaceted data that how

the people react to Hispanic immigration will not be clear cut. These articles help me

understanding that some people may even have both pro and anti immigrant sentiments

depending on different situations.

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An example specific to Bloomington-Normal that shows how conflicted these attitudes

toward Hispanic immigrants could be, is seen in the study referenced above done by State Farm

Insurance and Illinois State University (Cardona 2009). Most of the Hispanic growth in

Bloomington-Normal was in 1990 to 2000. This lack of growth in the recent twelve years could

cause there to be a decrease in tensions between the native residents and the incoming Hispanic

immigrants and therefore support the contact theory about attitudes toward immigrants. On the

other hand with the Hispanic population growing and now settling in to Bloomington-Normal

there has been an increase in services specifically geared towards Hispanics. This specialization

could support the Group Threat theory. This study is able to greatly define the Hispanic

population in Bloomington-Normal but these statistics could lead to very different interpretations

of the immigrant population. With these contrasting ideals I want to interview people in this city

and find out how they perceive these Hispanic immigrants. What is it that they gather their

information from and base their perceptions off of and do characteristics such as education factor

in to change their perceptions?

Overview of Bloomington-Normal

Bloomington-Normal is a Midwestern city located in Central Illinois. It has a great

location for residents and Hispanic immigrants because it is a featured stop between Chicago and

St. Louis, two major metropolitan cities in the Midwest (Town of Normal). The city has three

major interstate highways that intersect with it along with its own airport and train station (Town

of Normal). It has both the big town attractions such as the U.S. Cellular Coliseum, a division

one school with promising athletics in Illinois State as well as a Division 3 school, a junior

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college, and a zoo. On the other hand the traffic is kept mainly to a commercial area along the

Veterans Parkway and a Neighborhood Watch is still a major deterrent in crime.

According to the demographic profile that is created annually in the spring there are

129,107 people in Bloomington-Normal as of 2011 and 4,907 Latinos as of 2010 (Economic

Development Council of the Bloomington-Normal Area). In Normal 85.1 percent of the

population is white, 8.1 percent African American while 4.1 percent of the population is

Hispanic, and the remaining parts of the population are made up of Asians, Native Hawaiian and

other Pacific Islander or two or more races and other (U.S. Census Bureau). In Bloomington the

population is 77.5 percent white, 10.1 percent African Americans and 5.6 percent Hispanic with

the remainder of the population being made up of Asians, Native Hawaiian and other Pacific

Islander, two or more races and other (U.S. Census Bureau).

Other facts about Bloomington-Normal that allows a person to understand the quality of

life and characteristics of the residents are unemployment rate, education levels, biggest

employers and the median family income. Major employers are State Farm Insurance

Companies, Illinois State, Country Financial, Unit 5 schools, Advocate BroMenn Medical

Center, Mitsubishi Motor Manufacturing and OSF St. Joseph Medical Center (Economic

Developmental Council of the Bloomington-Normal Area). Overall the jobs in Bloomington-

Normal are white collar and service positions. Median family income in Bloomington-Normal is

$76,600 (Economic Developmental Council of the Bloomington-Normal Area). These jobs and

median family income show that Bloomington-Normal is experiencing overall a good quality of

life. With regards to education, among those 25 years and older, 90 percent have a high school

degree or higher, about 40 percent of the population have a bachelor’s degree or higher and

about 12.5 percent have a graduate or professional degree (Onboard Informatics 2011). The

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unemployment rate for Bloomington-Normal was 5.1 percent, while in Illinois overall the rate

was 6.6 percent and in the United States the rate is 5.8 percent (US Bureau of Labor Statistics).

The graph and table below (Figure I) illustrates the unemployment rates for the whole

United States, Illinois and Bloomington-Normal. This graph is significant because it helps us to

understand how Bloomington-Normal does have a much lower unemployment rate than the U.S.

as well as the whole state of Illinois. With unemployment being lower in this community one

would believe that this experience would allow for residents to have a reduced fear of economic

loss due to Hispanic immigrants. However, if they base most of their perceptions of Latin

American immigrants from the media then residents may express an idea of a threat that is not in

this community, but in communities outside of Bloomington-Normal.

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Figure I:

Unemployment Rate

Annual Labor Force, Employment and Unemployment - Bloomington-Normal MSA

Labor Force Employed Unemployed MSA Rate IL Rate US Rate

2008 91,644 86,976 4,668 5.1 6.6 5.8

2007 91,036 87,516 3,520 3.9 5.0 4.6

2006 89,283 86,104 3,179 3.6 4.6 4.6

2005 87,805 84,083 3,722 4.2 5.8 5.1

2004 85,508 81,668 3,840 4.5 6.2 5.5

2003 85,655 82,146 3,509 4.1 6.7 6.0

2002 86,783 83,462 3,321 3.8 6.5 5.8

2001 86,187 83,279 2,908 3.4 5.4 4.7

2000 85,458 82,590 2,868 3.4 4.5 4.0

1999 90,872 88,932 1,940 2.1 4.5 4.2

1998 86,999 85,069 1,930 2.2 4.5 4.5

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Source: US Bureau of Labor StatisticsNote: 2008 figures include preliminary data

It is important to outline facts about Bloomington-Norm also that we may understand the city

that we are working within. It’s necessary to understand the race distribution across the two

cities, the educational rates, most frequent occupations and the median household income so that

we may see how the city is working with the amount of Hispanic immigrants that are within

them. Also the types of frequent occupations and median household income for Bloomington-

Normal help me to identify markers for who is middle class and who is working class since

socioeconomic status may be a major factor in determining justifications for perceptions of

Hispanic immigrants. Once we understand the composition of Bloomington-Normalit will be

easier to analyze and understand the interviews and the letters members of the Bloomington-

Normal community that have relationships with Hispanic immigrants.

Hispanics in the Heartland

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In the fall of 2006 State Farm Insurance partnered with Illinois State University to do a

comprehensive analysis of the Hispanic population within Bloomington-Normal (Cardona

2009:4). According to their research the majority of the recent Hispanic and Latino population

growth in McLean County occurred between 1990 and 2000 and this growth was double the

population increase of all other groups in McLean County (Cardona 2009:4). The U.S. Census

Bureau believes that there are about five thousand Hispanics living in the Bloomington-Normal

area. Also it is estimated that the Hispanic population in Bloomington-Normal, alone, increases

by 500 people per year (Cardona 2009:8). However these numbers are only able to refer to those

that are countable, or in other words, those who are legal immigrants. According to

professionals and key informants in the Hispanic community of this area, there are about 15

thousand documented and undocumented Hispanics in Bloomington-Normal and the surrounding

area (Cardona 2009:8). In Bloomington-Normal the Hispanic community is mostly families of

Guatemalan or Mexican descent with families that range from having lived here for over thirty

years, to small extended families that came during the 1980s, to individuals that have only begun

to come to this area for the past ten years (Cardona 2009:7). According to this research the

Hispanic population of Bloomington-Normal is concentrated in mostly low to moderate income

areas such as near downtown Bloomington or on the far north side near Interstate 55 in Normal

(Cardona 2009:8).

As the population of Hispanic immigrants has grown in Bloomington-Normal there has

been an increasing awareness of their specific problems in the community. As groups and

studies have brought more light to this minority there have been community projects created

within the city for Hispanics, by Hispanics and Hispanic supporters. Examples specifically in

Bloomington-Normal include La Palabra, a Spanish newspaper that started in 2008, Radio Latino

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which is a Spanish radio hour that also started in 2008, Latinos United for Change that is an

advocacy group for this area, a media contact list that creates Spanish speaking or Hispanic

friendly media contacts for those in the area and finally the Hispanic Community Leader Contact

List which is a Communication vehicle for the Hispanic community in Bloomington-

Normal(Cardona 2009:5). Outlining the presence of Latin American immigrants in this

community is important so that we may understand how prevalent this group of people is here in

Bloomington-Normal. With their numbers they do make up a significant portion of the

population and have many social services strictly geared toward their demographic in this area.

Therefore their presence is or should be noticed in most parts of the community and most if not

all of the population of Bloomington-Normal should have experience with Latin American

immigrants in Bloomington-Normal.

