UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles I Am Not Your Immigrant: Puerto Ricans, Liminal Citizenship, and Politics in Florida A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology by Ariana Jeanette Valle 2019 © Copyright by Ariana Jeanette Valle 2019 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION I am Not Your Immigrant: Puerto Ricans, Liminal Citizenship, and Politics in Florida by Ariana Jeanette Valle Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology University of California, Los Angeles, 2019 Professor Vilma Ortiz, Chair This dissertation investigates how colonialism, citizenship, migration, and racialization intersect in a new destination and shape Puerto Ricans’ contemporary experiences. Puerto Ricans are a strategic case to examine through these frameworks because Puerto Ricans’ have been U.S. citizens for over a century due to an ongoing colonial relationship between the U.S. and Puerto Rico. There have been various waves of Puerto Rican migration to the U.S. mainland throughout the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. Moreover, Puerto Ricans are a phenotypically diverse group due to the historic intermixing between Indigenous, African, and European groups in Puerto Rico. And, Puerto Ricans are an original member of the institutionally created Hispanic ethnic group. Our current understanding of Puerto Ricans in the U.S. is largely based on their experiences in traditional destinations of migration located in the Northeast and Midwest. Scholars that have studied this experience have argued Puerto Ricans experienced a racialized mode of incorporation in traditional destinations, which explains their lower socioeconomic outcomes, marginalized experiences, and placement on the lower rungs of the social hierarchy in traditional destinations. However, the Puerto Rican experience is quite different today. In the latter part of the twentieth century, Florida emerged as a new destination for Puerto Ricans. The popularity of Florida has been ii such that as of 2017, Florida’s Puerto Rican population (1,128,225) surpassed New York’s historic Puerto Rican community (1,113,123). Florida presents a distinct context relative to traditional destinations because Florida is located in the U.S. South, it is a politically conservative state, and Central Florida specifically lacks the extensive migration history that characterizes gateway cities. Moreover, Florida has attracted Puerto Ricans of distinct socioeconomic and education backgrounds as well as Puerto Ricans from Puerto Rico and from traditional mainland destinations. Given Puerto Rico’s and Puerto Ricans’ relationship to the United States, unique contextual dynamics in Florida, and current Puerto Rican migratory patterns and migrant characteristics, this article-based dissertation examines: 1) how Puerto Ricans experience their status as U.S. citizens in Florida; 2) how they make sense of the current immigration debate and how their political and social position influences their perceptions on immigration; 3) and how Puerto Ricans experience natural disasters and become structural and climate refugees. This research relies on 129 in-depth interviews and participant observations conducted in Orlando, Florida. First, focusing on how Florida Puerto Ricans experience the institution of U.S. citizenship, I find respondents define U.S. citizenship as partial rights and as a formal status yet they feel excluded from the American national community. Second, in terms of the politics of immigration, I find Puerto Ricans largely express supportive attitudes toward undocumented immigration, nevertheless, respondents deploy mainstream views of migrant deservingness and undeservingness. Furthermore, I find Puerto Ricans’ immigration attitudes convey a group consciousness, and at times a sense of linked fate, with Latin American immigrants. I also find that for some respondents immigration is a critical election issue, such that a candidate’s stance on immigration would determine their vote for president in 2016. Lastly, I find Puerto Rico’s political and territorial status exacerbated the experiences of Hurricane María evacuees. Specifically, most Hurricane María evacuees experienced material losses, lacked access to vital essentials for weeks, and iii they experienced inadequate and insufficient governmental relief and aid in Puerto Rico. Further, they deployed migration to Florida as a disaster relief strategy. Based on these findings, I advance that Puerto Ricans have a colonial racialized citizenship. I argue this concept accounts for Puerto Ricans’ unequal political relationship with the State and group level relations that are racial. iv The dissertation of Ariana Jeanette Valle is approved. César J. Ayala Rubén Hernández-León John Christopher Zepeda Vilma Ortiz, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2019 v I dedicate this dissertation to Orlando’s Puerto Rican and Latino communities. Thank you for sharing your experiences and knowledge and for your support and kindness. Le dedico esta disertación a la comunidad puertorriqueña y latina de Orlando. Gracias por compartir sus experiencias y conocimientos y por su apoyo y bondad. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS 4 RESEARCH CASE 15 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 16 ARGUMENTS AND CONCEPTUAL CONTRIBUTION 25 ROADMAP OF THE DISSERTATION 30 REFERENCES 33 CHAPTER 2: PUERTO RICANS IN FLORIDA: A HISTORICAL, DEMOGRAPHIC, AND SOCIOECONOMIC PORTRAIT 40 ABSTRACT 40 INTRODUCTION 41 PUERTO RICAN MIGRATION IN HISTORICAL CONTEXT 42 RECEPTION AND INCORPORATION IN MAINLAND COMMUNITIES 45 METHODS AND DATA 49 DEMOGRAPHIC AND SOCIOECONOMIC ANALYSIS 50 REFERENCES 65 CHAPTER 3: RACE AND THE EMPIRE-STATE: PUERTO RICANS’ UNEQUAL U.S. CITIZENSHIP 68 ABSTRACT 68 INTRODUCTION 69 MODERN CITIZENSHIP, THE NATION-STATE, AND MEMBERSHIP 71 EMPIRE-STATES, COLONIALITY, AND RACE 73 PUERTO RICANS’ UNEQUAL U.S. CITIZENSHIPS 74 DATA AND METHODS 77 FINDINGS 79 MEANING OF U.S. CITIZENSHIP: FORMAL STATUS AND RIGHTS 79 CITIZENSHIP WITHOUT MEMBERSHIP 82 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 91 REFERENCES 95 CHAPTER 4: THE POLITICS OF IMMIGRATION IN A COLONIAL CONTEXT: PUERTO RICANS’ ATTITUDES TOWARD UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRATION 99 ABSTRACT 99 INTRODUCTION 100 vii U.S. EMPIRE-BUILDING, COLONIALISM, RACE, AND IMMIGRATION 103 CONSTRUCTION OF MIGRANT “ILLEGALITY” 104 LATINOS, IDENTITY, AND POLITICS 106 DATA AND METHODS 109 FINDINGS 110 NARRATIVES OF MIGRANT DESERVINGNESS AND LEGALIZATION 111 NARRATIVES OF MIGRANT UNDESERVINGNESS AND EXCLUSION 117 FORGING LATINO GROUP CONSCIOUSNESS AND LINKED FATE 121 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION 127 REFERENCES 131 CHAPTER 5: ¡PUERTO RICO SE LEVANTA!: HURRICANE MARÍA AND NARRATIVES OF STRUGGLE, RESILIENCE, AND MIGRATION 136 ABSTRACT 136 INTRODUCTION 137 METHODOLOGY 139 FINDINGS 141 EXPERIENCING HURRICANE MARÍA AND THE AFTERMATH 141 SURVIVAL AND STRATEGIES DEPLOYED POST-MARÍA 143 MIGRATION DECISION-MAKING AND MIGRATION RESOURCES 150 SOCIAL AND MATERIAL MIGRATION RESOURCES 151 SETTLEMENT PLANS AND COMMUNITY SUPPORT IN FLORIDA 153 INSTITUTIONAL AND COMMUNITY SUPPORT IN FLORIDA 154 INTERPRETATIONS OF GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TO HURRICANE MARIA 156 RECOMMENDATIONS AND CONCLUSIONS 158 REFERENCES 163 viii LIST OF TABLES Table 1.1. Project Interview Sample by Subsamples 21 Table 2.1 Ethnoracial Groups in Florida, 2013 51 Table 2.2 Hispanic or Latino by Origin in Florida, 2013 53 Table 2.3 Top Metropolitan Areas in Florida with a Puerto Rican Population, 2013 54 Table 2.4 Ethnoracial Groups in Orlando MSA, 2013 55 Table 2.5 Hispanic or Latino by Origin in Orlando MSA, 2013 56 Table 2.6 Age of Puerto Ricans in Orlando MSA, 2013 57 Table 2.7 Characteristics of the Puerto Rican Population in Orlando MSA, Ages 25-64, 2013 59 Table 2.8 Education Level of Puerto Ricans in Orlando MSA, Ages 25-64, 2013 60 Table 2.9 Occupations and Industries of Employment of Puerto Ricans in Orlando MSA, Ages 25-64, 2013 62 Table 2.10 Socioeconomic Indicators of Puerto Ricans in Orlando MSA, Ages 25-64, 2013 64 ix ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Following the example of my friend and colleague, Dr. Rahim Kurwa, I want to recognize the Tongva Nation—the city my family migrated to; the city I had the privilege of being born into and raised; and the University of California, Los Angeles, the institution where I was trained as a sociologist, were founded on the land taken from the Tongva people. Mami and Mamá Leti, you are my pillars, you are my source of strength, and you are my inspiration. Your love, unrelenting support, and sacrifices made my educational journey and accomplishments possible. Your belief in me and encouragement allowed me to dream and envision a path in which I could pursue all the goals I set for myself. And, I was empowered by your strength, tenacity, and resilience. I recognize my privileges and opportunities stem from the ultimate sacrifices you both made—you left your country and family behind, you crossed three borders seeking survival and escape from a brutal civil war, and you worked tirelessly so that I could have a better life and brighter future. You are my queens, I dedicate this accomplishment to the both of you. I am also privileged to be surrounded by a village of loving and resilient women in my family. My Salvadoran matriarchs—Mamá Leti, Mami, Tía Irene, Madrina Rosa—taught me I can be independent, self-sufficient, and choose my own destiny. Through your life experiences and struggles you provided lessons in breaking from and resisting gendered and cultural expectations of women. You have inculcated the importance