ABSTRACT
This chapter assesses the long-term political contributions of immigrants in the contemporary United States (US). It explores how immigrants and, more specifically, naturalized US citizens engage in these voluntary but critical dimensions of civic and political life. The chapter also explores their continuing civic and political connections to their countries of origin, identified in the scholarship as transnational political engagement. Immigrants to the US quickly join the civic life of their communities of residence, though they may not recognize that they are making a move toward political engagement. As a nation of immigrants, the US has always needed to ensure that its immigrants cannot only move toward formal citizenship but also enliven the democracy with their opinions and participation. Many immigrants maintain a parallel set of civic and political engagements with their countries of origin. The evidence clearly indicates that this transnational politics does not come at the expense of US civic involvement.