Methods

To gain data and find out the perceptions and justifications for sentiments toward

immigrants of Bloomington-Normal residents I found and analyzed articles and letters to the

editor in the Bloomington-Normal The Pantagraph newspaper and conducted six one on one, in-

depth interviews.

To begin my research I looked at articles and letters to the editor about this recent

immigration in the Bloomington-Normal Pantagraph newspaper. I went to the Pantagraph

website and did an advanced search for letters to the editor from January 1, 1995 to March 24,

2012. I then only looked at articles that reference immigration. I wanted to form an opinion of

the overall sentiments and perceptions of the community towards Hispanic immigrants. Then I

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would be able to compare and contrast the overall perceptions of immigrants with the personal

histories and stories that I have collected. Secondly, I wanted to see if there were any trends or

patterns with how these perceptions were justified. With a controversial topic like immigration it

is always possible that the people I interviewed would not give me their true feelings on the

subject or simply tell me what perceptions they believe are most socially acceptable. Therefore

having these articles to use as a comparison will help me to better understand true perceptions in

the community.

After I analyzed these Pantagraph articles I conducted six interviews with Bloomington-

Normal residents who have intimate working relationships with Hispanic immigrants or live in

close proximity to Hispanic immigrant families. I looked for a variety of people but I did make

sure each person I interviewed was an actual community member, meaning that they are not just

in Bloomington-Normal for school and are working jobs that they know they will not keep after

their education is over. I want to interview only those who are living and have careers here and

are therefore invested in this community. However, I will document race, gender, employment,

ethnicity, and socioeconomic status to get a clear idea of the person’s background and history.

These characteristics could have major consequences to their justifications for their perceptions

that coincide with the group threat or contact theory. I will only be doing a total of six

interviews because I want to go in as much depth as possible for each interview and focus on

quality over quantity. This idea of quality over quantity is the main reason I have chosen to do

interviews over other forms of data collection such as surveys.

The idea of immigration itself is a touchy subject and is extremely multidimensional

when it comes to native born Americans perceptions. This requires more in depth answers and

delving into a person’s justifications for why they have certain beliefs. For this reason I will

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have a general guide of questions to ask but will gladly allow the interviewee to wander. I do not

want a rigid line of questioning to stifle responses as well as not stifle the fact that these

interviews could bring out issues I had not previously anticipated. This is so that I can gather

information better from their point of view and see the issue in question through their eyes

(O’Reilly 2005:117). Another reason for my choice of interviews is because I want to capture

the real feelings of people in this community and find or discover real situations from those I

speak to that explain their thoughts and opinions on the subject of immigration, specifically in

Bloomington-Normal.

In an in depth interview I will be able to not only analyze responses but also body

language during those responses that could highlight how uncomfortable a person is talking

about the subject and if they are trying to tell me what I want to hear versus what they truly

believe. These interviews also give those I interview time to delve into their thoughts and

explain even their contradictory opinions. It is extremely possible with this topic that individuals

have competing sentiments about the same subject, Hispanic immigration, due to different ways

of gathering information (O’Reilly 2005:116). An example being they could have an opinion

due to the negativity shown by the media but then have personal experiences with Hispanic

immigrants that counteracts the media statements and causes confusion.

Bloomington-Normal The Pantagraph Newspaper: A Window on the Community At-

Large?

By looking at the letters to the editor in the local Bloomington-Normal newspaper, The

Pantagraph, I wanted to get an overall idea of attitudes towards Latin American immigrants in

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the community of Bloomington-Normal. However this was not possible with only looking at the

letters to the editor because not everyone in the community is that active and writes into the local

paper on local issues. Also out of all the people who do write in, not all the letters are selected to

be printed and therefore go unheard and unseen. Lastly, those who do write letters to the editor

may be people with more extreme beliefs and will then show more isolated attitudes in the

community rather than the communal beliefs of the city. Therefore I used the letters to the editor

to create a sense of what issues or topics are important or are in discussion at the local level. I

looked at the letters ethnographically to find out how people in this community make sense of

the world around them and how they prioritize their interests.

The letters to the editor are a good reference to understand the public sentiments in

general because the guidelines are limited to 300 words maximum, allow writers only one letter

per 30 days, the letters must be original to The Pantagraph and most importantly must be

commenting on current local public issues. These guidelines are the reason why these letters to

the editors are a great way to find out how the community as a whole responds to the new

immigration of Hispanics and how they justify their sentiments.

To select articles, I used the online archives at Pantagraph.com which date from January

1995 and included everything to March 24, 2012. Using the term “immigration” to search within

the Letters to the Editors section, resulted in 235 articles and 30 of those articles were repeats,

leaving me with 205 articles to examine. I did not search “Hispanic,” “Latino,” or other

designations for my search terms because many letters already provide clear references to

Hispanic immigration by the people and places they cite and talk about, even if they do not

specifically say Hispanic, Latino or Spanish. After researching and collecting the 205 letters to

the editors I grouped them into either pro- or anti-sentiment groups – interestingly, there were no

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letters that were neutral on this subject. I found 28 pro-sentiment letters; however in five letters

the authors disclosed that they were also Latin American immigrants to this area, which left me

with 23 pro-sentiment articles to examine. This then shows that out of 205 letters to the editors

there were 177 anti-sentiment letters. After I made the main distinction between pro- or anti-

sentiment letters I broke each group down further into different themes that were reoccurring

throughout the letters in their respective group.

Articles that are anti-immigration revolve around several of the same viewpoints. The

main point that is made in anti-immigration letters is that the real problem is illegal immigration.

Writers opposed the idea that “illegals” are needed in the U.S. economy because they are the

only people who will work certain (low-paying) jobs. One such letter states “As I stated earlier,

no one questions the work ethic and loyalty of an ‘illegal’ performing a job, but there are many

‘legals’ who would gladly perform these tasks in order to support themselves and/or their

families” (Nardella 2010). Another person wrote,

“Recently, America was informed by the media and present administration, ‘We need Mexican immigrants to do the work Americans don’t want to do.’ Are they implying we are a lazy people and above doing their jobs? What an insult to our working class. Growing up field work, restaurants, and those kinds of jobs were our work. In fact, we accept any job if it pays enough to put food on the table. Illegal aliens are putting our economy in jeopardy.” [Fever 2006]

Also these same writers make several arguments against new immigration legislation proposed

by President Barack Obama, specifically the Immigration Reform and Amnesty Bill, that will

grant amnesty to illegal immigrants in the U.S. They believe that this is unfair because it would

essentially reward illegal aliens for coming here illegally. “The American dream is for everyone

who is legal to have an opportunity to better themselves by working hard, obeying the law and

putting the U.S. first in their loyalty….Let us make sure our Congress does not sell the American

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dream to illegal aliens” (Rients 2007). Many state that when Hispanic immigrants come to this

country through the legal channels then they are welcome.

Judging from the letters, the people of Bloomington-Normal want nothing to do with

illegal immigrants, even though there is no way to tell who or which Hispanic immigrants are

legal or illegal. Several people are enraged at federal and local government because they believe

true American citizens are being sold out so that politicians can get a minority vote to attain

office, “We are being sold out by politicians at every level of government, be they Republican or

Democrat, federal, state or local. Illegal aliens pour across our borders every year, despite laws

governing immigration…those charged with enforcing our laws have proved themselves

incompetent. Anyone see a reduction in the numbers of illegal aliens?” (Hanner 2006) Another

example is a letter that is campaigning against one of our congress persons in Illinois because,

“She voted twice to give driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants. She also voted to give in-state

tuition to illegal immigrants” (O’Neal 2010). With regards to the federal level many people are

upset that President Barack Obama does not understand small town communities such as

Bloomington-Normal. One letter quotes Barack Obama saying, “…It’s not surprising then that

they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion, or antipathy to people who aren’t like them, or anti-

immigrant sentiment, or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations” (Ackerman

2008). This man then responds to President Obama,

“I believe this statement shows the lack of understanding Obama has for all of us small-town people across this great nation. This sentiment shows his personality to be closer to the elitist, sophisticated urbanities than to the hard-working, common-sense, middle-class Americans Obama would like us to believe he would represent. What Obama does not understand is that what he describes has nothing to do with the economy or loss of jobs.” [Ackerman 2008]

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Many members of the Bloomington-Normal community do not feel that their wants and needs

are being looked after by the politicians who are supposed to represent them; especially when it

comes to issues on immigration. Specifically in these letters we see both classes, middle and

working class, having reasons and issues with immigration causing anti-immigrant sentiments.

