The experiences of Latina women and girls with state surveillance, and their responses to unfair policies and practices, remain underexplored. Drawing on in-depth interviews with Latinas—primarily of Mexican descent—living in San Diego, we examine how encounters with local police and immigration enforcement shape their political practices. Participants described repeated negative encounters with police and immigration enforcement agencies over the life course. These cumulative experiences fostered distrust of police and critical views of surveillance practices designed to restrict the mobility of immigrants and other systematically minoritized groups. In response, many of the women engaged in community organizing and adopted counter-surveillance strategies. Our findings show how patterned experiences with state surveillance generate political critique and action.

Latinas and Asian American women are often labeled “women of color” (WOC). But taking up the identity of WOC is a choice; not all Latinas and Asian American women self-identify as WOC. Building on intersectionality theory and recent work on “of color” identities, we propose that WOC identification has the potential to translate into broader political alliances with other marginalized groups. We evaluate this expectation with data from the 2020 Collaborative Multiracial Post-Election Survey (CMPS). We added a survey question about self-identification as WOC to the 2020 CMPS, making research possible about the nature and implications of the WOC ID. We theorize that Latinas and Asian American women who self-identify as WOC will be more supportive of policies that disproportionately benefit marginalized outgroups. We find evidence that WOC ID is positively related to supporting these policies, as hypothesized. We also investigate whether racial resentment limits the effects of WOC ID and discuss the implications. We argue that this study demonstrates the significance of the WOC identity and its role in the creation of political coalitions.