Immigrants to the United States are assigned to ethnic and racial categories that often make little sense in an international context or are actively resisted by new arrivals. This study uses a large, nationally representative sample to test how skin color constrains and patterns that resistance, and how individual characteristics shape identification choices. Using the 2003 New Immigrant Survey, I find that skin tone has significant relationships with ethnic and racial self-identification choices for immigrants, even after controlling for characteristics like country of origin, with higher rates of Latinx identification among light-skinned immigrants than dark-skinned respondents, and especially high rates of refusing the “standard” racial categories for those near the middle of the skin tone scale. The racial categories selected by immigrants reflect not only their region of origin, but also their education level and their age, controlling for a range of demographic predictors. I discuss the implications for the racialization of immigrants to the United States.

移民到美国的人被归入族裔和种族类别，这些类别在国际背景下通常毫无意义，或者受到新移民的积极抵制。本研究使用具有全国代表性的大型样本来测试肤色如何限制和抵抗这种模式，以及个人特征如何影响识别选择。使用 2003 年新移民调查，我发现肤色与移民的种族和种族自我认同选择有显着关系，即使在控制了原籍国等特征之后，浅肤色移民的拉丁裔认同率高于深色移民——肤色的受访者，特别是拒绝“标准”种族类别的比例接近中等肤色的人。移民选择的种族类别不仅反映了他们的原籍地区，还反映了他们的教育水平和年龄，控制了一系列人口统计预测因素。我讨论了美国移民种族化的影响。