This goes against the literature that suggested that only working-class individuals have anti-

immigrant sentiments while people who were middle-class had pro-immigrant sentiments due to

having higher education and jobs less associated with immigrants. It seems here that the idea of

legality, and whether or not a Hispanic immigrant is here legally and therefore a citizen of the

Unite States, is a major issue for all classes. Both middle and working class Americans find

illegal immigrants in this light of that they get “something for nothing.” Hispanic immigrants

who are here illegally are getting all the benefits of being American without actually being

American.

Many articles state the immigration laws need to be enforced to the maximum capacity

and many more articles call for harsher immigration laws to stop illegal immigration. One

specific letter outlines the immigration laws of Mexico, “There will be no special bilingual

programs in the schools, no special ballots for elections, and all government business will be

conducted in our language. Foreigners will not have the right to vote, no matter how long they

are here. Foreigners will never be able to hold political office…..” (Stark 2007). The letter

continues on advocating for the U.S. to have harsher immigration laws here like Mexico.

Another letter does not believe that we need harsher legislation against immigration, but that our

immigration laws are good enough now and need to start being enforced. Legislation that we

already have is that it is, “illegal to hire undocumented workers, building a fence on our border,

and to starve out the trespassers” (Schapmire 2007). However this letter does go on to say that

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once this legislation is enforced they will vote for more legislation to stop “chain immigration”

and to select new immigrants on their ability to come here, get jobs and assimilate into our

culture so that they can actually help and boost our economy because the immigrants we have

now are ruining our economy and our nation (Schapmire 2007). This letter by Schapmire

highlights the idea that immigration is not the major issue. The major issue and reoccurring

theme is that people in Bloomington-Normal do not want immigrants to be able to get

“something for nothing.” If immigrants want to come here and live here then they need to be

American to receive American benefits. This theme is found again and again in the anti-

sentiment letters to the editor.

The letters to the editor that go farther into the immigration issue then state that once

Hispanics enter the country legally they then need to assimilate into our culture. One example is,

“The illegals want to fly the Mexican flag, speak Spanish, send their money back to Mexico and still have the gall to demand the same benefits that legal U.S. citizens have. These illegals need to return home and enter the United States through the proper channels. If they are such hard-working, law-abiding, Mexico-flag waving, Spanish-speaking people, you would think they would stay in Mexico and make their Homeland a top economic country. I welcome those who enter legally wanting to be a U.S. citizen, to honor our flag, speak English and abide by our laws. I am anti-illegal immigrant and believe all should be deported.” [Bauer 2006]

This letter follows letters reference above about illegal immigration being the major problem, but

also highlights that if Latin Americans do follow the law and come to the United States then they

need to buy into the American culture and leave their past home and lives behind them. This

specific letter highlights that being a legal immigrant is not enough for those who have more

anti-immigrant sentiments. Here we see that becoming American is more than a legal or illegal

immigrant status. Once immigrants enter the country through legal channels they must live lives

or live up to the expectations of other Americans in what it means to be “American.” The

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problem with this however is that everyone will have at least slightly different ideas on what it

means to be American and therefore there is no one definition or way to “be American.”

Assimilation itself is very general and it seems the most important factor of assimilation

that is demanded from the people of Bloomington-Normal is that Latin Americans must learn

English when they come to this country. One letter quotes a speech by Teddy Roosevelt in 1916

to explain her views,

“Let us say to the immigrant not that we hope he will learn English, but that he has got to learn it. Let the immigrant who does not learn it go back. He has got to consider the interest of the United States or he should not stay here. He must be made to see that his opportunities in this country depend upon his knowing English and observing American standards. The employer cannot be permitted to regard him only as an industrial asset.” [O’Brien 2006]

Then she goes on to state, “The illegal aliens surging across our southern border do not want to

be United States citizens. They want the opportunities that our country has to offer. Their

loyalty and feelings of nationalism are directed to their homeland Mexico” (O’Brien 2006).

Another articles states, “If we do not force these legal and illegal immigrants to use the English

language to conduct business, they will never want to assimilate into American society” (Landers

2007). The idea of assimilation and the melting pot is extremely important, and extremely

specific to the people of Bloomington-Normal who have anti-immigrant sentiments and they

want to see Latin American’s buying into this idea.

Overall when Hispanic immigration is referenced in the letters to the editor in the

Bloomington-Normal The Pantagraph newspaper the people are outraged at the fact that illegal

immigrants ask for the same rights as legal citizens. Many demand immigration laws to be taken

more seriously and/or to create more and harsher legislation to deal with legal immigrants that

are coming from Latin America. People in this community believe that if they come through

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legal channels then these immigrants may have a chance at the American dream. However just

coming here legally is not the only requirement. In this town assimilation is very important and

learning and using English is not only important but should be required to live and work here.

Within the 205 articles there are 23 pro-immigrant letters to the editors. This is about the

number or percentage of pro-sentiment articles I expected to find because watching the local and

national news there seems to be four times as many negative articles as positive ones. I also

assumed that media would be a major factor when people created their perceptions towards

Hispanic immigrants in Bloomington-Normal and therefore letters to the editor would then

demonstrate an over representation of negative or anti-sentiment letters about immigration as

well.

One of the main themes in the pro-sentiment letters was in direct contrast to a main theme

in the anti-sentiment letters. Those who wrote to The Pantagraph and expressed a welcoming

attitude to Hispanic immigrants discussed that America has seen countless waves of immigration

and we have seen success and not lost who we are as a nation so we should not have such

pessimist attitudes toward Latin American immigration. This idea highlights that there is no one

mold that immigrants must fit to become American and deserve to live here. Instead being

American means being an immigrant and that is what makes us unique and brings us all together

as one country. One such letter states,

“It shouldn’t be surprising that Americans are responding to this issue with hostility. Even in 1751, Benjamin Franklin worried about German immigrants, writing, ‘This Pennsylvania will in a few years become a German colony; instead of [their] learning our language, we must learn theirs, or live as in a foreign country.’ However I am a bit of an optimist. Ben Franklin was wrong in 1751 and I think the anti-immigrant alarmists are wrong today. Every American success story is an immigrant success story.” [Litwiller 2007]

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Another woman mimics this same idea, “There has always been the feeling that the current group

of immigrants is too many and that our basic social fabric will be changed if we accept them.

However, we have absorbed many groups and have experience only enrichment. I expect that

this will happen again” (Cunningham 2007). However these letters do not only talk about how

America has absorbed all of these waves of immigration but that these immigrants have added to

the American culture and the very meaning of what it means to be American.

“The wonderful thing about immigration history is the way it keeps repeating itself. Anyone checking the early 20th century would find that newcomers didn’t always conform to our ‘homogeneous values.’ They – like immigrants from 1620 on – often clustered together and multiculturalism thrived – in music, food, politics, religion, language, even in 1920s Chicago’s soccer league of ethnic teams. Somehow those immigrants assimilated – thankfully only after adding to our diverse culture. Today’s immigrants are doing the same – enriching the mainstream.” [Wyman 2011]

Another woman with the same ideas of a melting pot being each culture helping to enrich the

American culture already in places states,

“I am an American and I am very proud to say that. But I am not proud of the amount of people who have become so insecure with their position as Americans that they cannot help but scrutinize the vast diversity that is continuously growing in our country, fearful of the consequences ahead. We should all be proud of the fact that we have the opportunity to observe other cultures and intertwine their differences with our own. I am very proud to say that I am a part of a country that has become one of the biggest melting pots in the world, accepting of all those who want to create a new life in this beautiful country. You should be, too.” [Brown 2010]

This data shows the importance of the idea of America as the “melting pot” but not as a melting

pot so that everyone who enters becomes exactly alike, but as a melting pot where everyone

takes pieces from everyone else to create something completely new and different, together.

