Are the Foreign Born "on Board"?: Secessionism and the Migrant Vote in Catalonia

The increase in the foreign born population in Catalonia during the 1990s and the first two decades of the 21^st century have been paralleled by increasing support for political parties and platforms advocating for the seccession of the region of Catalonia from Spain. While the latter process is independent of the former, the Catalan nationalists have presented themselves to be an inclusive and diverse political movement. Nonetheless, very little is known as to whether migrants are “buying into” this project. This paper explores the question of whether pro-European union attitudes or other explanations help elucidate migrants’ reluctance or embrace of this political movement. Using longitudinal data from the Centre d’Estudis d’Opinio, we tackle the role that different migrants play in the secessionist movement. In particular, the paper compares attitudes towards secessionism among foreign born and internal migrants from other regions of Spain, vis a vis native born Catalonians without migrant descent.The findings of the paper are contextualized using social and political identity theories as well as recent theoretical discussions on sovereignty and citizenship.