The importance of immigrants on American intervention in international crises

Abstract

Immigrants have a substantial impact on US foreign policy: doubling the proportion of the American voters who were born in a country yields a 4% increase in the probability that the United States will intervene in a crisis involving that country. This result is significant at the 1% level. Moreover, the immigrants’ level of education and income do not affect this result. Apart from unemployment and real gross domestic product growth, other quantifiable domestic and international variables, from presidential approval to trade dependency and defense pacts, do not have a statistically significant impact on American intervention.