When reading these pro-sentiment articles a reoccurring theme that I did not expect was

religion. However in the pro-immigrant letters to the editors, most reference being very religious

and how their faith tells them that all people are created equal and deserve the best chance for a

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better life. These people even have the same pro-immigrant views towards illegal and legal

immigration into the country and into the Bloomington-Normal area. One such article states,

“In the Scriptures it says that humans are created in the image of God. When we dehumanize a group of people, we are actually insulting their maker. After all the face of God is not found in some altar, church or religious ceremony and loving God is not done through ritual or rule-keeping, it is done through loving all mankind, especially the poor, foreigner in the land and oppressed. In the midst of this immigration debate, let us realize this important truth – we are all children of God deserving respect, care and dignity.” [McCorckle 2010]

Another article calls upon religious beliefs as well to support his pro-immigrant sentiment by

saying,

“As a Christian, there is no place in my heart for a fear or hate-based response to illegal immigration. God demands that we see the face of Christ in the less fortunate who surround us, regardless of their legal status. Clearly, people of all faiths are called to respond to the needy without fear for their own portion. So even if you accept the proposition that the American dream is drying up and immigrants will have a negative impact on our culture and economy, we must still find room in our hearts to respond to the plight of the immigrant with compassion.” [Litwiller 2007]

Many of letters directly address beliefs that anti-immigrant people hold about Latin

American immigrants, and the need for these immigrants in our country. I will quote one

specific article because I believe it sums up the few articles that have this same opinion and tone.

“I am saddened by the outcry against undocumented workers in our country. It is unclear to me in this day of increased technology that someone can’t figure out how many workers this country needs and develop a rational and humane immigration approach that includes a guest worker program. The birthrate in this country has declined and I have read that only our immigrant population keeps our numbers stable and increases the youth balance in an increasingly graying population. There will be fewer taxpayers to meet the needs of the retired elderly if we stop people from coming south of the border. Speaking of taxes, undocumented workers do pay them, including Social Security taxes although they can never receive benefits. I have heard people complain of the taxes paid to educate the children of undocumented workers. Yet, half of those children are U.S. citizens. Since when is it not a collective investment to educate our children? The majority of private and public services are only available to legal citizens. The drain that immigrants have on this society is overstated and their contributions are understated.” [Cunningham 2006]

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This letter directly attacks the anti-immigrant alarmist beliefs and three main arguments against

Latin American immigration. The first being that Latin Americans come to America to take

advantage of welfare programs, then that Latin Americans drain public resources (education is

always specifically mentioned) and finally the third belief is that Latino immigrants take away

jobs for American citizens. This letter clearly defends Latin American immigration and argues

the same main points that Gonzalez argues to counter each one of these anti-immigrant alarmist

beliefs. Another interesting part of this letter is that it shows this idea that the anti-immigrant

sentiment letters had, the idea that illegal immigrants received “something for nothing.” That

illegal immigrants wanted and did receive American rights without being American. However

the difference with this letter is that Cunningham argues that illegal immigrants actually give

more to America than they actually receive.

Analysis of The Pantagraph Letters

With Hispanics being targeted more and more by the T.V. shows, movies, radio stations,

and being central to many national debates it is no wonder why people in Bloomington-Normal

have picked up this debate and have made their opinions public. However most of the letters

reference immigration as a national issue, and very seldom as a state or local issue. There are no

references worth mentioning that talk about Latin American immigration specifically in this city.

The fears expressed by anti-immigrant persons are general issues that are mentioned in the news.

This kind of thinking and justification of opinions was studied by Hainmueller and Hascox

(2010) that found that most Americans use collective information tools that deal with the

outcome of the nation to form opinions over their personal experiences.

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Another factor is that both sides, pro- and anti-immigration, claim that the melting pot is

a very important issue to them as people and to our country. Both claim that the idea of the

melting pot is essential to living and being American. However they differ in how the melting

pot works within America. Specifically from the side of anti-immigrant sentiments, Bauer and

O’Brien believe that once Latin Americans come to America through the legal channels they

should become part of our melting pot and assimilate into our culture. These immigrants need to

buy into what it means to be American and no longer, in a sense, be Hispanic. However on the

pro-sentiment side they represent the melting pot as Hispanics adding their culture to what it

means to be American. With this idea Hispanics remain Hispanic and keep their culture, but

they share it with everyone and everyone else shares their culture with the incoming Hispanics.

While the idea of the melting pot was important it hinted to an even larger underlying issue in

both sides of the debate.

When looking at the “bigger picture” of all the articles I collected on both sides, anti-

immigrant sentiment and pro-immigrant sentiment, I found that the idea of what it means to be

American as an underlying factor. For those who had more pro-immigrant sentiments being

American meant being an immigrant and being hardworking. Their definition and expectations

were very general and easy for anyone to attain if they wanted to come to America. However the

difference for those who had anti-immigrant sentiments was that they had very specific ideas and

demands about what it means to be American and how immigrants had to behave to become

American. Those with anti-immigrant sentiments demanded Hispanic immigrants to be legal

citizens, to use English at all times, loyalty to America (and America only), to be hard workers,

and to fit-in with the “main stream.” They want Hispanics to completely strip themselves of

their Hispanic heritage and to fully embrace and become what they believe it means to be

34

American. The anti-immigrant sentiments were very concerned with this notion of getting

“something for nothing,” with Hispanics receiving American benefits without being American.

And those with pro-immigrant sentiments saw Hispanic immigrants as giving substantial

contributions to our society and actually receiving “nothing while giving something.”

If we use these letters to the editor as a direct interpretation of the sentiments of

Bloomington-Normal residents towards Latin American immigration into the community then it

would be noted that the city is mostly anti-illegal Hispanic immigration. And that assimilation

by losing one’s Hispanic heritage and redefining one’s life within American values and morals is

essential for legal Hispanic immigrants in this community. However using the Letters to the

Editors is really undeterminable. To really find the beliefs and perceptions of Hispanic

immigrants and how residents create and justify their sentiments one would need to do a

quantitative study such as a survey. This could be a great question to further delve into for

another person or another research project for someone else. What we can determine

conclusively though is that negative sentiments are definitely more vocal than people with pro-

Hispanic immigrant sentiments.

Real People with Real Experience

What follows are excerpts of these discussions and my analysis which I offer not as

conclusive statements of how all white, non-Hispanics in Bloomington-Normal feel about Latin

American immigrants in this community, and I do not offer a conclusive statement on how the

people of this city create these perceptions of this group of fairly new immigrants. Instead I use

these interviews to find what ways these people justify and create their anti- or pro-immigrant

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sentiments and what kind of background and characteristics may or may not have an effect as to

whether media, work relationships or community interactions have the most effect when creating

judgments on the new incoming of Latin American Hispanics to Bloomington-Normal.

I conducted and analyzed six interviews of non-Hispanic residents in Bloomington-

Normal (See profiles in the Appendix A). I chose people at random that had experience working

or living close to multiple Hispanic people in the area. Out of the six interviews three were

women and three were men. Sue Ellen is white and is 48 years old. Her highest level of

education is high school from a small town outside of Bloomington-Normal and she now works

training and supervising 18 people, five of which are Hispanic, working blue collar jobs. Bonnie

is 58 year old white female that works in as a RN at a local nursing home. She is in charge of a

team of certified nursing assistants and three to four people on her team have been Hispanic at

one time. Her highest level of education is an associate’s degree. Sara Leaves is 65 year old,

white, female working with computers and robots. She lives close to three Hispanic families and

has contact with many Hispanics on the night cleaning crews or shifts because she works second

shift.

The three men I interviewed were Pastor Joe, Gary Sheath and Patrick Bail. Pastor Joe is

a 60 year old white male who was a non-traditional student and received his masters in theology

at the age of 52. He is has been a pastor at a local church for eight years now and has a very

diverse congregation and has a large college population. His congregation has had him

interacting with Hispanics weekly and he has had many close relationships helping both legal

and illegal Hispanic immigrants better their lives. Another male is Gary Sheath. He is 27, white

and works at a local insurance company as a financial analyst. He has received a graduate

degree from Illinois State University and works with Hispanics on a daily basis, on his team, as

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customers, as clients and as people he oversees. In his business Hispanics have filled positions

from cleaning and night crew to top executive. Lastly for the males, is Patrick Bail; a 22 year

old, white male, who is fresh out of college from Illinois State University. He has worked as a

temp at a local insurance company, a housekeep at a local hospital, a landscaper and a line cook.

