Migrants’ integration in an exclusionary political context: Qualitative evidence from Spain

Anti-immigration political parties are characterized for advocate for restrictive migration polices and a preference for assimilationist approaches to integration (Dennison & Geddes, 2019). In recent years, these parties have secured their positions in national parliaments, gaining significant electoral support across several European countries (Dennison & Geddes, 2019). In this study, we aim to explore migrants’ emotional and political integration within a political context shaped by anti-immigration political representation (AIPR). To do so, we conduct in depth interviews with migrants in Spain, a country where VOX, an anti-immigration political party, holds parliamentary representation and co-governs in several regional parliaments (Rama et al., 2021) We adopt a constructivist perspective, taking into account the particularities of the Spanish context in terms of anti-immigration discourses and migrant composition, as well as migrants’ own perceptions of how political dynamics may affect their integration process. In Spain, most migrants come from South and Central America, a group that is not directly excluded by VOX but rather discursively embraced, in contrast to migrants arriving from North Africa or majority-Muslim countries. Due to the particularities of these discourses and the migrant population in Spain, we aim to explore how migrants construct their emotional integration processes under exclusionary political contexts, and how they organize to become politically engaged, if so. We also examine potential differences across migrant groups, focusing on those explicitly targeted by VOX discourses. Dennison, J., & Geddes, A. (2019). A rising tide? The salience of immigration and the rise of anti-immigration political parties in Western Europe. Political Quaterly, 90(1), 107-116. 10.1111/1467-923X.12620 Rama, J., Zanotti, L., Turnbull-Dugarte, S.J. & Santana. A. (2021). VOX. The Rise of the Spanish Populist Radical Right. Routledge