Each job he worked closely, everyday with many Hispanics. These six interviews in no way

give me an exhaustive or concrete answer to how Hispanics are perceived and how these

perceptions are justified but they do allow some light to be shed on how the majority population

has trouble internally and within their communities accepting minorities. This is especially

important in the United States which is known as a country made up of immigrants and

minorities.

Although all the interviews I gained valuable information about how people prioritize

their interests and create the personal perceptions of Hispanic immigrants in Bloomington-

Normal the most interesting and contradictory interview was with Sue Ellen. I met Sue Ellen

through a close family friend. I was excited when I began this study to find long term residents

who had work or residential experience with Hispanics and he informed me that of Sue Ellen’s

work and position and how she trained and supervised several Hispanics on a day to day basis.

As soon as I had gathered that information I set up an interview for the following week after her

work shift was over.

Sue Ellen was covered in dirt from working on a recycling line for several hours. She is

in charge of supervising and training workers to work the recycling line at her local business.

Out of her 18 man work crew, five are Hispanic. When I first met her she seemed extremely

nervous about the interview. I made sure to inform her that everything was confidential and that

she could refuse to answer any questions. This seemed to calm her down a lot and it was

37

interesting because it set the tone for the interview that she may think her opinions might be in

the minority or might not be appropriate to say to someone she did not know or trust. I did my

best in the interview then to make sure I did not make and gestures towards agreeing or

disagreeing with what she was saying so that she would not be influenced to control her thoughts

or opinions. I was very excited to hear what she had to say and thought because from her

appearance, being covered in dirt and in a bright orange vest, I categorized her as working class

and thought she would exemplify some of the anti-immigrant sentiments from much of the

literature that I had read. In the interview we kept very on task and she answered all the

questions quickly and very matter-of-factly.

In the interview I started with a few questions (See Appendix B) about demographics so

that I could get some background information about the interviewee. Sue Ellen is 48 year-old,

white, female who has worked in a male predominant business as a recycling line supervisor for

over 20 years. She received a high school degree from a high school of less than four hundred

students, is not a registered voter and watches the local and national news religiously. Next I

followed with questions about her experience with the Hispanic workers she handles daily; she

said they were fun, outgoing, respectable, friendly, usually happy, showed respect. She said she

only had good experiences with them and thought they were very good people. She believed that

her work experiences helped her to better accept Hispanics into the community because of all of

the good experiences she has had. As she talked about these great experiences she seemed to be

very confident and “happy” in the interview. However when I asked her about immigration she

changed her body position and the way in which she answered the questions. Now her body was

tilted away from me, her head was down and she answered questions faster. It seemed her body

position was in direct relation to the types of answers she was giving because when asked about

38

immigration her answers were more negative and against Hispanics. Sue Ellen thought Hispanic

immigrants received, and wanted, different standards than other immigrants. Even though her

and other Anglo workers believed Hispanic temporary workers worked harder than white

temporary workers, they became immediately upset once a Hispanic received a full time position

over a white person. She also stated that she thought most Hispanic immigrants were drug

runners or cartel coming into our neighborhoods, she does not trust Mexican (referring to all

Hispanics) politicians because she believed they were trying to help take over the United States

and “squeeze out the white man.” She claimed that at work she uses her work experiences when

she handles and works with her Hispanic workers but when she is outside of work she uses the

perceptions she receives from the news. Her change in body positions and way that she

answered certain questions really highlighted the battle between the two areas of her life, work

versus her residential life and how one person can have beliefs and experiences for both sides of

the Hispanic immigration debate.

Sue Ellen also discussed that even though she had only good experiences at work with

Hispanics, when she was looking for a new home she made sure there were no Hispanic families

living close by. She wanted to live with white people because she felt unsafe around Hispanics

and if Hispanics were to start moving into the area she would find another place to live. Besides

work, and her residence Sue Ellen was very admit about her stance on English and Hispanics.

She thought that Hispanics needed to have more of a want to learn English and that it was unfair

for English businesses in the U.S. to have their workers learn any Spanish. Sue Ellen states her

views perfectly herself when she said, “I guess I never thought of it before. I have nothing but

good things to say about them, but I want nothing to do with them and don’t trust any of them

when I leave work.”

39

Sue Ellen, personally, had a hard time making sense of her ideas when it came to

Hispanic immigration in this community. However, she was the only one to outwardly disclose

thoughts that could be seen as racist or stereotypical. Everyone else would say things that could

have a racist or judgmental undertone and would quickly recede and correct themselves with a

phrase such as, “but that’s just one person.”

English language ability was a topic spoken about in all of the interviews. I had expected

to find much more opposition to the influence of Spanish-speaking in the United States as I had

found in the anti-immigration letters in The Pantagraph. However Sara Leaves thought the best

thing Hispanic immigrants could do for her in this community was teach her how to speak

Spanish. She was really upset that they learned her language to be able to communicate with her

but she could not do the same. Pastor Joe wanted Hispanics to encourage other Hispanics to learn

English because knowing English would allow them to grow in our society without limitations.

Bonnie echoed this same idea that not learning the language of the country you immigrate to was

foolish but saw no reason why “things” could not be in both Spanish and English. Patrick stated

that he only knew English and very little Spanish and since he was not willing to learn Spanish

he did not think Hispanics should be forced to learn English. He also said that in his many jobs

working with Hispanics, who knew no English and were able to get by in society and therefore

did not see English as a necessity for Hispanic immigrants. It seems that learning English is of

course still preferred but the idea of Hispanics learning English is more because it would help

them achieve better lives, and the idea of keeping their Spanish heritage and language alive is

still important to those I interviewed. This is the opposite of what was found in the anti-

sentiment letters. The letters stressed that once in this country Hispanics should learn English

and everything in the U.S. should be English only. The basic idea was “speak English or leave.”

40

Work was another major factor in all the interviews. Along with Sue Ellen, Bonnie,

Patrick, Gary, Sara and Pastor Joe made a reference to the work ethic of Hispanics. Both Bonnie

and Sara Leaves made comments about wanting Hispanics to take jobs of white or African

American persons at their workplace. Their reasoning was that Hispanics have good attitudes at

work, are happy to have a job, show respect and seem to be genuinely happy to be there, as

opposed to workers at their jobs that were white or African American and had bad attitudes, did

not do their job properly and called in sick more than normal.

Even though all the interviewees made references about Hispanics being great workers

and were glad to work alongside them, when it came to the issues of legality of their status some

people felt otherwise. Just as in the anti-sentiment letters Gary saw nothing wrong with legal

immigrations. He believed Hispanic immigrants enriched the life of Bloomington-Normal

because they bring in their culture, they bring a new perspective to his business, and provide

residents with a way to learn about others. However he stated that illegal immigrants, even if

they do bring in outside perspectives, they are draining our local services and welfare which is

not right. He also stated that illegal immigrants increase crime rates because just being here is a

crime. Sara Leaves had a similar perspective as Gary and the anti-immigrant letters in that she

did want new immigration laws because she does not want to be overrun by Hispanic

immigrants. She also was not in favor of amnesty laws because she does not think people who

came here illegally should be allowed to be citizens. However, she did recognize that many of

the Hispanic people who would be granted amnesty have been here for a long time and have

children here so it is a very “sticky situation.” Pastor Joe was a very interesting man on this

matter. Being a religious man he said he tried to stay out of politics as much as possible even

though he had a very political childhood. He said he and his church had taken care of both legal

41

and illegal Hispanic mothers to help get them off their feet. However he did encourage the

mothers that came here illegally to “stop living a lie” and leave the United States and come back

through the legal channels. Pastor Joe exemplified the pro-sentiment letters by being

compassionate and helping any and all persons but also had a hint of the anti-sentiment letters in

that he favored immigrants coming to the United States legally. All of the interviewees assumed

an “otherness” about Hispanic immigrants.

Finally the interviewees seemed to agree that Hispanics were a very family oriented

group. Pastor Joe stated that he believed Hispanic immigrants enriched the quality of life in this

community because they are family oriented and faith oriented. When Pastor Joe was asked if he

believed if he had noticed a change for the worst or the better in Bloomington-Normal over the

time he has lived here he stated that this community has gotten worse due to the degradation of

families and crime increasing to do people coming from broken homes, broken family structures

and being fatherless. Bonnie described the same idea. She stated that we as a nation and as a

community need to start taking better care of our parents and Hispanic people are very family

oriented. They see aunts, uncles and cousins like brothers and sisters and take care of their

parents; and if they can come here and teach us how to do that then that would be a great thing

for our community. Sara also stated that a major life experiences she has with Hispanics is

watching a Hispanic man walk his son to his bus stop every day before school. She says that

many people take their families for granted but she always sees her Hispanic neighbors taking

care of one another. Another example Sara gave was that two of the Hispanic families have

brought in their mother-in-laws to take care of them after the death of their spouses. She stated

how most families would be hesitant to bring in a parent to the household and that she greatly

admired their culture for how they take of each other and see family as such a tight bond.

42

Interestingly enough what seemed to be important to many justifications for my

interviewee’s perceptions of Hispanic immigrants was their upbringing. Bonnie stated that she

was a child of the 1970s when she described her political stance and beliefs on immigration. She

does not want rich people to take over the world and she wants everyone to have an equal

chance, equal say and equal opportunity in their lives and in their community. Patrick Bail

commented that he had no problem with Hispanic immigration into the area and thought the

media gave Hispanics a “bad rap.” He said he has an aunt and an uncle who are “doomsday

preppers” that specifically prep for the United States opening up its borders and allowing anyone

from Latin America in and Latin American taking over the country. He say he thinks his parents

have tried to teach him the exact opposite and he sees how ridiculous his aunt and uncles views

are and therefore does not see a problem with immigration from Latin America. Partick

paralleled the pro-sentiment letters from The Pantagraph that stated Hispanic immigration is not

the first wave of immigration to come to the U.S. and that this nation has not fallen to any other

immigrant groups. Pastor Joe also made a comment saying that he does not see color. He was

very anxious to say that his parents were very progressive for the town he lived in growing up.

His parents and family was extremely politically active and taught him that everyone deserved

equality. He remembered working on the rail road in his town and there was a lot of friction due

to language barriers and frustration between white and Hispanic workers. Pastor Joe said he did

his best to stay out of it and often got in between possible fights between the two groups.

Unfortunately I was unable to go farther into this subject matter, but for further research I would

concentrate on the amount of effect that family, and childhood has on perceptions as adults. It

seemed as if those I interviewed justified their pro-sentiment positions they did have towards

43

Hispanic immigration due to their upbringing, not due to The Pantagraph, television news or

personal experiences.

Overall the interviews conducted were full of diverse and sometimes contradictory

information. Most of the interviewees did not see Hispanic immigration as a problem because

they are hard working, and so family oriented. Gary and others did highlight that illegal

immigration is a crime and should not be practiced by Hispanic immigrants but this idea was not

as harsh or as emphasized as in the letters to the editor. And only Sue Ellen referenced “the

white man” being squeezed out and losing jobs to Hispanics. On the pro-immigration side of the

letters the interviewees supported the idea that this is not the first wave of immigration to the

U.S. and it will not be our last and that our nation has blossomed from each wave of immigration

before the Hispanic immigration. Unfortunately Pastor Joe was the only interviewee who was

deeply religious and went to church on a regular basis and was therefore the only person who

expressed religion being one of the reasons he justified his positive perceptions of Hispanic

immigrants. The other interviewees, and including Pastor Joe, expressed that their childhood and

upbringing are major reasons for the perceptions of Hispanic immigrants, not the news, paper or

personal experiences they had had at work. Sara Leaves was the only one to say her personal

experiences influenced her and those were personal experiences outside of work and were

around her residence. It is possible that relationships around the home are more personal and

therefore could be another factor to be more deeply researched in the future in being a major

cause of justification of pro- or anti-sentiments towards Hispanic immigrants.

Analysis of Interviews

44

I believe that overall with the interviews and the letters to the editor it can be assessed

that there was no evidence to support Berg’s Group Threat Theory, that residents fear loss of

economic, social and political resources due to perceived or actual population increase of

immigrants (Berg 2010:282). While there may have been a perceived population increase within

Bloomington-Normal by those who have more anti-immigrant sentiments the letters and

interviews show that the justifications for these anti-sentiments have nothing to do with

economic, political or social issues. The justification for these anti-sentiments revolves around

the American culture itself and what it means to be American. Those with anti-immigrant

sentiments have specific specifications and guidelines for what it means to be American and do

not welcome any Hispanic immigrants that do not adhere to these “guidelines.” The other theory

presented by Justin Berg in his study was The Contact Theory. The Contact Theory presumes

that when residents are confronted with immigrants and get to know the immigrants, they will

form friendships. Having more opportunities to interact with immigrants causes them to develop

warm or pro-immigration attitudes (Berg 2010:282). I found no support for this theory as well

because none of the people that I interviewed used their personal experiences as justification for

why they had anti- or pro- immigrant sentiments. Their anti- or pro-immigrant sentiments were

primarily all backed up by their beliefs on what they believed it meant to “be American,” and

secondarily reinforced by national occurrences on the news or family background depending on

their anti- or pro-sentiments towards Hispanic immigrants.

While Berg concentrated on multiple justifications for anti- or pro-immigrant sentiments

Hascox and Hainmueller (2010) created their study largely on the basis of class and that working

class individuals should have anti-immigrants sentiments and middle class individuals should

have pro-immigrant sentiments. In their study they found that education, racial tolerance and

45

strong preferences for cultural diversity increased support for both illegal and legal immigration.

These same ideas were represented by Gary Sheath, Pastor Joe and Patrick Bail. All three men

had the most education by at least two years over all three women that I interviewed and showed

the most acceptance for both legal and illegal immigration. They were also the ones to reference

cultural diversity as a major reason for having pro-immigrant sentiments. Bonnie and Sara made

references to enjoying the Hispanic culture but did not go to the extent or stress the importance

of having diversity in the community. Overall Hainmueller and Hascox (2010) concluded that

personal experiences matter less than a collective level of information gathered from the media.

This conclusion was refuted by five of the interviews but was supported by my interview with

Sue Ellen and the anti-immigrant sentiment letters to the editor where personal experiences were

overridden by those of the media.

What I found most interesting within these interviews was that there were very few

references to any of the interviewees having a sense of xenophobia or an anti-immigrant

prejudice connected to fear, dislike or hatred of foreigners. Sue Ellen and Bonnie were the only

ones to come closest. Bonnie discussed more of an overall fear without the hatred or dislike of

foreigners while Sue Ellen represented fear, dislike and hatred for Hispanic immigrants in the

area. There were a few instances where Bonnie and Sue Ellen referenced not wanting to live in a

residential neighborhood with Hispanics because they thought it would not be safe. Bonnie and

Sue Ellen also discussed a fear of being taken over by immigrants. Sue Ellen specifically was

afraid of Hispanics taking over the United States and that was why she did not like to see a lot

gathered in one place while Bonnie said she was afraid of being taken over in general and did not

want to be taken over by Hispanics or any other immigrant group. According to Oksana

Yakushko (2009:37) who wrote, “Xenophobia: Understanding the Roots and Consequences of

46

Negative Attitudes toward Immigrants,” xenophobia is caused by feelings of ethnocentrism and

nationalism where one feels superior to another. This could be more support for why Sue Ellen’s

interview was so different than the others. Sue Ellen is the only one to be directly in charge of

multiple Hispanic workers and only has work experiences with Hispanics. Therefore she is more

prone to having superior thoughts and feelings towards Hispanics that could create ethnocentrism

and therefore lead to a stronger case of xenophobia. This article by Yakushko (2009) also

presented that the media is a major factor in making immigration a focal point within the nation

and emphasizes anti-immigrant sentiments in our government and negative stereotypes of

Hispanics overall. However these negative stereotypes from the media were only cited by Sue

Ellen. All the other interviewees saw these negative stereotypes and anti-immigrant sentiments

in the media and refuted them with their personal experiences and clearly stating that they knew

the media only discusses negative stories and the bad side to immigration. I believe that these

kinds of answers are strongly created by a specific background and child upbringing which is

supported by the data in the interviews.

Most of the articles from the anthropological and sociological studies on immigration are

quantitative and have indicated that class differences account for why Americans have either

anti- or pro-immigrant sentiments. Interestingly, in my qualitative research class issues were not

readily apparent. Each person was unable to define both middle class and working class and

would not put themselves in either category or stated that everyone in the United States was

either all working class or all middle class. With this response I am unable to use class

distinctions as to why people in Bloomington-Normal perceive and justify their anti- or pro-

immigrant sentiments. However all the interviewees, whether they had anti- or pro-immigrant

sentiments, talked about “being American.” Both sides saw “being American” as important for

47

Hispanic immigrants but they saw immigrants as impacting their definitions of American

differently and had different definitions and standards on what it takes for a person to “be

American.”

As I stated before, Sue Ellen was my most interesting and contradictory interview. All

the interviewees highlighted that there are exceptions in the Hispanic culture, but Sue Ellen was

the only interviewee to see good hardworking Hispanics as the exception to most Hispanics

being drug lords and trying to “take over the U.S.” She had only good experiences with

Hispanics at work but outside of work she didn’t want to live close to or see Hispanics because

they made her feel unsafe. She justified her perceptions outside of work by saying Hispanics

wanted American rights without wanting to be American. She said, “Hispanics want special

accommodations when in reality if they want to come here they need to learn English and work

for jobs like everyone else.” Sue Ellen demanded more of a complete transformation by

Hispanics into the mainstream culture to become more American if they wanted to be welcome

here. Sue Ellen’s interview echoes the anti-sentiment letters in two ways. Her definition of what

it means to be American and using the national media over local issues or experiences to justify

her anti-immigrant sentiments. Sue Ellen believed English, being a legal citizen, and becoming

assimilated to the mainstream American culture were the only ways for Hispanics to become

American and therefore be welcomed here. Also as the anti-sentiment letters only discussed

national occurrences, Sue Ellen only referenced the national news as her justification for not

trusting Hispanics outside of work.

After Sue Ellen the other five interviewees had a more pro-immigrant sentiment in that

they saw criminals who were Hispanic as exceptions to the majority who were good hard

working people. They also differed in how they viewed what it means to be American and how

48

Hispanics should “assimilate.” All five interviewees saw English as important but not because it

was important to becoming American, but that it would be easier for them to get ahead in “the

business world” and make their lives better. They all believed Spanish should not be given up or

lost. Even Sara Leaves discussed that she was happy that her Hispanic neighbors learned

English so that they could communicate with her, and now she wished she could learn Spanish

so she could communicate with them in their own language. All five interviewees referenced

that the Spanish culture should be kept intact and that the real important thing Hispanics needed

to do to be American was work hard and earn their lives based on merit. These views then echo

what was found in the pro-sentiment letters to the editor and how being American simply meant

working hard because we are all immigrants and America has never changed or wavered.

There was a difference between the five interviews and the pro-sentiment letters however

that I found extremely interesting. All five interviewees discussed that we can and need to learn

from Hispanics to help make our American culture stronger. Each one of them talked about how

family oriented Hispanics in Bloomington-Normal were and that due to our degradation of

families and crime increasing, due to broken homes and less father figures, we need to learn and

try to become closer to our families as we have seen Hispanics do. This shows that those with

pro-immigrant sentiments do not have such a concrete meaning of what it means to be American

but see America as a mixing of cultures that can learn from each other.

These more pro-immigrant sentiments seemed to be justified by their family background

and upbringing being more influential than media and personal experiences. I did not expect

anything to be more influential than media or personal experiences and in further research it

would be beneficial to follow up with how different family backgrounds create justifications for

49

people later in their lives toward different national and local issues such as Hispanic

immigration.

Overall the qualitative data, one-on-one interviews, and letters to the editors found in The

Pantagraph find the same findings as was found in the study done by Leo Chavez (2001).

Chavez collected and analyzed hundreds of magazine covers to find what kind of perceptions the

media was creating for the American public about Hispanic immigration. He found that the

United States was greatly conflicted in its perceptions of Hispanic immigrants. He found there

was no white or black answer towards what causes pro- or anti-immigrant sentiments but yet that

the magazine covers displayed both. And while this study shows us the media’s perceptions the

media is created by the people and therefore also reflects the conflicted perceptions of Americans

towards Hispanic immigrants. My study only intensifies this point. The Pantagraph letters to

the editor may have seemed clear cut in their sentiments towards Hispanic immigrants but the

interviews were very mixed. Only one interviewee, Sue Ellen, boldly stated anti-immigrant

sentiments. Bonnie, Pastor Joe, Gary Sheath, Patrick Bail and Sara Leaves however all hinted at

anti-immigrant sentiments. However they all also had pro-immigrant sentiments and different

reasons for being so from family background and upbringing to residential experiences. This

shows that no one person could be one way or the other, completely pro- or anti- towards

Hispanic immigrants in Bloomington-Normal. Each person had multiple opinions,

contradictions and justifications for each one of their answers.

Truth is, There are no Answers

50

I conducted my study using letters to the editor in the local newspaper, The Pantagraph,

in Bloomington-Normal along with conducting six one-on-one interviews with non-Hispanic,

white, long-term residents of Bloomington-Normal. The fact that I was only able to do six

interviews severely limits the amount of conclusions and findings that I could have in my study.

Implications of my study are to help those who are trying to spread pro-immigrant

sentiments and stop hate crimes, prejudice and discrimination against Latin Americans. By

understanding the multiple ideas, opinions and justifications that residents have can help people

and organized groups to understand what type of influences, media vs. community and personal

relationships, could best dissolve false presumptions or fears residents have. This study could

help shape the next step in healing divisions between minority immigrants and the majority in

areas to create stronger communities across the nation instead of communities divided by

differences. It is important for anthropologists to remember that it is not only the majority

culture or group making an impact on the minority but the minority or immigrant group also

makes an impact on the culture and daily lives of those in the majority population.

A question that this study further raises then is why are Latin Americans choosing to

leave ethnic enclaves, places that seem to be safer and have more family, for non-metropolitan

small towns and cities like Bloomington-Normal? Knowing this information could further

enhance understandings of non-Hispanic whites of why they are experiencing a new wave of

immigration and then be able to better understand how immigration to their specific areas effect

them. With think understanding residents may or may not have differentiated views that either

agree or disagree with the most common nation views due to their specific circumstances.

51

This study is not an exhaustive or conclusive study of the whole population of

Bloomington-Normal and their perceptions, priorities and justifications towards Hispanics in the

area. I did think it was important however to research a majority population ethnographically

and how minorities effect their daily lives since anthropologists routinely focus ethnographic

research on the minority population, in any type of culture. This has been a long term trend to

look at the “other” and I wanted to look at the dominant group. Ironically it is the dominant or

the majority group that has been long ignored by anthropologists, but it is only through studying

them that xenophobia and mistreatment of minorities and immigrants can begun to be understood

and changed.

In all the discourse I found that my initial thoughts and assumptions were irrelevant or

wrong. I thought the three major myths referenced by Gonzalez (2011) and the perceptions

caused by the media would be the most influential in creating immigrant sentiments within the

community of Bloomington-Normal and its residents. However in both the letters to the editor

from the local newspaper, The Pantagraph, and the six in depth one on one interviews I found

that the notion of what it means to be ‘American’ was the most influential when creating anti- or

pro-immigrant sentiments. Quantitative studies focused on class as a divider and issue when

creating anti- or pro-immigrant sentiments but in my qualitative study class could not be found,

depicted or deciphered by me or my interviewees. Therefore class had no major participation

when people created their perceptions but instead turned to their ideas of what it means to be

American. This study reveals that feelings toward Hispanic immigration are different for every

person because every person can and has slightly different ideas about what it takes to be

American. However once a person has created their ideas about what it means to “be American”

52

only that person can decide whether Hispanics in their local community are fulfilling those

requirements that will turn their anti-immigrant sentiments into pro-immigrant sentiments.

Appendix A

Sue Ellen Smith: She is 48 years old and is a white female. Her highest level of education was

a community high school with no more than 350 students. She is not a registered voter but

claimed to watch the news all the time and considers herself as conservative on all issues. She is

married with 2 step kids that are 21 and 17. The 17-year-old attends a high school in the area.

This woman is a supervisor at a local business and trains all the workers that work under her.

She has been employed at this business for 8 months but did the same kind of work at another

business in the community for 20 years. Five out of the 18 people she trains and works with are

Hispanic and she works with them on a daily and hourly basis.

Bonnie Ferrel: She is a 58 year old white female. She attained an associate degree from

Heartland Community College and attended a local high school. She is divorced with one son

who is 23 years old and also attended a local high school. She is a registered voter stressing that

she has trouble trusting any politicians, local and federal, but says is starting to understand how

53

hard it is to help people who need help. Bonnie is a Democrat because of her views of being a

“child of the 70’s” and because she “does not want rich people to take over the world.” Her

dream is for everyone to have an equal say and an equal opportunity. Bonnie works as a

registered nurse at a local nursing home and is in charge of a unit or team of nurses to take care

of a specific wing or group of residents. She works with or has worked with closely 4 Hispanic

women ranging from the ages of 22 to 35. A Hispanic woman also took care of her mother when

she was ill and in a nursing home and another Hispanic family has looked after her father by

taking care of his lawn, cooking food for him, after his wife passed.

Pastor Joe: He is a white male who is 60 years old and has been a pastor at a local church for 8

years. His church has many college kids and many of them are of Hispanic descent. He

described himself as white and 1/8 Cherokee. He was very proud of his differences in his ethnic

heritage. He also received his masters at a small college up north in theology at the age of 52.

When asked about his political activity he stated that he is very politically in the know and was a

political science major as an undergrad and his family was very politically active growing up, but

he said that because he was a pastor he tries to have a very nonpolitical influence. This

participant has been married for 35 years, lives right on the outskirts of town and had four kids

ranging from the ages of 27 to 33. The pastor interacts with people in the community of

Hispanic heritage weekly and also had many stories about helping Hispanic families to get on

their feet. The church he runs also has a large garden that he plants and many Hispanic families

come and pick the fruits and vegetables because they are unable to afford them at the store. He

also stated to have helped two illegal immigrants to create stable lives and both of them decided

to “stop living lies” went back to their country of origin and entered through legal means and still

keep in contact with him today.

54

Gary Sheath: Participant 4 is a white male who works at a local insurance company, has a white

collar job as a financial analyst and has for 6 years and is 27 years old. He is very in tune with

his different ethnicities and stated he was Caucasian, Italian, Scottish and Bohemian. Participant

4 is a college graduate from Illinois State University. This man does support many local

campaigns and believes he will one day run for an office. He also states he is a republican but

has no problem voting or supporting candidates that are democrat, libertarian or in the green

party. He supports republicans because he is a fiscal conservative and agrees with their ideas on

taxation, education, military initiatives, and the amount of government involvement they want in

our individual lives. He supports democrats and green party candidates because he finds green

initiatives that they have to be extremely important for our future. He has noticed an increase in

Hispanic workers in his company from top executives to entry level jobs such as data entry. This

man works with Hispanics on a daily basis and works with them in a team aspect to solve

problems. They all have similar roles and responsibilities within the company.

Patrick Bail: This participant is a 22 year old Caucasian male who has had several jobs over the

past 5 years working with Hispanics in the Bloomington-Normal area such as being a temp at

State Farm, a house keeper at a local hospital, a landscaper and a line cook at a restaurant close

to campus. He interacts with Hispanics every day; however most of his interactions are short

and superficial. He has had some graduate from a school towards Chicago. This man states that

he is politically aware and believes he thinks for himself and creates his own opinions but has

never been a part of a protest. He is not married and does not have any kids. This participant

has also applied for a job with immigration and border patrol but only sees it as a job and does

not actually believe that immigration is a problem for him because he sees no problem with legal

55

immigration and says that illegal immigrants will never get the jobs he is applying for so he is

not worried about illegal immigration either.

Sara Leaves: This woman is 65 years old, is Caucasian and has been a temp worker at a local

insurance company working with computers for 10 years. She has also had some college at both

Illinois State University and Eureka. She votes and has contributed to one local campaign and

two state campaigns and has had a friend run for office. She has never been a demonstrator or a

protestor. She sees herself mostly republican but did make sure to say she voted for Obama so

she does not vote strictly a republican ticket. She has been divorced for many years and has two

sons that live in Normal, a daughter and a step son. She has seen many more Hispanics start to

work in her place of business, and interacts with them on a daily basis but they all work in

maintenance or cleaning crews. This woman does live in an area of town where there are several

Hispanic families and her only regret is that she does not know more Spanish so that she can

communicate with them more. She has helped to find one man a job and has very close

relationships with her Hispanic neighbors.

56

Appendix B

Interview Questions

1. How old are you?

2. Male or Female?

3. What is your ethnic or racial background? How do you describe yourself?

4. How religious are you?

5. What is your highest level of education? Where did you go to school? How big was your

school?

6. How politically active are you? Are you a republican, democrat or other? Why?

7. Marital status? Number and ages of children?

Workplace

1. Where do you work?

57

2. How long have you worked there?

3. What do you do at your place of employment? Do you enjoy what you do? Do you enjoy

where you work and the people you work with? Why?

4. Over the time you have spent or been employed at your current position would you say

your place of employment has hired or there have been more Hispanic workers or

patrons? What has this done to your place of employment?

5. How often do you speak to or interact with Hispanic immigrants at your workplace?

6. Have you ever hired a Hispanic immigrant to do yard work, home care or child care?

Place of Residence

1. Where do you live? What kind of residence do you have?

2. How long have you lived in Bloomington-Normal? Have you lived in different areas in

this city? If so where?

3. Overall, how satisfied are you with your neighborhood as a place to live?

4. Over the course of the time you have spent in your home have you noticed an influx of

Hispanic immigrants in or around your neighborhood? What kind of impact has this had

on your neighborhood and your enjoyment of your home?

5. How often do you speak with Hispanic immigrants in or around your neighborhood?

Immigration

1. How does immigration impact you?

2. How often do you come into contact with Hispanics?

3. Do you work with Hispanics or live in close proximity to those of Hispanic descent?

a. If so, how would you characterize your relationship with that person or persons?

b. Why do you think your relationship is this way?

58

4. What are some experiences with Hispanic immigrants you have had in Bloomington-

Normal?

5. Do you think Hispanics are assimilating?

a. How important is the idea of assimilation or the melting pot to you?

6. What are your thoughts on immigration and the local economy?

a. …and public services in the community?

b. … and the English language?

7. What reasons do you believe Hispanics have for coming to the United States?

Bloomington-Normal Community

1. What do you know about Hispanic immigrants in Bloomington-Normal?

2. Do you think Hispanic immigrants suffer from any discrimination within the community?

Why?

3. Where do you spend most of your time within the community?

4. In our small community of Bloomington-Normal how would you characterize the impact

of Hispanic immigrants, enriching, detrimental or other? Do they increase or decrease

the quality of life in Bloomington-Normal? Why?

5. In the amount of time you have spent living in this community have you noticed a rise in

Hispanic immigration to this area? Have you noticed Hispanic immigrants having any

effect on this community has the are gotten worse, better or stayed the same? Why?

a. Do you think Hispanic immigrants have increased or decreased crime rates?

b. How do you think Hispanic immigrants impact the public school systems?

c. How do you feel about their political influence within the community?

59

6. Do you attend, volunteer or belong to any community groups or events in Bloomington-

Normal? If so, what types?

a. How long have you been in this group? How often does this group meet? How

often do you attend these meetings? Are any members Hispanic? Are any

projects related to, or help Hispanic immigrants?

7. How important of an issue is immigration to you overall? How important is immigration

to you in Bloomington-Normal?

Where do you get your information from?

1. Where do you get most of your information about immigration and Hispanic immigrants

in Bloomington-Normal from? Television, radio, magazines, newspapers, online new

websites, family, friends or other?

2. From time to time, most people discuss important matters such as immigration with other

people. Who do you speak most often with about important social, cultural or economic

matters? Relationships will suffice (how do you know them) and how long you have

known them (family members, friends, co-worker or acquaintances). Please explain how

often you get together with these people. Are they all from the Bloomington-Normal

area? Do they agree or disagree with your views? Do you find yourself agreeing with

their views or holding your own ideals? Are they male or female? What is their race or

ethnicity?

3. How often do you watch the news? How do you feel about the representation of

immigration, namely Hispanic immigration in the news?

4. How would you characterize a Hispanic immigrant? What do you think of when you see

or hear about a Hispanic immigrant?

60

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